name: Yuram Abdullah Weiler
Comments and thoughts of an American Muslim on US Foreign policy in the Middle East and the so-called War on Terror,examining the contradictions from a perspective of justice, fairness and human rights.
Massacre at Beit Hanoun
20 November, 2006
During the week of 2 to 8 November, while people in the US were preoccupied with the mid-term elections, a massacre took place in Gaza, with 86 human beings killed by Israeli forces. This massacre, as well as the continuing Israeli assault on Gaza seems to go largely unnoticed by the mainstream US media.
Israeli forces began the assault, called "Operation Autumn Clouds," on Beit Hanoun and the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, 1 November 2006.[1] Since that time, Israeli forces have continued to launch air strikes on houses and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip, razing large areas in Beit Hanoun as well as in neighboring areas.
I must ask the question, why is this massacre being ignored in the US Press? Is it because we Americans are too preoccupied with ourselves and our recent elections? Is it because the killing of a mere 86 people is not sufficient to warrant our attention against the background of murder in Iraq, where that many people are killed on a daily basis? Or perhaps, is it because reporting the massacre would not serve the best interests of a particular US/Israeli agenda, which is to justify the “War on Terror” and its crucial battlefront, the “Arab/Israeli conflict?”
We have been programmed by the US media to believe that since Palestinians are supporters of Hamas, they are terrorists, and hence legitimate targets for Israeli violence.[2] Just how much violence occurred? During the week of 2 to 8 November 2006 alone, 86 people were killed, according to the Weekly Report from Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. [3] Some details of the report are listed in what follows.
86 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, 52 of whom were civilians, including 16 children and 10 women.
Out of the 86 killed by Israeli forces, 70 of the victims were from Beit Hanoun and nearby areas in the northern Gaza Strip.
17 of the victims, mostly women and children, came from the same family and were killed when Israeli forces shelled their home.
254 Palestinians, including 58 women and 71 children, were wounded by Israeli forces.
Predictably, the US vetoed United Nations Security Council Resolution 8867 which would have condemned the Israeli massacre in Gaza.[4] Concerning the wording of the resolution, US Ambassador John Bolton felt that it "does not display an even-handed characterization of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace".[5] 86 human beings have been killed and the condemnation of this outrage would not advance the cause of peace, according to the US Ambassador.
And what of an even-handed characterization, to use Bolton’s words, of US support of Israel? The US has used its veto power over 40 times to reject United Nations resolutions that would have censured Israel for its occupation of Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian territories and its aggressions into them.[6] What makes this particular veto stand out is that despite Israeli admission of responsibility for the deaths, the US vetoed it anyway, perhaps out of habit.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted that at least 18 of the deaths were due to a “technical failure” and not a result of Israeli policy.[7] Lest one think that the tragedy that happened in Beit Hanoun was some sort of an anomaly instead of the result of planned, premeditated attacks, consider that since 25 June 2006:
342 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 64 children and 15 women, have been killed by Israeli forces.
At least 1186 Palestinian civilians, including 344 children and 49 women, have been wounded by gunfire from Israeli forces.
At least 292 air-to-surface missiles and hundreds of artillery shells have been fired at Palestinian civilian and military targets in the Gaza Strip.[8]
All of this firepower has been unleashed on Gaza, supposedly in retaliation for the launching of the inaccurate, primitive, home-manufactured Qassam rockets that have killed 8 people and injured 16, including 3 children and 1 woman. Ironically, those last killed were two Arab Israelis in March of 2006.[9] Have the Israeli assaults into Gaza stopped the missile attacks? No, on the contrary, more powerful and longer range Katyusha rockets are beginning to show up.[10]
At least elsewhere in the world, outrage over this atrocity is being expressed. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema called the violence in the Gaza Strip "unacceptable," and declared "There are some who say that the tragedy in Beit Hanoun was a mistake. But there was no mistake. What happened in Beit Hanoun is a result of political choices."[11] In Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini stated in stronger language, "The indifference toward the Israeli atrocities runs contrary to the United Nations Charter’s articles on genocide and crimes against humanity."[12]
What shall we do? Shall we remain in our isolated shell of blindness and indifference and allow the Palestinian genocide to continue, or shall we endeavor to make sincere and strenuous efforts to halt Israeli aggression and strive for peace? If we really want to see peace then we must demand that Israel stop these brutal assaults and recognize the democratically-elected government of Palestine. We must also demand that the US stop acting as a roadblock to peace through its veto power in the Security Council, and begin to act as the international peace-broker and guardian of human rights it claims to be.
Yuram
2006-11-15
[1] Rory McCarthy, Beit Hanoun: Israelis pull out leaving trail of death, Guardian Unlimited, 8 November 2006
[2] Aaron Klein, Palestinian terrorists: Attack U.S. targets, WorldNetDaily, 8 November 2006
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52863
[3] Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Weekly Report, 2 – 8 November 2006
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2006/pdf/weekly%20report%2043.pdf
[4] UN News Service, US Vetoes UN Security Council Draft Resolution on Israeli Operations in Gaza, 11 November 2006
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20576&Cr=Palestin&Cr1=
[5] UN, Security Council Fails To Adopt Draft Resolution On Middle East, Owing To Negative Vote By United States, Department of Public Information , News and Media Division, 11 November 2006
[6] Jewish Virtual Library, U.S. Vetoes of UN Resolutions Critical of Israel (1972-2006)
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/UN/usvetoes.html
[8] PCHR, Weekly Report, 2-8 November 2006
[9] Honest Reporting, A Few Homemade Rockets?, 6 April 2006
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/-Homemade-_Rockets$.asp
[10] BBC News, Gaza’s Rocket Threat to Israel, 15 November, 2006
[11] Ynet News, Italy: Israel Shelled Beit Hanoun Deliberately, 12 November 2006
Comments
Arabs Muslims are massacring african muslims. DO you know that . Why don't hypcrite arabs see it.
They Jordan and Eqypt occupied Palestinian territories from 1948-1967. Why did they not announce Palestinian State then ?
Munaeem | 20/11/2006, 19:59
Q-Why don't Palestinian ask their leaders to reign in militants who are firing Qassams?
In the last election, Hamas obtained a majority, showing the people's dissatisfaction with the Fatah leadership. The first Intifada started in 1987, 20 years after the '67 war and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and honestly, what has been accomplished in terms of peace? The situation is basically the same stalemate. Israel is still in control of the situation economically and militarily and to expect the people not to resist and try to effect change by whatever means possible is unrealistic.
A new approach is needed since the old approaches have not worked. Hamas offered Israel a 10 year cease fire. Let Israel take a risk and stop the bombing and shelling. Let it recognize and actually talk to the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinians and see what happens.
Q-Arabs Muslims are massacring african muslims. DO you know that . Why don't hypcrite arabs see it.
Yes. The situation in Darfur is a tragedy. Those who are doing this in the name of Islam have highjacked the religion. Have you heard of Ted Haggard and the New Life Church here in the US? Hypocrites come in all religions.
Yuram | 21/11/2006, 11:39
Q-They Jordan and Eqypt occupied Palestinian territories from 1948-1967. Why did they not announce Palestinian State then ?
Israel did not allow effective implementation of a Palestinian state as required by UN Partition plan of 1947. Look at the difference between the 1947 and 1948 maps. If Great Britain could not implement the plan, how could the much weaker Jordan and Egypt?
Yuram | 21/11/2006, 12:25
Why don't Palestinian ask their leaders to reign in militants who are firing Qassams? Because their rash adventurism is giving Israel the pretext to kill Palestinians.
munaeem | 20/11/2006, 19:54 [ Reply ]