Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution

by BooMan
Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 02:58:56 PM EST

On the scale of offensive one-sidedness in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the ironically named Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution is probably about a 'five'. The actual text of the resolution has a couple of disputable facts, but its real fault lies in its arbitrary selection of facts. Yet, critiquing the factual basis for the resolution is outside the scope of this essay. It was carefully crafted to assure maximum support. And it just received maximum support in the House, where it passed by a vote of 390-5 with 22 Democrats voting 'present' and 16 representatives not voting.

The five representatives that voted against the resolution are Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Ron Paul (R-TX), Nick Rahall (D-WV), and Maxine Waters (D-CA). I believe 21 of the 22 Democratic members that voted 'present' are members of the Progressive Caucus.

The important thing is that 390 members of the House voted for a resolution that states (in part):

(5) calls on all nations--
(A) to condemn Hamas for deliberately embedding its fighters, leaders, and weapons in private homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, and otherwise using Palestinian civilians as human shields, while simultaneously targeting Israeli civilians; and
(B) to lay blame both for the breaking of the `calm' and for subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza precisely where blame belongs, that is, on Hamas;

That view of this conflict is a decidedly minority view in the world at-large. There is little global love for the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, and most people condemn the use of rocket attacks on indisputably sovereign Israeli territory. But the idea that the blame for over 700 civilian casualties in Gaza since Christmas lies squarely on Hamas' shoulders is not popular (to be charitable). Leaving the impression that all the civilian casualties are the result of Hamas hiding in mosques, schools, private homes, and hospitals is an egregious and offensive distortion of the facts. It's true that Hamas leaders have not lined up in open fields and offered themselves up for slaughter. It's also true that Israel has bombed a UN school and shelter and leveled multi-story apartment buildings. The responsibility for that lies squarely with the Israelis. No one forced them to kill civilians indiscriminately.

The problem with the Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution is that it is a non-binding resolution that has no force of law and serves no other purpose than to demonstrate overwhelming American support for Israel's actions in Gaza, which have resulted in the deaths of over 700 innocent civilians. Yet, Americans do not support this senseless slaughter in anything near overwhelming numbers.

Americans, while far more sympathetic to Israel than the Palestinians, are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip. Forty-four percent (44%) say Israel should have taken military action against the Palestinians, but 41% say it should have tried to find a diplomatic solution to the problems there...
[Source: Rasmussen Reports, Dec. 31, 2008]

If 41% of Americans didn't support the onset of military action, surely fewer than that support the disproportionate murder of over 700 people. Yet, 89.6% of our representatives just voted to express our government's support for this crime. Less than one percent of the House voted 'no'.

How did we get to this point where there is such a massive distortion and disconnect between what the public thinks and how their representatives vote? That's a matter for speculation. What's more important and should be less controversial, is what it looks like to the outside world. While the UN Security Council calls for a cease-fire (with America abstaining) and the Red Cross criticizes Israel for inhumanity, the House of Representatives votes 90%-1% in favor of what Israel is doing.

How could such a spectacle possibly fail to outrage the world and motivate people to want to do us harm?

And here is the really critical point. What did Israel get out of this resolution? That's an honest question. Did they get anything really valuable? And what did America get out of it besides an increased risk of retaliation and more strain on our relations with our Arab allies in the region?

Tell me the answer. Because I think the Israeli Lobby just bullied Congress into trading fealty to Tel Aviv at the expense of the security of all American citizens at home and abroad. That's a hell of a shitty trade-off. But at least Israel now knows who their 'enemies' are.

---- NAYS 5 ---
Kucinich, Moore (WI), Paul, Rahall, Waters
---- ANSWERED “PRESENT” 22 ---
Abercrombie, Blumenauer, DeFazio, Dingell, Edwards (MD), Ellison, Farr, Grijalva, Hinchey, Johnson (GA), Kilpatrick (MI), Lee (CA), McCollum, McDermott, Miller (George), Moran (VA), Olver, Payne, Sanchez (Loretta), Stark, Watson, Woolsey

I think these 'enemies' are really Israel's best friends.

