Sherri Muzher

@T=Israel declared a unilateral truce in Gaza before President Barack Obama's inauguration, but does it mean anything?
Consider these statements by South African Anglican archbishop and Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu at a September 2008 press conference.
""I think the West, quite rightly, is feeling contrite, penitent, for its awful connivance with the Holocaust,"" he said. ""The penance is being paid by the Palestinians. I just hope again that ordinary citizens in the West will wake up and say, 'We refuse to be part of this.' ""
Tutu was especially concerned about Gazan suffering.
These statements occurred during the six-month truce that Israel insists was working well.
During that truce, the International Middle East Media Center (a collaboration of international and Palestinian journalists) reported that the Israeli army killed 23 Palestinians, wounded 62 and kidnapped 38 residents in the Gaza Strip.
In terms of the daily life for Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has regularly been blocking medical supplies, food, and fuels for the past two years. Prior to the latest attacks, many have died from treatable illnesses due to the blocking of medical supplies.
A Reuters article, citing research from Save the Children (in the United Kingdom), noted that 70 percent of Palestinian children have a vitamin A deficiency and almost half of children under age 2 were anemic due to the border blockade. Early last year, a Toronto Star article featured Palestinians having to drive on cooking oil due to fuel being blocked.
Our media didn't cover these tactics.
The Israeli Defense Force's revelation in a Haaretz article that it overestimated Gaza's rocket severity went unnoticed by our media. The bombing continued, as did the self-righteousness.
Perhaps, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe put it best in a recent article on Gaza. He wrote: ""The self-righteousness is a powerful act of self-denial and justification. It explains why the Israeli Jewish society would not be moved by words of wisdom, logical persuasion or diplomatic dialogue.""
Though we live in the 21st century, it seems that maybe our Western world (specifically the United States) has been caught in a time warp. Some actually think it can atone for the crimes of World War II by giving Israel the green light to commit more crimes against humanity. But ignoring Israel's embargo and the killing of Palestinians dishonors the memories of those who were murdered for who they were during World War II.
Just because there are no ovens or gassing in the conflict doesn't mean that it's less genocidal. And when Israel intentionally blocks humanitarian goods and aims to make life so miserable that Palestinians will want to leave all the while dehumanizing them in the process, Israel is committing genocide.
Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide doesn't make exceptions for motive. In other words, using Hamas as an excuse is unacceptable.
The convention discusses ""Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group's physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services. Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.""
As to Israel's 2005 pullout from Gaza? Israel's B'Tselem, a human rights group, notes that Israel has maintained complete control over the airspace, waterways, the movement of goods and most elements of the taxation system. Israeli Palestinian citizens continue to be denied entry into Gaza even to visit family.
Israel, a victim? Not even close.
Sherri Muzher is director of the Michigan Media Watch in Woodhaven.
{Source: detnews.com)