Middle East Madness (The Morning Star)
Presentation and language are crucial in reporting and debating the horrors of the Middle East. Most of the media present the war as a conflict of equals: Israel versus Lebanon or Israel versus Hezbollah or Israel versus Palestine; as though they have equal powers and status. Israel is now in the top four of the worlds arms exporters, receives over bn per year in “security aid” and eternally defends its actions as being solely defensive. Undoubtedly Hezbollah has arms, as does the state of Lebanon as does Palestine.
Neither Hezbollah, Lebanon or Palestine are in any way comparable with Israel and most of the Palestinians have nothing at all to withstand the onslaught of US built jets, tanks, ships and all the electronic paraphernalia that modern armies have.
This is not a conflict of equals as the G8 leaders seem apt to claim.
We should also look at the language used to describe the events as they unfold.
Three weeks ago the Palestinian President Mohmood Abbas and the Parliamentary leadership of Hamas were talking, and a dialogue (at least through interlocutors with Israel) seemed on the cards.
At that point an Israeli soldier on active combat duty, was taken prisoner by a Palestinian Group. This was immediately followed by a re-invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces, systematic bombing of water and electricity supplies, destruction of bridges, arrest of elected Parliamentarians and to ensure an atmosphere of terror, supersonic planes flew low over Gaza to deny anyone peace at any time. This is terrorism by the state, or to put it bluntly, state terrorism.
For a population that have survived for fifty years on UN food, intermittent water supplies and sporadic authority to work in Israel, the current situation is probably as bad as ever: with unemployment over 70 % in the most densely populated place in the world and now one of the poorest. The support for Hamas is obvious; the one organisation that was providing services for the people and was not tainted with the corruption of so many other officials.
Hezbollah fired some rockets into Israel from Southern Lebanon where they are strong, and also participate in Parliament in Beirut. This action was the next pretext for action by the Israeli Defence Force.
The massive bombardment of Southern Lebanon has not just been directed at Hezbollah bases, but at roads, bridges, the airport, sea port, and even at fleeing refugees with their cars piled high with personal effects. Of late Israel has extended the bombing right to the frontier with Syria, and one wonders if the provocation this will bring is part of a grand plan.
The language used by Israel to defend its actions is then echoed around the world – repeatedly Bush links Hezbollah to Iran and thus openly encourages the notion that the conflict can be solved by starting yet another war, this time in Iran.
These are extremely dangerous times and in “putting Lebanon back twenty years” the conflicts of decades to come may well have their seeds sown today.
The G8 leaders met in great splendour in St Petersburg, agreed a statement which they all promptly disagreed with, and wrung their hands in despair.
Israel parrots the mantra of self defence as the attacks get worse, the civilian death toll mounts ever higher, and its obvious military advantage grows.
Just like the US and Britain in Iraq, Israel’s massive air superiority is obvious. The next stage of this awful logic is that Israel will invade Lebanon and be once more embroiled in a guerrilla war that will fan the flames of conflict throughout the region. The boast by an Israeli general that they will put the country back twenty years is already reality.
There is a peace movement in Israel that constantly points out that these policies do not enhance security or peace, but are the fertilizer of eternal conflict. Uri Avnery, a correspondent for the Morning Star, regularly explains this. We should not just admire, but actively support those in Israel who continually make the points about the need for peace, and that this can only be obtained through justice for the Palestinians. However so long as the USA continues to pour money into Israel, and to have such influence in Washington, the political leadership can carry on with wars and occupations, and with it the concept of permanent war.
The West talk of adhering to the rule of law; Israel is in a league of its own when it comes to broken UN resolutions over occupations, the construction of the wall into Palestine which the World Court has declared illegal, and now the bombing of Lebanon, specifically targeting civilians is as bad and as wrong as anything done before.
Last Monday Kim Howells made a statement on behalf of the Foreign Secretary in which he floated Tony Blair’s idea of some sort of international force to go into the region. It met with little support or sympathy, many MPs seeing it as yet another military involvement without aims or end in sight.
I specifically asked that in the event of Israel not suspending its actions, not observing a ceasefire, what will the G8 do? The EU-Israel Trade Agreement has human rights clauses (all breached) and should therefore be suspended. The US has within its power the ability to close off the vast sums of money Israel receives but will not do it. Tony Blair is apparently so concerned about George Bush’s unpopularity he offered to go to the region in place of Condoleezza Rice. We only learnt this priceless nugget from a microphone left open during a private chat between Bush and Blair. Maybe the whole G8 should be broadcast next time.
The international anti war movement came together in 2001 to oppose the invasion of Afghanistan, and then Iraq. We have always made the point that the cause of the Palestinian people is at the heart of the whole problem.
This Saturday there will be a demonstration assembling at 12.00 on the Embankment in London. It matters desperately to people under bombardment in Gaza and Lebanon that we are there to show they are not alone. It matters to show the world that a conflagration involving Syria and Iran will unleash killing and destruction far greater than anything seen in the past five years.
