Uri Avnery: Molten LeadThe logical conclusion for an Israeli government seeking peace would have been to make wide-ranging concessions: ending of the occupation, signing of a peace treaty, foundation of the State of Palestine, withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a reasonable solution of the refugee problem, release of all Palestinian prisoners. That would have arrested the role of Hamas for sure...
The official name of the war is 'Cast Lead,' two words from a children's song about a Hanukkah toy. It would be more accurate to call it "the Election War"...
The timing was chosen meticulously from another angle too. The attack started two days after Christmas, when American and European leaders are on holiday until after the New Year... That ensured several days free from outside pressures. Another reason: these are George Bush's last days in the White House. This blood-soaked moron could be expected to support the war enthusiastically, as indeed he did. Barack Obama has not yet entered office and had a ready made pretext for keeping silent: "there is only one President." The silence does not bode well for the term of president Obama...
Some time ago I wrote that the Gaza blockade was a scientific experiment designed to find out how much one can starve a population and turn its life into hell before they break. This experiment was conducted with generous help of Europe and the US... The present war is a continuation of the experiment by other means.
Israel's war in Gaza is an act of political insanity. It is the product of a deeply disturbed society, able neither to curb its military arrogance nor calm its profound paranoia... Israel wants dominance, not peaceful coexistence...
Israel has never liked Palestinian moderates, for the simple reason that concessions might have to be made to them. To avoid being drawn into negotiations, it has always preferred Palestinian radicals -- and when they were not there it has done everything it could to create them... It may be that the war was launched precisely because Hamas has recently shown signs of moderation. Its key spokesmen have expressed their readiness to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders...
Israel never liked the truce with Hamas and chose not to respect its terms. Instead of easing the blockade on Gaza -- as it was meant to do -- it tightened it, reducing the crowded, suffering strip to abject misery. And it unilaterally broke the truce by an armed incursion on 4 November...
One-sided, Israel-only deterrence lied at the heart of Israel's security doctrine. It wants total freedom to hit, and never to be hit back. It relies on brute force to protect itself... It is totally opposed to a regional balance of power which might force it to moderate its actions...
All Israel's political leaders gave their approval to the war... All are drunk with military power. All cheered the mounting Palestinian casualties. None seems able to come to terms with what a real peace might entail. Perhaps none of them can truly believe that Israel's crimes can ever be forgiven or forgotten, and that they have no option, therefore, but to go on killing.
Image: source unknown
