<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israel: Spoiling for Another&nbsp;Fight?]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="headline_meta">by <span class="author vcard"><span class="url fn">Stephen Lendman</span></span> on <abbr class="published" title="2011-04-10">April 10, 2011 | Sabbah Report<br />
</abbr></p>
<p><img class="aligncenter : frame" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_8ZLZsV89Ns0/TaHob-jt3II/AAAAAAAABpM/NeldqBdukJQ/s640/neverforgivneverforgetp.jpg" alt="" width="600" /></p>
<p><strong>By <a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/author/stephen-lendman/">Stephen Lendman</a> * | <a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt">Sabbah Report</a> | <a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt">www.sabbah.biz</a></strong></p>
<p>Throughout  its history, Israel intimidated as a regional menace, preemptively  attacking Palestinians and regional neighbors for any reason or none at  all. Each time, it&#8217;s claimed self-righteousness and &#8220;self-defense,&#8221; what  scoundrels always say.</p>
<p>Until his death, Edward Said passionately  defended Palestinian rights. He accused Israel of turning Palestine into  an isolated prison, suffocating an entire population, impoverishing and  slaughtering them, blaming them for its own state terror, and creating a  wasteland of destruction and human misery.</p>
<p>Moreover, he said  Israeli regimes sanctioned torture, targeted assassinations, and mass  killing as official policy, besides committing every imaginable human  indignity and degradation against people for their faith, ethnicity and  presence.</p>
<p>As a result, Israel  perpetuates a never ending cycle of violence and destruction, planning  to end &#8220;the Palestinian problem,&#8221; calling courage and resistance  &#8220;terrorism,&#8221; offering nothing in return for outrageous demands, and  pursuing dominating pacification disguised as &#8220;peace.&#8221; Journalist Henry  Siegman once called it &#8220;the most spectacular deception in modern  diplomatic history.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gideon Levy calls it &#8220;an unborn baby,&#8221; saying  there&#8217;s &#8220;never been an Israeli peace camp.&#8221; How can there be when  decades of Israeli leaders called peace process negotiations a useful  fiction.</p>
<p>For example, Moshe Ya&#8217;alon, former IDF chief of staff and  current Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs believes  Jews have an &#8220;unassailable right (to) settle anywhere, particularly here  (in) the land of the Bible.&#8221; Earlier, he mocked the peace process,  saying it&#8217;s used politically &#8220;to sear deep into the consciousness of the  Palestinians that they are a defeated people.&#8221;</p>
<p>Former Defense  Minister Moshe Dayan called the Occupied West bank &#8220;permanent,&#8221; and  current Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier said the peace process is &#8220;a  waste of time,&#8221; while planning new confrontations to prove it.</p>
<p><strong>Israel Attacks Gaza – Its Latest Blitzkrieg</strong></p>
<p>International  Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reports explained a new Israeli Gaza  offensive, headlining on April 8, &#8220;Three Palestinians Killed in Gaza,  Eight in Less Than 48 Hours,&#8221; saying:</p>
<p>Since April 7, Israeli  bombing as well as ground and offshore shelling killed eight  Palestinians, wounding dozens, including children. &#8220;Furthermore, three  family members were injured when the army bombarded a home in Al  Faraheen….in southern Gaza. Among the wounded is a woman (in) serious  condition.&#8221;</p>
<p>Other civilian areas were also attacked. Israel makes  no distinction between them and combatants in blatant violation of  international law that also prohibits preemptive attacks, Israel&#8217;s  specialty.</p>
<p>In response, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine&#8217;s armed wing (PFLP) said:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;(T)here  will be no truce with the Israeli occupation while it continues its  aggression and crimes against the Palestinian people.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>The Salah Ed-Deen Brigades, the National Resistance Committees&#8217; armed wing, added:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;(T)he Israeli crime committed on Thursday will not pass unpunished.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Mohammad  Bahar, Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) deputy head, appealed to  Egypt, the Arab League, and Organization of the Islamic Conference to  intervene on Gaza&#8217;s behalf to stop Israeli aggression.</p>
<p>UN and EU  officials addressed the violence with contempt for Palestinian  suffering, calling on both sides to show restraint and end the latest  round of fighting, mindless of the belligerent and victim.</p>
