Aaron Elias, a student at UC-Irvine, writes a lot of good stuff on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Much of his writing is published in the UCI campus newspaper, New University. This week's edition has an article by Aaron on Gaza. I think it bears cross-posting here.
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http://www.newuniversity.org/2010/10/features/gaza-more-than-meets-the-eye/
Fousesquawk comment: You are free to agree or disagree with Aaron, but I think his words are thought-provoking. His article is a good follow-up to the visit to UCI last week of two Israeli Defense Force veterans.
3 comments:
very very interesting. The point he makes about Muslim students not denouncing Hamas for using small children and mentally disabled people to "scout" for them is chilling (and telling).
It happens that I've spent time volunteering on IDF bases in Israel. (They have a program where you can go for 2 or 3 weeks and help where you can so that some soldier can stay home with his family and live his life normally during that time. ). Anyway, my point is that I made friends with several of the soldiers and heard a lot of stories like these. A few of them from different soldiers who didn't know each other but, coincidentally, were in the same battle. They saw the same thing from different vantage points.
Several consistent threads were in these recountings. The Hamas used despicable tactics using children and old people as shields. That had a lasting pact on them ad they would always shake their heads when recalling them.
Next, being the ones at risk, they chafed at what they had to do to avoid civilian injuries. They were put in danger, personallly, because of the humanitarian policies.
Last, as occurred in this story as well, the religious component. There is a fatalistic kind of notion that this is what their religion required of them. ( Not that different from what we saw in the MSU emails in the Oren event. )
It's a decent article, and you're right, it is worth reading. I have always considered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (as distinct from the invasion of Israel by the armies of three or more Arabic kingdoms in 1948, and by the national socialist states that succeeded some of those monarchies in 1967) as "two rights make a wrong," not as good vs. evil.
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