The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution | 25 comments (25 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (4.00 / 3)

A quote from Macbeth seems appropos regarding this resolution: [A] tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

To attempt to make sense out of our current devotion to all things Israel is a futile task.

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward. Franklin D. Roosevelt

by Steven D on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 03:07:46 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

"To attempt to make sense out of our current devotion to all things Israel is a futile task. "

That really depends on your idea of what is sensible..

If you believe it is in US interests to keep the Arab world suppressed, divided and beholden, then what Israel does to put off peaceful resolution is absolutely to our 'benefit'.

Obviously that interest alone isn't enough, but if those divisions, suppression and dependency could be exploited to create the space for, say, an invasion and occupation of resource producing regions in a time of global resource decline and financial disruption.. Well then, that is a horse of a different color. The color of EVIL, but a horse we will be riding for some time.

Declaring the bottom is the only way back up..

by anarchronarchist (mincers (-at-) hotmail (-dot-) com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:42:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (4.00 / 2)

"21 of the 22 Democratic members that voted 'present' are members of the Progressive Caucus."

Shouldn't that be the "so-called Progressive Caucus"?

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:34:49 PM EST

Just a few days in session (4.00 / 4)

and the 111th Congress has already totally disgusted me. What the Israelis are doing is a war crime, and the US Congress wholeheartedly approves.

Effing idiots.

"Little people are very stuff-intensive."

by CabinGirl on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:35:04 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (4.00 / 4)

With the Israeli military killing and wounding drivers who are carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza, makes you sort of wonder if they haven't become a lot like the oppressors that ooppressed them in Nazi Germany.

Extremism seems to be running rampant not only in the mid east, but even here in the USA... Our congress seems to think that once they are elected, the choices that they make are not necessarily representative of the electorate that placed them in that position..

As far as I am concerned, any member of congress who voted to back Israel in this fiasco will have me working to see that he/she will never hold another office of public trust, if I have any say about it.

Just this old chief's 2 cents

by maheanuu (maheanuuATgmailDOTcom) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:42:30 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (4.00 / 5)

If goes well beyond votes to complicity.

US weaponry facilitates killings in Gaza
Thalif Deen, The Electronic Intifada, 9 January 2009

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The devastating Israeli firepower, unleashed largely on Palestinian civilians in Gaza during two weeks of military siege, is the product of advanced US military technology.
The US weapons systems used by the Israelis -- including F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles and a wide array of munitions -- have been provided by Washington mostly as outright military grants.
The administration of President George W. Bush alone has provided over 21 billion dollars in US. security assistance over the last eight years, including 19 billion dollars in direct military aid as freebies.
"Israel's intervention in the Gaza Strip has been fueled largely by US supplied weapons paid for with US tax dollars," says a background briefing released Thursday by the Arms and Security Initiative of the New York-based New America Foundation.
"The Bush administration has been unwilling to use its considerable influence -- as Israel's major military and political backer -- to dissuade the government in Tel Aviv from its pattern of claiming self-defense while perpetrating collective punishment, human rights violations and undertaking massively disproportionate attacks that harm and kill civilians," Frida Berrigan, senior program associate at the New America Foundation, told IPS.

by shergald on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:47:26 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 1)

So, as the UN Security Council finally and belatedly passes a cease fire what, request?, both the senate and the house pass resolutions applauding Israel's actions. I'm really not sure if I can ever vote for any of these bought and paid for political hacks again.

by charlie on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 03:26:35 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (4.00 / 2)

Brad Sherman has a half-hour on the House floor to discuss the Middle East.

He says that the press just takes pictures of casualties and determines that the side with more is in the right. He says this is because of a misunderstanding of the Just War Theory and the concept of proportionality.

