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My Responsive Argument to an Israeli Apologist

Omar Alansari-Kreger

The ultimate failure here rests with the stagnation of the so called peace process.
Ironic, in all of your extensive condemnations of Hamas you never once mentioned
anything about Israels economic besiegement of the Gaza Strip all under the watchful
eyes of the Israeli military. Oh, but in this view all of that is justified simply because
Hamas qualifies as a terrorist organization and as a result the Palestinian people living
in the Gaza Strip should be punished for voting in a terrorist organization; never mind
the fact that most Palestinians in the Gaza Strip arent involved or affiliated with Hamas.
To put this in perspective it is important to realize that Hamas was born out of a
desperate fringe, but it has rescinded its original stances and policies and contrary to
what is implied by mainstream media pundits they arent hell bent on the destruction of
Israel.
Lets face it you cant really achieve that objective with a handful of crudely made
rockets against one of the most advanced military forces in the world. Hamas has
demonstrated a past willingness to soften its fundamentals so why cant the Israeli right
do the same thing? It is not like the sitting incumbents in Israel speak uniformly for all
Israelis. So in your view you seem to insinuate that the ultimate solution is as follows:
escalate the confrontations by diverting a new campaign that is geared toward the full
military occupation of the Gaza Strip to punitively defeat Hamas once and for all. Okay,
after that, what happens next? Does Israel have the resources or collective national
desire to act as an occupying power? We shouldnt be so nave and pretend that such a
tactic is going to deter or destroy any kind of underground resistance against an
occupying power; that stands as a blatant eventuality.
After a period of military occupation Israel will grow tired of the boots on the
ground analogy complete with international condemnations against it and eventually
the IDF will withdraw; that essentially leaves the situation right where it is now, but the
already frail infrastructure of the Gaza Strip will be increasingly destabilized at that point
of time. Before getting on our high horses about what is and isnt justified why dont we
try and establish a working definition of what constitutes terroristic actions; nations are
quite capable of turning into the very fringe extremists they openly despise; yes, Im
talking about Israel. So, if a nations foreign policy toward a depraved region is defined
by military besiegement combined together with extensive economic blockages doesnt
that encourage extreme sentiments against those that impose the same policies against
them?
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Logically, doesnt that perpetuate acts of vengeful extremism simply because
they qualify as acts of utter desperation? People in the Gaza Strip dont have the basic
necessities for survival combined together with water and electricity shortages. Hamas
retaliated after Israel responded with military strikes against the Gaza Strip after the fate
of the late teenagers was confirmed. Oh, never mind the fact that the Gaza Strip sits on
an oasis of natural gas and there shouldnt be any logical interest why Israel would want
to fully occupy and control the region; please notice the obvious sarcasm. Lets not
pretend that there arent extreme zealots within the Israeli political establishment;
doesnt it seem odd why Israels incumbent president and prime minister avoided
attending Mandelas funeral?
I guess they didnt want the world to remember Israels close associations with
Apartheid South Africa which reflects directly on the policies it uses against the
Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Why corroborate a historical
edification of liberation when there is no legitimate historical overlap? At any rate, the
idea here isnt to shower Hamas with praise because it is an organization that has been
consumed by its own corruption, but why dont we look at the crisis in a different light?
Is it so unfathomable to imagine a merger between Israel and Palestine formed by
moderated elements of both governments? That aspiration wont emerge out of heavy
handed extremes that thrive off punitive forms of justice. That envisaged nation could
celebrate its diversity while equally empowering each other through an interlocking
infrastructural economy.
Remember, it isnt possible to achieve a legitimate peace process when a couple
hundred Palestinian lives are worth a handful of Israeli.
Nonetheless, I just wanted to put a different perspective out there. I have no interest in
endlessly debating with a bunch of blind apologists for Israel.