* kopihangtuah: Gaza is in a Gazazster State

www.kopihangtuah.blogspot.com

Today the Israel-Gaza war reached its 25th day. What does it really mean in terms of inhumanity? Well, Palestinian officials say 1,653 Gazans, mostly civilians, have been killed . . .

AZA is in a "gazazster state" that anyone with a heart would weep. Humanity, or shall I say, inhumanity, is at its worst since Hitler swiped the Jews off Europe. Today the Israel-Gaza war reached its 25th day. What does it really mean in terms of inhumanity? Well, Palestinian officials say 1,653 Gazans, mostly civilians, have been killed. Sixty-three Israeli soldiers have been killed, and Palestinian shelling has killed three civilians in Israel. What is the underlying causes of such madness? We cannot comprehend. For Muslims, many would naturally support the Gazans and for non-Muslims, they rely on the media to digest facts before they decide who to support. Some (mostly non-Muslims) won't even take sides as they are unclear of the facts that are contradictory between Islamist backed media or the conventional mainstream media. Many arguments have been put forth by both sides but one cannot help to notice that the simplistic apparent fact is, Israelis are killing women, worse case, children and worst case, shelling the United Nations' centres, hospitals and mosques. So what is this war all about? Is it about religion? Is it about land? Is it about history? or; Is it about economy?

The role of religion in the Palestinian conflict

If one were to study the Jewish texts, one cannot avoid noticing that the Lord promises the 'Land' for His chosen people, the children of Israel. With this believe, the Jewish community strongly holds dear the land they call Israel and the occupied Palestine. Historically Jews have gone through quite a normadic odyssey throughout history. They have been in the Mesopotamian areas during the Prophet Isaac (Nabi Ishak a.s.) days, Eqypt during Prophet Moses (Nabi Musa a.s.) and Prophet Aaron (Nabi Harun a.s.) days; and the current Israel-Palestine areas during King Solomon (Nabi Sulaiman a.s.), King David (Nabi Daud a.s.) and Jesus (Nabi Isa a.s.) days. They have somehow been dispersed for hundreds of years everywhere across Europe and the Middle East under the Islamic empires of Muawiyah, Abassiyah and Ottoman; the Christian empire of Byzantine as well as the modern civilisations pre-World War 2. Subsequently they also migrated to the new world of Americas.

Now, religion plays an important role to motivate these dispersed Jews to unite and occupy the so called 'Promised Land'. Surely you cannot discount religion after digesting all this? The question is, why the Palestinian land? History shows that the strongest Jewish empire ever established in marking a particular land as its sovereign foothold is during King Solomon's reign. Solomon built the Jewish temple of which, the remaining is believed to be the wailing wall of Jericho we see today. Perhaps this is the reference the Israelis planted in their believes to justify the right to the land? What more with God's revelation to them (Jews) in the Old Testament as follows:

Exodus 23:31-32: "I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. Do not make covenant with them or with their gods."

One would argue that similar phrases appear in the Quran that give justifications to similar religious-led actions from the Muslim's side. Let us see how the Quran has warranted such actions - below:

Quran 5:51: "O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you, then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people."

Now, notice the difference between the two phrases from Exodus and the Quran respectively? The Exodus says, "drive them (people of the said land) out before you..." whereas the Quran says, "... do not take as allies... " Clearly those two phrases have different mandates to it. The former (Exodus) gives authority to oppress whereas the latter (Quran) simply warns not to trust the Jews (Zionists), the Christians (majority of Europe and the Americans) as well as those 'among you' (the Arab nations surrounding Palestine). At this point we should differentiate between Jews, Israel and Zionism. The state is Israel and the population consists of mostly ethnic Jews. Some Jews are Zionists and some not. Zionism is an ideology that reinforces the idea of 'Promised Land' via politics and apparently, now via military campaigns. For clarity, we should reduce the war reference to the Zionists.