I am waiting for him to tell me a precise number of babies and children and old men Israel needs to kill to get the rockets to stop.

by BooMan on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 03:33:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

I used to print his constituents' newsletters. Good times.

Recommended by Hideo Kojima

by robertdsc on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 03:44:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

Agreeing to a cease fire worked pretty well to get the rockets to stop. Killing Palestinian babies by the hundreds does not seem to work as well.

But I think you and I can at least agree that none of this is really about getting rockets to stop.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:37:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

OT, but have you had any word from your friends in Gaza? They've been in my thoughts this week.

"Little people are very stuff-intensive."

by CabinGirl on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 06:49:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

Thanks so much, CG, for your thoughts. No, not a word. And every time I see a list of murdered Palestinians I look for their names with my heart in my mouth, and every time I hear of a residential area bombed in their city I get a sick feeling, not just for their sake, but for the sake of all those who have been victimized.

And I think a lot about whether they have food and water, and how their baby girl is handling it, and wondering how in the hell you can not come out of seeing your baby put through this without hatred and revenge in your heart.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 07:02:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

My rep voted yes. :(

Recommended by Hideo Kojima

by robertdsc on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 03:31:14 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 1)

The True Cost in Gaza?

Nightwyrm's Abstractions, posted: 8-JAN-2009 11:47

Warning: the image in the linked story is quite provoking and may disturb!

This is literally one of the saddest things I have ever seen: Dead Palestinian Girl in the Rubble. Really makes the Israeli methods seem worth it ?
(note: I'm not disputing the provocation, just their methods).

The newspaper that this comes from was so outraged and repulsed by the photo that they broke their own publishing standards to ensure the world gets to see it. The article is in Norwegian and here's the translation (from Reddit)...

This picture of the dead child in the ruins of her home which until Tuesday was her home is repulsive, and will provoke a lot of readers. It is a conscious provocation - and we have two reasons for it: Israel keep all western journalists away from the war in Gaza. The country's government claim 'the wellbeing of the journalists' as the reason, but this is an obvious lie. In modern wars, the 'strong side' does everything in its power to stop the press from documenting abuse of the civilian population, because this can weaken the support of the war.

BUT THERE ARE cameras in the war zone, and there are local photographers who are willing to go past everything that might stop them to get photos of a war in a tightly populated city out to the outside world. Pictures like this one.

There is no such thing as a 'surgical strike' in one of the most heavily populated areas in the world. This little girl died along with at least 11 other members of the Daya family when their 4-story house was bombed by Israeli planes yesterday morning. This - not the camo-painted israeli soldier, or the covered Hamas warrior, is the true face of the war.

Today we show the picture 'The Others' see, so as to better understand how they feel, Sven Egil Omdal (multimedia and cultural editor) writes.

THE MOST IMPORTANT reason for us to show this face, is that the Arab world sees pictures like these from Gaza every day. Not a single still, but hours and hours of TV-images of hospital floors full of small, dead bodies

Four year olds, two year olds, seven year olds, newly borns - THese pictures represent the war in Gaza for millions of muslims - and we wonder why the hatred against Israel and the west grows?

Fullerg

by fullerg on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 03:58:16 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 1)

"I'm not disputing the provocation"

Who is the provoker? The record is absolutely indisputable that it was Israel that broke the cease fire in a series of major, escalating attacks. Even the Israeli Ministry of Defense used the term retaliation on its website in referring to Hamas' resumption of rocket fire.

And the facts also show clearly that 1) Israel has been the one to break 75% of significant pauses in violence, 2) the longer the pause, the more likely it is that Israel will be the one to break it.

In fact, Israel's history of deliberate and insistent provocation goes back to its earliest days of statehood, and has been well documented by neutral observers from the U.N., the ICRC and other recognized organizations. Israeli officials, most notably Moshe Dayan - hardly a pro-Palestinian or a peacenik - have also admitted to it.

