Fatah Enters The Fray

Now that we have reached the month ‘anniversary’ of the bloodshed in Gaza, let us review the political implications of the now (failed) attempt of Israel to depose Hamas in the disputed region. Not only has the death count exceeded 1,200 Palestinians (an enormous percentage of which have been confirmed by all major International Aid Agencies as civilian women and children), but the fragile ceasefire is all but a mirage - with the dramatic introduction of Fatah’s military wing (the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade) claiming responsibility for Wednesday night’s rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. 

As expected, news coverage is beginning to tire of the images and repetitive daily updates of Gaza militants firing rockets into Israel/of the Israeli response (always overwhelming and disproportionate), and of the cries of NGOs and aid workers declaring an ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Bo-ring. 

What is perhaps ‘new’ and important to recognize, is the participation of the predominantly West Bank-based Fatah Party in the recent rocket attacks emanating from Gaza. Long viewed by the West as the ‘legitimate’ Palestinian faction and led by a recognized leader in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah is universally regarded as the only partner capable of continuing the almost non-existent peace process. In other words, the West’s preferred partner is turning militant. Not only that, the desired (and Western cultivated) belligerence between Hamas and Fatah is clearly melting away.

This leaves Israel - and the fate of the Middle East - in a precarious situatuon indeed. With Fatah’s military wing aligning with Hamas (perhaps signifying a precursor to a similar accord between the factions’ political segments), Israel is becoming surrounded. Worse, the West’s chosen partner (puppet?) is turning against them - and in the process, eliminating a key leadership with which to negotiate peace. 

It doesn’t take a soothsayer to predict what will happen next. A wider Intifada? Or perhaps a wider regional Arab conflict?

Sadly, both are becoming more probable.

How We Witness This War

Writing this post somewhere over the Atlantic en route to the United States with a few European newspapers spread around me, I can’t help but wonder what Americans are being told, or what they truly know about the disaster that is unfolding in Gaza. My original intention when I opened my laptop was to create a massive list of Human Rights violations, war crimes, and links to the articles I have just read highlighting the ongoing and irrefutable evidence of Israeli war crimes that are occurring all over Gaza - and have been for almost 3 weeks.

However, there is something about long-haul flights that prohibits the obvious and begs deeper consideration of the greater situation at hand and what as modern world citizens we are witnessing - and perhaps more urgently, how we are witnessing it.

I have been fortunate enough to have been granted access to two major newsroom broadcast centres in the past few years - CNN’s kinetic news floor in Atlanta, and the sombre and always proud newsroom of Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar.  I often juxtapose the stark difference between these two newsrooms as a larger metaphor for their divergent approaches to journalism and media responsibility.

The comparison is not difficult - CNN remaining firmly an ‘American’ news source with reporters camped well outside of Gaza (alongside almost every news organization in the world) - and Al Jazeera, deeply embedded within Gaza and providing the  most accurate picture of what is actually happening inside the heart of the conflict. But the metaphor extends well past access, with the nuances of the newsrooms providing a small glimpse into the greater (and divergent) approach to the trade.

In the Atlanta newsroom, you would be forgiven for believing you had stepped onto a Hollywood film set, with stylists, make-up artists, and yes, even a hairspray-attendent on call to adjust the appearance of the news-readers at any (and every) possible break. In Doha, by contrast, the feel is very technical (with plenty of lights and equipment) but given the relentless pace of their task, there is an unmistakable air of calm - of deep purpose. So laid back are the Al Jazeera presenters and support staff, that I was amazed I was even witnessing a live broadcast. Even more amazing when one considers the (now proven) military targeting of Al Jazeera offices in Baghdad and Kabul that makes even working in the Doha office a plausible hazard. As I walked around the Al Jazeera complex in Qatar, I was repeatedly struck by the devotion to journalism that is evident at almost every turn (from the quotes stenciled on the walls - including comments from Gandhi and Bob Dylan) to the outdoor monument to fallen journalists from around the world, proudly perched between the English and Arabic broadcast centres.

Media is about presentation. It is about appearance and delivery. It is also about journalism - a vocation while often (and easily) denigrated by outliers such as paparazzi and the tabloid press - remains a very necessary force for both good and evil.

