The Political situation in the Middle East (2010)

Perspectives for Peace

To stretch

that was always the issue

Beyond the limit

Of the prescribed

Inevitable

To draw the spirit breath,

That was the challenge,

That made the big questions.

The children with swollen stomachs,

The women excluded,

The science distorted

For war,

The bombs preferred to bread,

Are not inevitable.

The children made homeless

Learned from his mother,

His father and a donkey,

That this was so,

That someone must go to the Temple,

Should question

What was or was not inevitable

And he never claimed

That he was alone

In such a view

Just that Bethlehem mattered,

In memory,

And that the spirit breath suggested

That we should make a life

Where spirit would shine through pain

And death,

Making a prophecy,

For ever

Empowering,

Promising a joy

Not confined to any season

Beyond the inevitable.

Our hope makes possible

A new season,

In a different world,

Waiting for our creation

Utopia regained.

Michael D. Higgins

From An Arid Season

Introduction

Memories are needed as measures of time. Only then can be noticed changes or how little has changed.

Related to that are issues linked to cultural heritage (tangible and intangible), insofar as people have strong links to the land, especially to those places where their ancestors have been buried. It should be examined what deliberate policy Israel or any other force is using in the Middle East to destroy the memory base of the others or of all those whose identity was linked to a different use of the land.

In Egypt the plight of the nomads is well known. Once they come in from the desert, they loose all identity. They end up sifting through rubbish piles to survive. Once no longer at home on a land no one possesses safe for the winds shifting sand as the case in the desert, they are more prisoners than free men and women. Spreading urbanisation and linked to that ongoing building activities as cities spread out along and a deliberate policy to limit the movement of the nomads have added to their woes. Ethnological studies have for a long time attempted to draw attention to the plight of the nomads. The writer George Crane touches upon this subject matter especially in his book: "Beyond the house of the false Lama".

The Political Situation in 2010

The Palestinian Prime Minister is praised for his actions since he encourages as much entrepreneurship as non-violent actions e.g. planting of trees to stop the expansion of illegal settlements. He calls this with a twist of irony as establishing equally facts on the ground. He means this as a good measure to counter settlers creating facts on the ground by continuing to build on occupied territorities even though illegal by international law.

Since 2002 and the spree of suicide bombers Israel has proceeded with a new form of self-proction. Now the fences and walls are up. Access to Jerusalem for Palestinians is becoming increasingly difficult. The siege of Gaza a permanent equally inhumane and therefore deplorable situation. For photos of Gaza taken in January 2009 by Greek photographer Pericles Antoniou see

www.antoniouphoto.gr/GAZ2/index.htm

At the same time Israel's economy is booming. The main export is made up of IT related products.

Mental survival within Israel is based on knowing rules of survival. They are the sharpest in the Middle East. Of interest is that some study the ethical code of honor under the Knights of King Athur's famous round table and what fallacy this may prove to be in the attempt to upheld a code of honor, but only under conditions of severe self-denial.

The political consequences of Israel's invasion into Lebanon 2006

After the invasion into Lebanon in 2006 and the attack on the Gaza strip, Israel has to review its assumptions how best to defend itself. There are several worrying factors:

political development in Iran linked to the prospects of having nuclear capacities
tunnels linking Egypt and Gaza strip can include shipment of weapons while this unusual corridor or life line for Gaza can be related to campaigns of international organisations demanding that the siege of Gaza be lifted
political diversity within Israel has brought about various political fractions in need to be understood in terms of Israel's future of dealing with these groups attempting to gain political power

The Israeli-USA relationship under President Barack Obama

Under the Presidency of Barack Obama various American missions have attempted to unlock the deadlock in negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian side. The pre-condition of resuming talks has still to be met. Reluctance is often explained by the Middle East remaining an unresolvable issue.

EU relationship to the Middle East

Tony Blair as envoy for the Group of Four has not been able to go further than previous failed missions to the Middle East. There is an inherent dynamic of failure. It is linked to the need to safeguard almost at all costs the security of Israel. This has led in turn to some misunderstanding on the part of Israel what can be done, what not and this within ethical considerations not merely at state and therefore political-military level, but as human beings wish to understand other human beings. The latter would mean to act in accordance with the basic Charta of Human Rights. Unfortunately the one sided framing of Hamas as terrorist organisation has justified on the other hand extreme, indeed inhumane measures taken singularly by Israel. The siege of the Gaza is most explicit expression of this and underlines what Israel is willing to undertake if it is felt to be threatened in its very existence.

The Israeli attack of the Flotilla bringing aid to Gaza on international waters

The incidence with the Flotilla wishing to bring tons of aid to Gaza at the end of May 2010 may prove to be a turning point in Israel's standing in the international world.

