Rogue states get away with
murder only so long. Eventually their crimes catch up with them. Israeli
policies are self-defeating. How long can killing civilian men, women,
children, infants, and the elderly be called self-defense?
Palestinians and eyewitnesses explain best. Mondoweiss contributor Adie
Mormech saw smoke rise after Israeli bombs exploded.
"Words fail me," he said. Bombing feels almost constant.
"I can barely write a sentence with more news."
Six injuries from one bombing.
A four-year old child struck playing in the street.
An elderly Zaytoun neighborhood man killed. Four others injured.
The same scenario plays out across Gaza. Trapped civilians have nowhere
to hide. Israel terrorizes them. World leaders blame Palestinian victims.
They're complicit in Israeli crimes.
Adie teachers 12-year old Abdullah Samouni. "We're really scared," he
said. He lost his father. During Cast Lead, his four-year old brother
was shot. "In three days, Abdullah was injured and lost 29 members of
his extended family."
How much more can he and others take? Al Shifa Hospital admits patients
constantly…."an elderly man, a young man, a child, two more children."
A 10-month old child with brain damage and a fractured skull. Her tiny
body wasn't strong enough to survive.
Who knows what's next. "The complete madness of this violence makes me
wonder what we have done to ourselves. How do we allow humanity to manifest
itself in this way."
On November 14, Israel launched Operation Pillar of Cloud. Sunday is day
five. Over 1,000 sorties were flown.
Ground and offshore shelling supplements them. Mostly civilians and non-military
targets are attacked. Israel prioritizes noncombatant killing and destruction.
Civilians comprised over 80% of Cast Lead casualties. Media scoundrels
pretend otherwise.
Reality is Gaza is as follows. Around 1.7 million people are trapped under
siege. Humanitarian crisis conditions are longstanding.
Prior to Operation Pillar of Cloud, Israel launched intermittent air,
ground, and offshore attacks. Wives lose husbands. Husbands lose wives.
Parents lose children. They lose siblings. Extended family members perish.
So do good friends.
No one's safe anywhere anytime. No one's sure who'll live or die. When
Palestinians respond defensively, they're called terrorists. Israeli aggression
is called justifiable self-defense.
How many Palestinian deaths and injuries will prove otherwise? How much
wanton destruction is needed to expose Israeli state terror?
How much human suffering will be permitted before leaders able to stop
it say no more? How long will Israel be allowed to get away with murder?
Israel's partnership with America threatens world peace. One day expect
a tipping point to be reached. When public rage crosses a threshold of
no return, all bets are off.
World outrage about Israeli crimes grows. Did Israel overstep this time?
Millions of ordinary people say so. They support Palestine. They're outraged
about daily bombing, shelling, slaughter, and destruction.
Civilians are willfully targeted. Innocent men, women, children, infants
and the elderly are dying. Many others are injured. Many are in serious
condition. Some won't survive. Others will be maimed for life.
Illegal terror weapons are used. Injuries sustained are horrific. Doctors
see charred, scorched, ripped apart patients.
Some show up with horrible burns, lost limbs, brain damage, or other major
injuries. Others arrive dead.
Every day is Kristallnacht in Palestine. Besieged Gaza replicates Warsaw
ghetto conditions. Under attack, it resembles early days of its uprising.
For European Jews, it was a seminal historic moment.
They were sealed off behind high walls 10 feet high and 11 miles long.
Peak population exceeded 400,000. Overcrowding crammed residents into
an area about two and a half miles long by a mile wide.
Conditions were horrific. Food was scare. Little was available. Hunger
and malnutrition were extreme. Starvation was common. Sanitation collapsed.
Disease was rampant. Medical treatment was nonexistent.
Thousands died monthly. Corpses lay in streets. By early 1943, only 60,000
remained. Others starved to death, perished from disease, or died in concentration
camps.
In mid-February, final "resettlement" was ordered. Residents knew it meant
gas chamber death. Many decided to resist at all costs. Positions were
fortified in sewers, cellars, vaults, and other areas.
Residents had some small arms and homemade grenades. Mostly, they were
determined to resist. In April, emptying the ghetto was ordered. Its size
was reduced to about 1,000 by 300 yards.
On April 19, 5,000 SS and regular army troops stormed the ghetto. They
were heavily armed with tanks, artillery, flame throwers and dynamite
squads.
Against great odds, Jews stood their ground heroically. They resisted
involuntary resettlement. Men and women fought together. Nazi ferocity
increased.
Germans were vicious. Captives were tortured. Mother had babies torn from
their arms. They watched helplessly as solders smashed their heads against
walls to save bullets.
By May 16, resistance collapsed. Most held firm to the end. Captured survivors
were murdered in Treblinka and other camps. Final resolution was never
in doubt. Symbolically the Jews won. They fought Nazi viciousness because
it mattered.
One observer said they "knew that they might not overcome their enemies
but refused to suppress their recognition of what they were undergoing
or deny their lack of hope while they resisted being overcome by despair
and anguish."
News of their struggle spread across Europe. Other ghetto residents, labor
camp inmates, Eastern front partisans, and death camp victims were inspired
by their example.
Courageous Gazans won't surrender to Israeli viciousness. What's ahead
remains to play out. Unfolding events may have a long way to go.
If Israel invades, will ordinary Gazans resist the way Warsaw ghetto Jews
did from April 19 to May 16 1943 against long odds? Perhaps now is their
moment of truth.
Occupied Warsaw Jews were isolated on their own. Gazans have millions
of worldwide supporters. Resistance will make alternative media headlines.
Heroism will be too evident to hide.
Media scoundrels will try. Others will expose their lies, duplicity, and
support for Israeli terror. Now's the time to resist. Ordinary Gazans
have a chance to make history.
What they do may hasten Palestinian liberation. Future generations will
thank them. So will many others who believe might never makes right, and
equity and justice matter most. |