For the last week, I've been generally avoiding watching the news. When I have watched it, it has shown the usual depressing site of Israeli warplanes bombing Gaza, the wounded screaming, an entire society - already starving and in the dark due to Israeli collective punishment - being reduced to bloody rubble. And now they've moved on to stage two - Israeli tanks and soldiers moving into that bloody rubble to inflict even more suffering on their victims. And all I can do about it is scream in outrage.
Outrage at Israel's disproportionate military response. Yes, Hamas fired rockets. Yes, that's bad (as if it needs to be said). But those rockets are an annoyance, not an existential threat. Responding with an unlimited campaign of aerial bombardment and killing 400 people in response can only be described as murder. As Robert Fisk points out, similar attacks were carried out by the IRA on British territory in the 70's and 80's, but the UK government did not respond by sending the RAF to carpet bomb Ireland into rubble, because it would rightly have been seen as a crime. And that's exactly what Israel is committing today in Gaza (and has been committing for a long time): a war crime. And their political leadership should be held to account for it, just as those responsible for murdering civilians in WWII were held to account.
Outrage at the US and UK's collaboration in this crime. Those bombs and missiles raining down on Gaza are provided by the US. Israel's warmongering is funded by the US taxpayer, who provide a quarter of Israel's military budget. When Israel starts bombing, the US covers for them in the UN, preventing that institution from functioning properly to end the conflict and find a solution (and they have the balls to complain that it is "dysfunctional"...) Their attitude is perfectly captured by a cartoon in the Independent: as Olmert bathes in blood, Bush and Brown ask him "soft soap, sir?"
Outrage at the New Zealand government, which has swiftly taken the US lead and is remaining conspicuously silent about Israel's crimes. "It is pointless to fingerpoint about who is responsible, or debate what is [a] proportionate versus disproportionate response"? Take a bow, Murry McCully.
Outrage at the Israeli and Palestinian politicians, both of whom effectively conspire together to murder civilians to improve their own political standing. Hamas gains support from Israel's oppression - so they provoke Israel to increase it and provide them with new "martyrs" (and new recruits). Israeli politicians gain support by being seen to be "tough on terror" - so they respond with disproportionate force to any provocation (especially when there is an election coming up). The two sides give each other exactly what they want - endless, politically profitable atrocity.
Outrage at Israel's persistent belief that it can get what it wants by application of brute military force. The old joke applies: bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity. But there's a bigger, practical problem as well: the Gaza strip is 40 km long by 8 km wide. Hamas' homemade rockets have a range of at least 40 km. Which makes the Israeli government's claim that they will bring security by seizing "launch areas" - and its entire justification for a ground offensive - a sick, stupid joke. Short of occupying Gaza with enough troops to maintain a physical presence on every patch of ground bigger than a desk - something which would require a massive commitment of troops, and expose the occupiers to every trick in the Iraq playbook - Israel cannot gain security by military means. Its only way of stopping Hamas' niggling pinpricks is to reach a political settlement. And every person it murders with its grossly disproportionate response is another body in the wall of corpses standing in the way of that solution.
Unfortunately, the current crop of Israeli politicians is apparently incapable of recognising that, blinded by a mythology of military success even though it spectacularly failed to work just three years ago. And so they will continue to bomb, people will continue to die, and peace will get even further away. The overwhelming image is of a man trying to crush a sandfly with a hammer - unlikely to be successful, and it causes more damage than a sandfly is worth. But how can Israelis be made to see that?