The otherwise excellent (unsigned) editorial continues: "We also know that to have chosen to strike on Saturday morning, when the streets of this impoverished enclave were full, showed the same indifference to human life with which Israel charges its enemies. When the suicide bombers reply in cafes and shops, as they inevitably will, Israel will reel in horror. But it will shut out of its mind the blood its warplanes have now caused to flow in Gaza."
Clearly, the writer has no illusions about Israel.
In the same issue of the Guardian Weekly, Rachel Cooke reports on the Bedouin who live near Beersheba, and hold Israeli citizenship. Her long article is essential reading, even (especially?) in these difficult time when all eyes are on Gaza.
"The statistics, however, are striking. Israel has a national health insurance scheme which entitles all residents to access to a health 'basket', irrespective of income. It is considered progressive and efficient, and health outcomes in the country are good. So why, then, is the infant-mortality rate among the Bedouin population so high (15.5 for every 1,000 in 2006) compared to that of the Jewish population (three for every 1,000 in 2006)? (In the wider Israeli Arab population, the figure is eight for every 1,000; the Bedouin are, as Avni points out, at 'the very bottom of the heap').
The Bedouin are ill, mostly due to the lack of clean water available to them. Intestinal infections are common, diarrhoea endemic during the summer. In a sirocco, when the wind whips up, the dust rises and temperatures peak, 60 per cent of the children in Negev hospitals are Bedouin, a figure that sometimes rises to 80 per cent during the summer. Bedouin children and older adults suffer disproportionately from respiratory diseases such as asthma because their iron houses are so hot by day and so cold by night; their villages full of burning garbage; their homes too close to Israel's main hazardous waste facility, Romat Hovav (the site is also home to 19 chemical factories)."
+081.jpg)
Posts
4 comments:
FREE EVERYTHING InternetSurfShack.com
On "Meet The Press" this morning, Harry Reid said it was all the fault of Hamas. There was no guest to offer a different perspective.
In the USA in main stream media, we almost never hear an altwernative opinion.
-Blue Eyes-
Hi Blue Eyes,
The lack of an opposing opinion in the US Press is intentional.
Israel started channeling Goebbels after their defeat during the Lebanese war and they established an Office of Propaganda to coordinate the message that would be published in all Western outlets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/02/israel-palestine-pr-spin
Israel's have completed the cycle and become this century's Neo-Nazis.
BTW, here’s a list of all the steps that office wants Israelis to take to support their country’s murderous actions:
Make your voice heard - 7 Things you can help us win this battle:
1. Join Groups and post comments on Media Websites
2. Join our mailing list and we will send you updates
3. You can change your Facebook picture to show your support ( you can get the israeli flag pic here )
4. You can add the QassamCount application on facebook : http://cli.gs/qassam. With QassamCount you can do one of two things: You can have your status updated automatically every time a Qassam falls, or you can have your status changed once a day to reflect the total amount of Qassams that fell that day.
5. You can help us and Digg for israel.
6. Follow us on Twitter
7. Spread the word anyway possible
Key Messages (Updated 1/4/09):
1. The achievement: During the first week of Operation Cast Lead, Hamas suffered a heavy blow. Hamas’ ability to govern was also impared. Its senior leaders completely abandoned the population and are only concerned with saving their own skins.
2. The situation revealed by the IDF operation in Gaza is that mosques, public institutions and private homes were being used by Hamas as bases of operation and arms caches.
3. The reason: Hamas continues to fire dozens of rockets daily at population centers in Southern Israel. Hamas has places almost a million Israeli civilians within its range of fire (about 15% of the total population of Israel). No country in the world would put up with daily fire at its civilians’ homes.
4. The goal: dealing the Hamas terror infrastructure a forceful blow and changing the security situation of the southern Israeli population for the long term.
5. The continuation of the operation is necessary in order to achieve its goals. Stopping midway will not only lead to a resumption of terrorism but will also serve as an encouragement to Hamas and other extremist elements in the region.
6. Israel has no intention of reassuming control of the Gaza Strip. The entry of forces is intended to achieve the goals set.
7. The operation will not be brief, and there will be difficult days ahead.
8. The government of Israel expresses its deep appreciation for the IDF and security forces. Their fighting spirit and faith in the justness of our course, together with the highest professional standard will ensure the successful completion of this task.
9. Alongside the military effort, Israel is conducting a broad diplomatic effort abroad in order to achieve the goals set. Israel insists that any proposal put forward will lead to a change in the security situation over the long term.
10. Israel reiterates that it is not at war with the Palestinian people in Gaza, but with Hamas. Hamas is responsible for the civilian suffering on both sides of the fence. Israel will therefore continue to transfer to Gaza all humanitarian aid that is received (in the course of the past week 400 trucks and 10 ambulances entered Gaza from Israel). The IDF is striving to prevent any harm to uninvolved Palestinians, including warnings issued prior to strikes.
11. Israel embarked on this operation only after it exhausted every other possibility to end the terror from Gaza which has continued for years. Israel agreed to a six month cease fire and during that time Hamas fired hundreds of rockets and mortars into Israel. Faced with ongoing terror, Israel acted with restraint and did everything to avoid a confrontation.
Sound familiar: notice the Qassam rocket count doesn’t include a body count because the number killed or even injured by the rockets over the 2-year period that Hamas has taken over Gaza is less than the number of people killed by drunk Israeli drivers over the last 6 months.
Nor does it talk about the fact that Israel refuses to permit international monitoring in the area (like the UN Peacekeepers) in spite of Hamas’s and Fatah’s call for such peaceful action.
Thanks Kaddie,
My country is being "worked" and the population doesn't even know it.
They don't even question the lack of perspective, yet "think" that they have thought about the subject. They think they "know", but don't even know what the process to "know" requires. Yet, they are fierce in their defence of what they don't know.
Post a Comment