What's the point discussing with an average Austrian the situation of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza strip ? It came as quite a surprise to me to originally have discovered some time ago and now to have confirmed that many Austrians are dyed in the wool Anti-Semites.
The issue of the Gaza strip, to many Austrians is a very simple one:
The "Jews" are to blame for everything. (Most of the people here do not quite know the difference between "a Jew" and "an Israeli").
The story goes somewhat like this: The Jews took the country from the Palestinians, expelled all the native inhabitants and generally behave in an aggressive, suppressive way. The remaining Palestinians were forced into the "Gaza strip" where, through a blockade the attempt is made to starve them into submission. The "freedom flottilla" of 6 ships tried to bring food and medical aid to Gaza. The "Jews" boarded the ship, killed 9 "peace activists" and captured the food and medical items on board. Full stop...end of story...
Video recordings, made by the Israeli, tell quite another tale.
You will meet, from some quarters, with astonishment, when you tell them that the United Nations in 1947 granted the founding of "Israel", by partinioning the area settled by Palestinians into two areas. The day after Israel declared its independence on the 14th May 1948, Five of their Arab neighbours invaded the newly found state.
I could go on and on talking about the several armed conflicts between Israel and its neighbours,
including the 6 day war, the Yom Kippur war, all of them initiated by countries other than Israel.
Let me instead talk about the current issue:
Particularly after Hamas came to power in the Gaza strip, rocket attacks on Israel increased in number and accuracy, until Israel had no choice but to take out these rocket launching sites by invading the Gaza with her own military.
Rockets and other armaments were brought into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt and in even greater numbers via ships into Gaza harbours. Israel declared a blockade of the ocean side of the Gaza to prevent the importation of armaments.
At all times, Israel declared its willingness to transport any humanitarian aid from its own harbour by truck convoys into the Gaza. All such efforts, including the transport of the latest shipments, were refused by Hamas.
It is interesting to note here that Hamas was declared a "terrorist organisation" by the United Nations, the European Union, The United States and several other countries.
Yes, I could go on and on...but what's the point?
2 comments:
Yes, well, there are also those on this side of the pond that have felt Isreal can do no wrong - and that's not accurate either. The fact that Isreal is only showing a small part of the video they have is suspect - so much so that now a lot of Jews here are not very happy with the way that government is handling things. The truth of the matter is that irrespective of which side we are on - our opinion doesn't count. There are only two people in this argument and their hatred for each other is deeper than their bones and is eternal. This will never end without a full out war where one side obliterates the other.
Well, Lianne, when you talk about deep rooted hatreds, you are probably quite correct. It must be noted though, that from the very beginning (1947) Israel agreed to the partitioning of the territory into two independant countries. Unfortunately the Palestinians rejected this UN proposal and instead started a number of wars with the awowed intention to "drive every Israeli into the Ocean"...from the day after Israel declared its independance from the British Protectorate (14th June 1948?) 5 Arab nations invaded Israel with their armies. After that I must ask you, who started the 6 day war, the Yom Kippur war, all the many armed incursions into Israel? Who murdered Israeli Olympic competitors in 1972 in Munich? Who has been lobbing granades and rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip?
I don't need to answer these questions, because everybody who has studies this relationship even superficially knows....
But, as I said before: ..what's the point?
Post a Comment