As I cross the Atlantic and tonight will be watching CNN, Fox News or similar, I know the American people will not be receiving the entire story about the crisis in Gaza, much less the history of the conflict which is so crucial to understanding its solution. Rather, the sound-bites and news flashes I will witness will be choreographed, finely-tuned to fit within 90 or 120-second windows, and metaphorically, covered in make-up and hairspray. None of the raw images, the unrehearsed stories and desperate appeals - however disconcerting - will be allowed.

As we in Europe protest, and enjoy a wide array of press dispatches from across a broad spectrum of classically ‘conservative’ to overtly ‘liberal’ sources, our leaders remain hand-strung to truly voice what most of Europe is feeling about Gaza - fearing a stark departure from U.S. Foreign Policy, and carefully plotting the best path forward with a new administration only 4 days away.

So as citizens, where does the real power lie? Unfortunately not with Europeans, but most certainly in the hands of American citizens. We have seen the UN fail conclusively over the past week, issuing Resolution Order 1860, which aside from making a few news bytes, has done little to change Israel’s course in the war on Gaza. We have also seen a number of European leaders ‘demand’ an immediate ceasefire, calls that have been met with outright disdain from an Israeli leadership who have absolutely no fear of international criticism, save that heretofore un-voiced by America. With the full and blind support of the United States (a phrase that is even more poignant when one considers the media available to ordinary Americans), Israel will never back down from its desire to eradicate Hamas, regardless of the mounting civilian casualties and clear violations of human rights we know is occurring. The key is the United States, and the power rests firmly in the hands of its citizens.

We have witnessed a unity in America over the past year that has taken even the harshest cynics by surprise. The election of Barack Obama proved Americans can not only galvanize toward a new direction, but can swiftly act when a decisive moment is at hand.

And never has that been more required than right now.

I will keep an open mind this weekend as I thumb through the New York Times and Washington Post, hoping to find commentary or opinion pieces that match the European mood. But I cannot hold out hope that Americans will learn the truth about Gaza, its history, and most importantly, their vital place in stopping the bloodshed from CNN or Fox or ABC or NBC. Without news organizations such as Al Jazeera (which most Americans unfairly connect to images of Bin Laden crouched in a cave wagging an ominous finger at the U.S.), the truth will be very hard to come by here.

So perhaps this is a job for all of us.

If you see an American today, please pass this on. I intend to keep very busy doing just that over the next few days.

bruised earth on iPhone

Check out bruised earth on your Apple iPhone or iPod Touch - now fully customized! http://bruisedearth.org

Mocking The UN (and us)

On Friday, following almost two weeks of relative inaction, the United Nations Security Council finally drafted UN Resolution Order 1860, a crucial directive  calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli Defense Force withdrawal, transfer of crucial supplies to the region, and humanitarian aid to devastated Palestinians whose appalling situation is nothing short of catastrophic.

Early on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not only renounced Resolution 1860 outright, but criticized the United Nations and the international community for demanding a ceasefire of Israel before its ’security goals had been met’. In a moment of prescient irony, Prime Minister Olmert went on to claim that ‘what is acceptable for every other country in the world is barely accepted when it comes to Israel.’

And in that regard, the man definitely has a point.

At last count, Israel has either flagrantly disregarded or flat our ignored at least 66 UN Security Council Resolutions in its brief 60 years as a nation - tallying an impressive ratio of more than 1 UN Resolution ignored per year of existence. Bravo.

In this regard Israel leads the Middle East and not surprisingly - the rest of the world - in UN Security Council Resolution belligerence.

Just to help elaborate on what an important number ‘66′ actually is, it is important to note that Iran has been issued 24 UN Resolutions since the United Nations was formed, and prior to the first Gulf War, Iraq amassed a whopping total of 14 Security Council Resolutions. For both Iran and Iraq these ‘excessive’ Resolutions not only led to stringent and crippling UN Sanctions, but in the case of Iraq - the ‘moral justification’ for regime change and the disastrous invasion of the country.

It’s truly amazing the United Nations has time for any other Global business as the drafting of Israeli Security Council Resolutions must surely keep them inundated. What do you suppose would happen if say Libya or North Korea or even Syria had 66 outstanding UN Resolutions that were arrogantly ignored, rejected, and lampooned by their Heads of State? What would our leaders then decry?

So Mr. Olmert is indeed correct. What is demanded of every other country in the world is not demanded of Israel.

