onsdag 7 januari 2009

In Defense of Israel

As of yesterday, the 6th of January, 629 Palestinians have been brutally murdered by Israeli forces since December 27th. This is not something I sympathise with in any way. It's a pretty nasty thing to do, especially since around 200 of those have been civilians. 2800 people are injured. Not a nice thing to do.

Bad, bad Israel.

However, when I read about this in the news, I couldn't help but react. The article detailed all of these horrible things Israelis had done to Palestinians, but it didn't say why. So I went on the internet and looked.

December 21.
50-something rockets and mortars hit Israeli territory. One man is injured, and there's massive property damage. Israel responds by taking out two rocket launchers.

December 22.
Egypt requests that Hamas stops firing rockets. So, today, they fire only three, hitting nobody.

December 23.
Five more rockets strike Israeli territory. Again, nobody is injured.

December 24.
More than 60 rockets fired. They hit Israeli homes, a public square, a factory, and a goddamn playground. Several people are treated for shock. Hamas also accidentally shoots two Palestinian civilians with a rocket. Several homes are seriously damaged.

December 26.
12 rockets are fired into Israel. None hit any Israeli targets, but the Hamas accidentally blow up two Palestinian sisters, aged five and thirteen.

December 27.
Hamas fires 130 rockets today. One hits a 58-year old man in his home, killing him. Israel responds by attacking Hamas, killing 225 people. All hell breaks loose. War.

Now, I don't in any way sympathise with war. I don't like the idea. However, I can ask this: What if Norway fired around 260 rockets, during one week, at densely populated Swedish areas? Including a fucking playground? Would you consider it immoral to open war on them?

1 kommentar:

Nefandus sa...

Too true.

Although being solely pro-whichever side is goddamn foolishness. In this instance it's easy to say that Israel is in the right - and it would most probably be true.

But this conflict is old, and there's been too many atrocities committed by both sides that they've both become part of the same problem.

There's so much bad blood between these two peoples that they've all but drowned in it. I really can't see how there can ever be a resolution to this conflict without some heavy-handed, decisive and - most important of all - outside influence.