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ISRAEL'S MORAL DECAY / IT'S TIME FOR ACTION
Three Palestinian children from the Balosha family, of five who were all killed in the same Israeli missile strike, are seen in the morgue before their burial at Kamal Edwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008
Edmund Burke once wrote 'The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis' for the world now can no longer remain silent or neutral regarding Israel's moral decay and current moral injustice towards Gaza: Allen L Roland
Here is the Israeli- Palestinian conflict in a nutshell : " Following a series of deadly suicide bombings in March of 2002, Israel launched operation Defensive Wall in the West Bank and has since reoccupied most of the territories ceded to to the Palestinians in the West Bank. The IDF set up additional checkpoints and has kept towns under virtual siege with extended periods of curfew, disrupting work, education and daily life. Ditches surround towns, preventing people from leaving. The IDF has killed over 3,500 Palestinians, demolished houses and uprooted olive groves. After a recent IDF study showed that the demolitions do not deter suicide bombings, demolitions of the houses of suicide bombers were discontinued, but houses are still demolished for other reasons.
In summary, Palestinians have killed over a thousand Israelis in terror and suicide attacks. Israelis have killed over 3,500 Palestinians in "defense" operations and reprisals, including many civilians. In addition to measures taken to ensure security, Israeli extremist settlers have harassed Palestinians, destroyed property, uprooted olive trees and killed several Palestinians in doubtful circumstances. The perpetrators are rarely identified and almost never prosecuted . http://www.mideastweb.org/nutshell.htm
As such, Palestine is an illegally occupied country still fighting for their freedom and Hamas is their Democratically elected Government.
The Palestinians are a people under occupation who have the absolute right to self-determination under the UN Charter.The use of force as part of resisting occupation in the Palestinian case is therefore derived from the international legitimacy to recourse to armed struggle in order to obtain the right to self-determination. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21559.htm
Let's talk about the current Israeli air attacks on Gaza ~ I understand the Israelis are using as many as 60 F-15 and F-16 aircraft in an attack. They are also using a newly designed and very deadly "smart bomb" guided by satellites known as the GBU-39. The aircraft can carry eight times the number of 250 lb GBU-39s as the old one ton bunker busters.
The Israeli's can, incredibly, launch the GBU-39 up to 40 miles away and they "fly" to the target on deployable wings.
The Russians despise the "smart bombs" so much they told the US they would respond with nuclear weapons if the US used "smart bombs" in conflicts with Russia. Russia does not have any and no intention of developing them.
Bomb penetration is a function of diameter and length; not weight, really. These bombs each penetrate as far as a 2000 lb bunker buster bomb.
The Palestinian "rockets" are nothing to write home about. They are pitiful, weak. A "gesture" of defiance actually.
'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,' Gandhi said. What about a hundred eyes for an eye?"
Now note how crowded it is in Gaza in terms of people per square kilometer and square mile. Using my numbers in my previous article it is 4,144 people per sq km or 10,372 people per sq mi. As such, US supplied 1400 mph attack aircraft are bombing an area with 10,000 people per square mile. That's disgusting !
New Jersey, by contrast, thought by many to be "crowded," has only 1,100 people per sq mi.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich said in his recent statement condemning Israel's attacks ~ that he had sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon requesting an independent inquiry. He rightfully said the disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks represented collective punishment, which he said was a violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kucinich-criticizes-israel-wants-u.n.-probe-2008-12-29.html
But there are other voices, such as Manuel Valenzuela, who continue to remind the world of Israel's moral decay ~ which is a reflection of our own moral decay in Iraq . Manuel rightfully says the people must now finally act ; " What is transpiring in the Holy Land is anathema to human civilization; it is an embarrassment to almost seven billion people who are good, decent human beings. If our governments refuse to act, then so we must, for the sake of innocent and peaceful Palestinian and Israeli people, for the sake of human decency and for the sake of our future generations."
This moral injustice by Israel is the primary reason for Arab hatred toward both the United States and Israel and continually feeds ongoing acts of terrorism toward both states.
Read Manuel Valenzuela's enclosed excerpt on Israel's moral decay and then take action.
Allen L Roland
Israel's Moral Decay
By Manuel Valenzuela
Excerpt: " Living in the occupied territories is like living in Warsaw ghettos of the 1930's and South African Bantustans. It is akin to dwelling in Indian reservations, those cesspools of nothingness in the lands of America from where millions rotted away their once vibrant existence. Gaza and the West Bank are squalors of humanity acting as giant prisons, where dense refugee camps are considered cities, their perimeters encircled by fences, walls, Israeli tanks and the ever watchful eyes of trigger-friendly snipers. Enormous prisons within occupied lands, preventing contiguity, freedom of movement and any semblance of a sovereign state are the true definition of the West Bank and Gaza Strip ... Walls and fences that imprison and dehumanize cannot stand, for they help set mankind back in time to days dark and repressive, unenlightened and barbaric. Together, united as one we can become the massive tremor that helps bring walls and tyranny down... What is happening to the Palestinian people is a travesty, one more black mark on an already bruised human society. It is up to the Other Superpower to seek change, helping to bring an oasis of humanity to a suddenly barren strip of earth. Our elected leaders will not act, and neither will world organizations. It is up to us, the people of the world, to stand tall and shout with one united voice from deep within our bodies that we are in solidarity with those considered as untermensch, that if Palestinians are sub-human, then so are we, because they are human just like you and me, deserving of a life lived in happiness and opportunity, free of occupation and tyranny..
The time to boycott Israeli products has arrived. Let the sanctions imposed by the Other Superpower begin, unleashing the economic might of billions to punish those few who care nothing for international law or the universal declarations of human rights."
Allen L Roland
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
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