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FIRST,
I would like to explain that I am just like you, or anyone else
for that matter, and that I am not special in any way for being
where I am. While it is not simply an issue of consequence that
I am sitting in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian war, it
could just as well be any one of you sitting in my place. And
from where I am sitting, I constantly hear the sound of Israeli
tanks pounding away in residential neighbourhoods with their high-velocity
and lethal machineguns.
Hundreds,
no, make that thousands of bullets flying. I wonder where they
all go. Two ended up in my friend's kitchen. So far today, at
least two have ended up in Palestinians who are now dead. I am
sure that others are lodged in buildings, crashed through windows,
etc., but think of all that damage.
It
seems to me that Palestine has become Afghanistan XP (as in expropriated).
Like the Taleban in Afghanistan, the rightful and legitimate Palestinian
leadership has been stripped of its standing in the international
community and has been deemed irrelevant by its opponent. This
is not to draw a similarity between the Taleban and the Palestinian
National Authority (there really is none), but rather, it seems
we are entering a new era of warfare, when one nation can simply
determine that the leadership of the other simply does not exist
and acts to make this premise reality. And all the while, land,
houses and buildings are expropriated by settlers and the occupation
forces, or are simply destroyed because they get in the way.
But
this is not a war against a leadership, a government or a state.
Rather it is a war against a people. This is lost on the rest
of the world, because Israel has effectively labelled all the
Palestinian people as terrorists. So, in Israel's PR and media
propaganda, this is a war on terrorism and terrorists. According
to this logic, this means that people sitting in their homes,
standing on their balconies, crossing checkpoints, going to work – things we all do everyday – are all terrorists and therefore
are legitimate targets. And their houses can be destroyed.
At
least from where I am sitting, this logic seems a bit strange.
It actually sounds like the logic that Osama Ben Laden used to
justify attacks on the United States, its people and its interests.
According to Ben Laden, since the United States is evil, its people
and its buildings are legitimate targets and should be killed.
Doesn't it seem like Israel is using the same logic? Why is the
world accepting it? Now, when Israel does invade areas, the inevitable
news the following morning is a number of Palestinians killed,
many civilians injured, some homes destroyed and some "suspected
terrorists" arrested. But I have started wondering why no
Israeli soldiers are killed in these invasions. If they are fighting
a war, and they are taking on such crafty and evil "terrorists",
then why don't they suffer casualties? The worst I have heard
of to date is of a tank that broke down during an invasion. Strange,
isn't it? Finally (and this thought is the one that troubles me
most), why do Israeli soldiers sitting in tanks and armoured personnel
carriers shoot bullets at Palestinian children? Even if they are
throwing stones? You see, from here, I can see the children throwing
the stones. Small ones – both children and stones. These stones
do not come close to the soldiers, usually falling dozens of feet
short (also, like the children). Even the ones that hit the vehicles
bounce off harmlessly, arriving meekly.
Paintball
guns and BB guns give more force. And yet, the soldiers pop out
of their bullet proof (and stone-proof) vehicles with high-powered
automatic weapons and start shooting. Rambo himself never had
it so easy. Every day, children fall from the bullets – some
die, some are maimed or paralysed, some injured in other ways
for life, for months or for days. I can't seem to figure out why
the soldiers shoot. Teargas disperses the kids quite well. Is
there a shortage of teargas and a surplus of bullets?
The
writer is a New Yorker living in Ramallah. He contributed this
article to The Jordan Times.
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