<p>The  latest Ma&#8217;an News account reported 17 Gazans killed, many more wounded  after continued Israeli attacks. One killed a mother, her daughter, and  injured a third child. Earlier, an elderly man was killed in Gaza City&#8217;s  Manara area.</p>
<p>Hours before midnight Friday, nine separate air,  ground and offshore attacks struck various Gaza sites. Hamas accused  Israel of using white phosphorous missiles in civilian areas, a  frequently used weapon during Cast Lead.</p>
<p>On Thursday night, Hamas  announced a unilateral ceasefire. Israel ignored it. On April 8, Haaretz  writer Barak Ravid headlined, &#8220;Netanyahu warns Hamas: You will bear  responsibility for attack on school bus,&#8221; saying:</p>
<p>He referred to a  homemade rocket hitting an Israeli school bus on Thursday, wounding the  driver and a 16-year old boy. Hamas said it responded to an IDF air  strike, killing three Palestinians on April 2. Israel always initiates  conflict. Under international law, victims may retaliate in  self-defense.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Netanyahu claimed:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The attack on a school bus crossed the line. Whoever tries to hurt and murder children, his blood (will) be on his own head.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>In  fact, Netayahu and previous Israeli leaders long ago &#8220;crossed the  line,&#8221; killing thousands, wounding countless numbers more, committing  crimes of war and against humanity for decades, mostly against civilian  men, women and children – lawless acts, so far with impunity.</p>
<p>Israel&#8217;s  latest crimes – 13 Gazans murdered, dozens wounded, some seriously,  civilian targets damaged or destroyed as IDF aggression continues. In  fact, it never stops, just ebbs, then erupts again.</p>
<p>On April 4, before Israel&#8217;s latest attacks, Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah headlined, &#8220;Another war on Gaza? saying:</p>
<p>In  recent weeks, over a dozen Palestinians were killed, including a  10-year old boy, Mahmoud Jalal al-Hilu. &#8220;Does this escalation increase  the likelihood of another large-scale assault&#8221; like Cast Lead, killing  over 1,400, wounding thousands, and causing vast destruction and  devastation.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are worrying signs Israel – by its words and  deeds – could be laying the ground for an attack.&#8221; For example, its  April 2 assault was preemptive, Israel unjustifiably claiming three  Hamas members killed were &#8220;planning to kidnap Israelis over the upcoming  Jewish&#8221; Passover.</p>
<p>Doing so constituted cold-blooded murder,  extrajudicial assassinations &#8220;in which Israel, the occupying power,  acted as judge, jury and executioner, issuing allegations for which it  offered no evidence, after it had already carried out the death  sentence. Under international law, this is a war crime.&#8221;</p>
<p>At issue  is whether Israel is spoiling for another fight. On March 23, Vice Prime  Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio that another large-scale  attack may be launched to topple Hamas. Speaking for his government, he  blamed Hamas for escalating violence, distorting truth to conceal its  own agenda – completing unfinished business to destroy all resistance.</p>
<p>As  a result, perhaps Cast Lead 2 is planned. Haaretz writer Gideon Levy  thinks so, pointing fingers in his April 7 article headlined, &#8220;Goldstone  has paved the path for a second Gaza war,&#8221; saying:</p>
<p>He gave Israel  a PR victory, &#8220;caus(ing) rejoicing here, a Goldstone party, the likes  of which we haven&#8217;t seen for some time.&#8221; He&#8217;s now reaped the whirlwind,  giving Israel &#8220;a green light for Operation Cast Lead 2. Are we pleased  with what happened? Are we really proud of Operation Cast Lead?&#8221;</p>
<p>Is  there ever moral or legal justification for preemptive war? Along with  Israeli belligerents, it will also be Goldstone&#8217;s cross to bear if it  comes. Expect it.</p>
<p><em>* <a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/author/stephen-lendman/">Stephen Lendman</a> lives in Chicago and can be reached at <a href="mailto:lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net">lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net</a>. Also visit his blog site at <a href="http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">sjlendman.blogspot.com</a> and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the  Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays  at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2011/04/10/israel-spoiling-for-another-fight/">Source</a></p>
]]></html><thumbnail_url><![CDATA[https://i2.wp.com/lh6.googleusercontent.com/_8ZLZsV89Ns0/TaHob-jt3II/AAAAAAAABpM/NeldqBdukJQ/s640/neverforgivneverforgetp.jpg?fit=440%2C330&ssl=1]]></thumbnail_url><thumbnail_width><![CDATA[330]]></thumbnail_width><thumbnail_height><![CDATA[330]]></thumbnail_height></oembed>