Israel: An Earned Nation or an Imperialist Giant?

The headlines on CNN held an interesting question: is the Mideast on the brink of war? With Israeli jets bombing Beirut, ground troops entering southern Lebanon and attacking Hezbollah bases, one must wonder if this is Israel’s way of defending it’s right to exist or simply trying to become an imperialist giant. With most Israeli supporters citing the threat of “terrorist” organizations like the democratically elected Hamas government as well as the kidnapping of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit as reasons for the strike against Lebanon and Palestine, others, who tend to be more emotionally Zionist or supporters of religiously held land, note Israel’s “right to exist.”

The Jews of Israel are held in a high regard because of the large number of unfortunate events they’ve overcome in the history of their people and also the religious view of them being the “Chosen Ones.” This being said, the Holocaust or any other event does not give them free reign to dominate Israeli or neighboring lands. Though it may be their Holy Land, or as some say the origin of their religion and people, they left that land and moved on. By saying that people can leave a land, experience high loss, then forcefully return, imposing their will by arms, is like saying that a person, after having his house burn down and part of his family killed, can move back into his childhood home with the rest of his family, repressing the current home owners if they don’t like the occupation. A “right to exist” is certainly a right that all people have, but a right to exist at the expense of others isn’t.

The “justified” bombing of Lebanon and Palestinian settlements raises many questions. First, why did the democratically elected Hamas government kidnap Corporal Shalit unless it wanted to cause an armed dispute with the Israelis? In an interview with Independent News Group Democracy Now! celebrated activist, writer, professor and scholar Noam Chomsky tells us of the barely reported June 24th kidnappings of civilians, a doctor and his brother, out of the Gaza Strip by Israeli military. This maybe be the reason for the abduction of Corporal Shalit by militant Palestinians. There are other possibilities, notably the deaths of 22 Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli army during the week of June 20th or the abduction of 64 members of the Palestinian Parliament on June 29 (Maan News Agency). As for the surge of Lebanese attack on Israel, this is most likely a way to shift some of the force off of Palestine and force Israel into a double fronted war. However, when Israeli General Dan Halutz declares that “Nothing is safe [in Lebanon], as simple as that,” it is questionable whether the Israel government and the International Community really does want peace between the nations. It must also be noted that many of the known casualties inflicted by Israel are not connected with the resistance. This “collateral damage” as it’s called, also has children in the majority of deaths.

Though there are notable deaths on both sides of the conflict, it would seem that the majority of it could be resolved with the recognition of Palestinian independence and a co-operative end to blind support of Israeli actions, as done so by America and it’s allies. Also, freedom for not only the Israeli soldiers that were abducted, but for all the Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in Israel (the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics shows 9,400 Palestinian prisoners held in 30 prisons throughout Israel, some of whom have been held for as many as 30 years) as well. Maybe then, the Mideast will be off “the brink of war.”