Or perhaps put in simpler terms - why should a bully who goes unpunished cease being a bully?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

CODA: A Quick List of the 66 UN Resolutions (woops, make that 67 now) which have been ignored since Israel’s formation in 1948. Note to the reader, you may want to get a sandwich and beverage:

1. Resolution 111: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people”.
2. Resolution 127: ” … ‘recommends’ Israel suspends its ‘no-man’s zone’ in Jerusalem”.
3. Resolution 162: ” … ‘urges’ Israel to comply with UN decisions”.
4. Resolution 171: ” … determines flagrant violations’ by Israel in its attack on Syria”.
5. Resolution 228: ” … ‘censures’ Israel for its attack on Samu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control”.
6. Resolution 237: ” … ‘urges’ Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees”.
7. Resolution 242 (November 22, 1967): Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area. Calls on Israel’s neighbors to end the state of belligerency and calls upon Israel to reciprocate by withdraw its forces from land claimed by other parties in 1967 war. Interpreted commonly today as calling for the Land for peace principle as a way to resolve Arab-Israeli conflict
8. Resolution 248: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan”.
9. Resolution 250: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to refrain from holding military parade in Jerusalem”.
10. Resolution 251: ” … ‘deeply deplores’ Israeli military parade in Jerusalem in defiance of Resolution 250″.
11. Resolution 252: ” … ‘declares invalid’ Israel’s acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital”.
12. Resolution 256: ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli raids on Jordan as ‘flagrant violation”.
13. Resolution 259: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation”.
14. Resolution 262: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for attack on Beirut airport”.
15. Resolution 265: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for air attacks for Salt in Jordan”.
16. Resolution 267: ” … ‘censures’ Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem”.
17. Resolution 270: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon”.
18. Resolution 271: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem”.
19. Resolution 279: ” … ‘demands’ withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon”.
20. Resolution 280: ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli’s attacks against Lebanon”.
21. Resolution 285: ” … ‘demands’ immediate Israeli withdrawal form Lebanon”.
22. Resolution 298: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s changing of the status of Jerusalem”.
23. Resolution 313: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel stop attacks against Lebanon”.
24. Resolution 316: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon”.
25. Resolution 317: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon”.
26. Resolution 332: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s repeated attacks against Lebanon”.
27. Resolution 337: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for violating Lebanon’s sovereignty”.
28. Resolution 347: ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli attacks on Lebanon”.
29. Resolution 3379: “…’establishes’ Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination”.
30. Resolution 425 (1978): ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon”. Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was completed as of 16 June 2000.
31. Resolution 427: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon”.
32. Resolution 444: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces”.
33. Resolution 446 (1979): ‘determines’ that Israeli settlements are a ’serious obstruction’ to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention”.
34. Resolution 450: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon”.
35. Resolution 452: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories”.
36. Resolution 465: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel’s settlements program”.
37. Resolution 467: ” … ’strongly deplores’ Israel’s military intervention in Lebanon”.
38. Resolution 468: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to rescind illegal expulsions of two Palestinian mayors and a judge and to facilitate their return”.
39. Resolution 469: ” … ’strongly deplores’ Israel’s failure to observe the council’s order not to deport Palestinians”.
40. Resolution 471: ” … ‘expresses deep concern’ at Israel’s failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention”.
41. Resolution 476: ” … ‘reiterates’ that Israel’s claim to Jerusalem are ‘null and void’”.
42. Resolution 478 (20 August 1980): ‘censures (Israel) in the strongest terms’ for its claim to Jerusalem in its ‘Basic Law’.
43. Resolution 484: ” … ‘declares it imperative’ that Israel re-admit two deported Palestinian mayors”.
44. Resolution 487: ” … ’strongly condemns’ Israel for its attack on Iraq’s nuclear facility”.
45. Resolution 497 (17 December 1981) decides that Israel’s annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights is ‘null and void’ and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith.
46. Resolution 498: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon”.
47. Resolution 501: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops”.
48. Resolution 509: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel withdraw its forces forthwith and unconditionally from Lebanon”.
49. Resolution 515: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and allow food supplies to be brought in”.
50. Resolution 517: ” … ‘censures’ Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon”.
51. Resolution 518: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel cooperate fully with UN forces in Lebanon”.
52. Resolution 520: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s attack into West Beirut”.
53. Resolution 573: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel ‘vigorously’ for bombing Tunisia in attack on PLO headquarters.
54. Resolution 587 ” … ‘takes note’ of previous calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and urges all parties to withdraw”.
55. Resolution 592: ” … ’strongly deplores’ the killing of Palestinian students at Bir Zeit University by Israeli troops”.
56. Resolution 605: ” … ’strongly deplores’ Israel’s policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians.
57. Resolution 607: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel not to deport Palestinians and strongly requests it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
58. Resolution 608: ” … ‘deeply regrets’ that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians”.
59. Resolution 636: ” … ‘deeply regrets’ Israeli deportation of Palestinian civilians.
60. Resolution 641: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s continuing deportation of Palestinians.
61. Resolution 672: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for “violence against Palestinians” at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.
62. Resolution 673: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the United Nations.
63. Resolution 681: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s resumption of the deportation of Palestinians.
64. Resolution 694: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return.
65. Resolution 726: ” … ’strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians.
66. Resolution 799: “. . . ’strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of 413 Palestinians and calls for their immediate return.
67. Resolution 1860 (9 January 2009) called for the full cessation of war between Israel and Hamas.