This time Turkey is directly affected as it was a Turkish organisation steering the relief aid for the people to Gaza.

Clearly by overstepping its own borders - the Flotilla was attacked by Israel forces when the ships were still in international waters - the Israeli government has provoked a diplomatic crisis in the Middle East.

Possible explanations for this to happen can be only assumed at the moment, but would require further analysis:

The Israeli government has come under the influence of extreme Right Wing Politicians who may have thought to be sure of an unified country despite an otherwise very diverse Israeli society once the threat of the blockade of Gaza being undermined prevails more in the minds of Israelis than by what means this protection of Israel is achieved. Reports indicate Barak from Labour has been asked to resign, but his claim is that this was not his decision alone but included many others. That reflects a precarious political coalition in Israel and shows what real power Barak has due to his contacts to Europe and the United States. They are said to be better than that of the prime minister himself.
The success of the Palestinian Prime Minister to advocate non violent efforts to prepare Palestinians for state building has to be seen as a threat by Israel in how they wish to portray Palestinians, namely as violent and ready to question the existence of Israel. In what can sway world public opinion this can become a crucial factor in future negotiations. Once Palestinians are perceived as being non violent, the violence exerted by the Israeli Defense Forces will stand out even more starkly as a response out of proportion.
Interestingly enough many commentators of the events surrounding the Flotilla asked Israeli military and governmental spokespersons how was it possible for Israeli's elite forces to botch such a mission? Above all their questions is based on acknowledging that the IDF has so much experience in asymmetrical warfare.

Justifications given by Israel - one example:

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has compared the Gaza flotilla attack with America's fight against Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7796277/Gaza-flotilla-attack-Israeli-ambassador-compares-raid-to-Second-World-War.html

The article points out that "in an interview with Fox News, he described the operation, in which nine people died, as 'perfectly legal, perfectly humane – and very responsible'.

He defending (sic) the attack in open waters, saying: "Israel acted in accord with international law. Any state has the right to protect itself, certainly from a terrorist threat such as Hamas, including on the open seas.

"The US acted under similar international law when it fought the Germans and the Japanese in World War Two."

- international law would mean to accept not only those aspects which would favor one's own position but also honor and respect those which impose limits as to what a single state may do or not even though even the precondition of measured or proportionate response if under threat can be interpreted quite differently and calls for not only legal interpretations but also for knowing when human rights and respect for human life cannot be obscurred by a vague reference to international law giving the state the Right to exist and to defend itself.

Above all, it should not be forgotten that just before this incidence with the Flotilla Israel had refused to send a delegation to the Nuclear Disarmament Meeting called for by Barack Obama. There is a world wide consensus about the need to get nuclear weapons under control. Once again Israel acted as if it can assume to be the exception to the rule and that it is not bounded by international law. At the same time, Israel claims always international conventions when it faces special circumstances i.e. when challenged in their very existence.

- the comparison to Second World war and what took place to justify Israel's position in 2010

The incidence with the Flotilla highlights the contradiction in Israeli justification as exemplified by Mr. Oren when making reference to history. Surely if Jewish people under siege by German troops before they sturmed and laid then waste to the Warschauer Ghetto, could have then realistically expected that the world would not let them die but come to their rescue, the same applies to the Palestinians in Gaza. No such help came to the Jewish people in Second World War. Since then as historical lesson it has been made plain to everyone to what extent human solidarity failed terrible during those dark moments of trains arriving in time in concentration camps to seal the fate of Jewish people. It is, therefore, understandable that Israelis have inherited a terrible lesson and concluded for themselves that when it comes to the real case, they stand all alone in the world.

Thus they decided since 1948 when they started out to create the Israeli state in the Middle East, to do so with the determination of becoming such a military force which shall never be defeated or be overrun. But while the military lesson has been learned more or less even though the 2006 invasion of Lebanon has shown corruption exists even amongst high ranking military personnell within the IDF, the human lesson has not been recognized. For any people in distress can call rightly so for human solidarity to be shown to them throughout the world and this as proof that the world has learned out of that failure in the past.

Israel's relation to Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza

In Israel morale has been always high and true to that point of not wishing to be caught as being unable to defend one's own life. But Israelis should admit that the world cannot stand by idle while 1,5 Million people in Gaza suffer the consequences of a siege. The attacks by Hamas have been used by Israel to impose such a siege of Gaza which allows them to control everything which goes in and out of Gaza.

Human solidarity demands to break down that blockade. Otherwise the world would not be listening to Israel of today in order to learn with them the lessons to be taken from the Holocaust. That lesson is very clear: no one should stand alone and be exposed to military power and violence. For what to say to those Palestinian youth looking into the guns carried by Israeli soldiers?

Thus to understand the present and very complex situation, it might be useful to look back as to what took place in the Middle East during that crucial year of 2002.

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