Israel Losing Its War Against

¶ … Israel Losing Its War Against the Palestinians?

In this article, the author addresses the fact that the spirit of the Palestinian people seems unable to be crushed, no matter what the Israelis choose to do to them. Israel has been trying for many years to make Palestine submissive, but it has not worked, and it is still not working today. There have been bombing and other problems, and none of those issues are actually being resolved. The conflict goes on. Even though it is termed a conflict, it is described in the article as a 'one-sided war' where a strong and powerful government is trying to oppress a generally unarmed population. There have been thefts of land and water, killings, the destruction of homes and crops, and mass arrests, all in an effort to exert control over a people who do not want to be controlled by a government that they are not loyal to.

In January of 2006, when the elections in Palestine were over, Hamas was declared victorious. Both Israel and the United States rejected that. In response, Israel cut off supplies of anything but the most basic of medicines and food, and they started bombing Gaza to try to get the Palestinians to submit. As a result of the bombing, Gaza lost the only power plant that it had and all they had to rely on was generators. Most of these run on diesel fuel, and the rising cost of that as well as a shortage has forced changes. It has also caused problems, because it has affected medical care, harming everything from newborn babies to people who need surgery and now cannot get it because there is no power to the operating rooms. People are suffering and dying there as both a direct and an indirect result of the bombings. Until the Palestinians reject Hamas, Israel has said that the bombings and lack of supplies will continue.

Whether Israel has the 'right' to do this has been called into question before, and the author here calls it into question again. According to the article, there is a concern that Israel is not being true to its word, which has also happened in the past. Many times Israel's leader has agreed to specific peace negotiations with the United States and with Palestine, only to turn right around and do the exact opposite of what he said he would do. There has been no peace made, because Israel will not compromise. It will not back down to any degree and let Palestine have anything, and it intends to make the country into a wasteland if it does not submit. The numbers that it provides regarding killing and such are also not found to be accurate.

The article addressed here looked at the numbers, and there have been many, many more Palestinians killed by Israelis than the other way around. The bombings and the rocket attacks have not ceased. Israel insists that it is doing this because of Palestinian rocket attacks, but none of these started at all until Israel started bombings and border closings and other things, like cutting off the food supply. Since this is the case, it becomes difficult to feel anything but sympathy for Palestine and anger toward Israel. The author works very hard to remain neutral and simply report the facts, but some of the upset and outrage do leak through in her words, especially when she talks about President Bush and how he is reacting (or more appropriately not reacting) to what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people.