The Wider War

Too little too late? Early on Thursday, four rockets were fired from Southern Lebanon into Israel, sparking the all too predictable wider response from the Arab world to the ongoing massacre in Gaza. With Egypt remaining strictly behind U.S. reigns, and Jordan showing no signs of significant international pressure, militias in the south of Lebanon have vented their frustration in, perhaps, what is the beginning of a much larger conflict - an ideological war that Israel surely must have expected.

It is difficult to imagine the crusading triumvirate of Olmert, Barak, and Livni not charting a cause/effect scenario should hostilities and (predictable) civilian casualties in Gaza mount - as they continue to defy international pleas and expected U.N. directives for an immediate ceasefire.

With the death toll now exceeding 700 (which Palestinian medical sources say includes 219 children, 89 women, and over 3,000 wounded) and with the air strikes and ground offensive resuming after just a 3-hour ‘humanitarian halt’, perhaps the only word of hope and solace that can possibly emanate from the carnage we are relentlessly witnessing on TV, and across the internet - is the hope of awareness.

Awareness of how and why this conflict began.

Awareness of the brazen and reckless attitude of Israeli military commanders who continue to disregard both international aid stations and the stipulations of the Fourth Geneva Convention dealing with the protection of non-combatant civilians during wartime.

As we know, the media-driven ‘15 minutes’ moves rapidly, particularly when the news is of Palestinian suffering - but the world is slowly beginning to see the trends and perhaps, the true face of Israel who stands defiant in their cause to not only disregard civilian life, but to potentially ignite a much wider Middle Eastern crisis. A crisis whose casus belli was a vain political gesture timed specifically to assure the survival of two of the ‘triumvirate’.

With a two-front conflict now almost certainly unfolding, providing the momentum to agitate even more militant factions from across the region, the question is not: will the world see Israel’s action for what it truly is?

But rather, what will the world now do about it.

Solidarity for Gaza

While U.S. President George Bush continues to point blame for the current violence solely on Hamas (apparently charging them for their own deaths) the cult of ‘accusing the victims’ appears to be the only message coming from Western leaders. In contrast, activists across Europe are taking matters into their own hands, as today has seen impressive numbers massing in Paris, Berlin, Athens and Rome.

In London, at least 50,000 protesters (a number likley to rise in coming hours) set to the streets of Whitehall and finally Trafalgar Square where singer Annie Lennox, writer Alexei Sayle and several Parliamentary Members and Senior Activists continue to address the ever expanding crowds braving freezing temperatures and long commutes to have their voices heard.

bruised earth was on the scene, and a few early photos can be viewed in the photoset below:

With fresh demonstrations occurring all over London (most notably an ongoing vigil outside the U.S. Consulate in London), and the increasing likelihood of an Israeli ground campaign happening within hours, protests should only expand - both in location and intensity.

As Lyndsey German, spokesperson of the Stop the War Coalition, stated earlier today: “If there is an invasion of Gaza, as looks likely, by the Israeli army, if the blockade continues with people suffering from shortages of food and medicine, then I think this will grow.”

Stay tuned to bruised earth for further updates.