Actually, Hamas, the Palestinians in general, and neighboring Arab states have historically been remarkably resistant to Israeli provocations. In one 2004 fairly extended episode of escalating provocations it was not until Israel murdered Hamas leader Shiekh Ahmad Yassin, along with 9 other Palestinians who had the misfortune to be in the vicinity, that Hamas retaliated, breaking a period of quiet.

It is also a fact that Israel has made a practice of 1) assassinating leaders of the Palestinian terrorist enemy du jour during periods of pause in violence, or during negotiations intended to lead to a cease fire, 2) assassinating the moderate leaders (Shiekh Yassin, for example, was actually quite moderate) - details on request.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 06:51:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

"One of the saddest things I have ever seen."

Well, that's very sad in itself. Since that indicates that you have not taken the time to become informed of what is going on in the world around you. Because I could show you thousands and thousands of pictures of dead Afghani and Iraqi children that are infinitely worse than that. I could show you pictures of black lynched children in Jimmy Carter's American south that are much, much worse than that. And I could come up with many, more examples. I'm sure that if you took the time to find out what's going on you'll acknowledge that what Isrsel is doing is absolutely nothing to what the Christians have done in Iraq and Afghanistan, or what many, many other people have done. Not even close. Anyone who's being objective will agree with that. Anyone who disagrees is being blatantly anti-Semitic.

by mikep on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 11:48:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

Mark Fiore sums up the current conflict in a simple cartoon: "Rocket Science."

by RandyH on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:29:38 PM EST

From 1000 Miles (none / 1)

Don't most democratically elected government 'embed' themselves in the civilian population as SOP? How else to you govern and deliver services. This line of reasoning would only have made sense when Hamas was just a militant organization.

Declaring the bottom is the only way back up..

by anarchronarchist (mincers (-at-) hotmail (-dot-) com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 04:34:45 PM EST

Re: From 1000 Miles (none / 0)

Well yeaaaaahhh! And thanks for pointing that out!

And by the way, even when Hamas was just a militant organization, where else were they going to live except in their homes with their families? How stupid would they have to be to gather all together in some base in an unpopulated part (as if there is such a thing in Gaza) inside a 139 square mile densely populated area? And where do Israeli soldiers stay when they are not off oppressing or killing Arabs in Lebanon or Palestine? Why, in their homes with their families, of course. In fact, it is not unheard of, I understand, for a pilot to go out, bomb something in, say Syria, then go home to the wife and kids.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 06:58:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

Thank you, Booman!

And a huge thanks to my rep for voting "present!"

A Progressive Christian perspective on I/P at Beyond Bethlehem

by RustyPipes (rustdotypipesatyahoodotcom) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 05:40:26 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

Good job Booman. Thanks for the accounting.

by SFHawkguy on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 07:51:12 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 1)

Money hungry jerks would sell their souls to AIPAC. I'm getting very fucking fired up about this shit. Fuck you Israel! Hows that? Fuck you get off your stolen land and get the fuck out of Palestine!

I DO NOT RECOGNIZE ISRAEL's RIGHT TO EXIST!!! That land is stolen and I do not recognize the right to steal!

QUIT KILLING CHIDREN!!! YOU FUCKING SELFISH COWARDS!!!

STOP!!!

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; now we know that it is bad economics;" - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

by Salunga on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 08:02:49 PM EST

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

So, why don't you stop talking and go to Palestine and help them fight?

by mikep on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 11:49:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 0)

Why doesn't Israel just pull out of Gaza and quit killing civilians? That be a more rational answer to the mass murder taking place.

I think I'll just keep talking about the Israeli murders. ;)

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; now we know that it is bad economics;" - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

by Salunga on Sat Jan 10th, 2009 at 12:12:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution (none / 1)

The resolution is an abomination, and I am deeply ashamed to be part of this country right now.

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 9th, 2009 at 11:21:27 PM EST

The Gaza Strip Conflict Resolution | 25 comments (25 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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