The Quran refers to the 'Yahudi' (the Jews) as there were no words to describe Zionism or the State of Israel those days. The Quran must be read with intelligence whereby if there are Jews who oppose Zionism, they are therefore not to be within that definition of 'Yahudi'. Similarly, the Quran refers to the 'Nasrani' (the Christians) and should there be Christians who are friends with Muslims, they are not to be taken as the 'Nasrani' that was referred to earlier. Can the same be said (exclusivity of exempted cases) about the reference to the Palestinians in the Old Testament? Well, yes! in fact the Quran (instead of the Old Testament) did mention "whoever is an ally to them among you" to exempt the Palestinians or the Arabs who are supporting the Israel from being trusted by the Muslims - a positive factor in the eyes of the Israelis.

Why did I choose those specific phrases from Exodus and Quran? Well, simply to rebut a blog post that uses those phrases - Huffpost blog post entitled "7 Things to Consider Before Choosing Sides in the Middle East Conflict." The blog also mentioned that Muslims are guided by a hadith that warrants Muslims to kill Jews behind Gharqad trees. This cannot be taken out of context. It did not say kill Jews. It says kill Jews behind Gharqad trees. What this really means is that the Muslims are allowed to kill Jews who are oppressing you, that is, who are approaching to invade your (Palestinians) land. The Quran predicted the situation whereby the oppressor would be hiding behind the Gharqad trees. We have news that Netanyahu's armies have planted such trees at the border of Gaza as a strategy to minimise Palestinians movement with the aim of expanding the land further. Surely this does not involve the Jews who are innocent. It should be acknowledged that the Quran only warrants killing when justified by oppression whereas the reference to the Old Testament seem to lack such parameter, at least in the one referred to by the Huffpost blog.

Secular arguments fuelling the Palestinian conflict

We have established earlier that religion has its role in the conflict. But many keep on saying that this is not about religion and claim that this is about land, economy and politics. Well, I cannot disagree. Whilst religion is at the heart of the conflict, we cannot rule out secular arguments as religion references did mention 'Land' (Occupied Palestine). That in itself is a mega link. How else would you 'acquire' the Land if not by economic, political or military means? Similarly, why else would you want to 'acquire' the Land if not because of economic, political and military benefits and advantages? Israel uses the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Arab nations and many more as a political tool to establish its significance in a Muslim dominated region. Palestinians may have used politics but to re-establish the land they used to live on. See the difference?

Israel blocks supplies into Palestine and controls the movement on the infrastructure within Palestine. This dampens the economic growth of the Palestinians. Without supplies and proper infrastructure, Palestine will be (has already been) crippled. No schools. No transportation. No supplies. No resources. All of which, are recipe for a deteriorating economy. Not to mention the Palestinian's inability (because of the earlier said constraints) to harvest the huge gas reserves of the shores of Gaza - that can be a wealthy source of economic substance to Israel if they grab hold of Gaza - catch my drift?!. Finally, military enforcement is the best way of strengthening the military presence in the region. Surrounded by Arab nations, Israel will require a more prominent strategic military positions securing Red Sea linkage to the Mediterranean Sea, the European gateway to the East as well as the abolishment of the closest opponent military force (Hamas). All these factors make it easy for us to understand why Israel should want to occupy Palestine (although inhumane).

Let's drill further into the economic side of all this. Referring to an article on 10 July 2014 at www.globalresearch.ca entitled "War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza’s Offshore Gas Fields", the following extract puts the earlier point on economy into perspective:

Five years ago, Israel invaded Gaza under “Operation Cast Lead”. An article was published by Global Research in January 2009 at the height of the Israeli bombing and invasion under Operation Cast Lead. In the wake of the invasion, Palestinian gas fields were de facto confiscated by Israel in derogation of international law. A year following “Operation Cast Lead”, Tel Aviv announced the discovery of the Leviathan natural gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean “off the coast of Israel.” At the time the gas field was: “ … the most prominent field ever found in the sub-explored area of the Levantine Basin, which covers about 83,000 square kilometres of the eastern Mediterranean region.” Coupled with Tamar field, in the same location, discovered in 2009, the prospects are for an energy bonanza for Israel, for Houston, Texas based Noble Energy and partners Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration and Ratio Oil Exploration. (See Felicity Arbuthnot, Israel: Gas, Oil and Trouble in the Levant, Global Research, December 30, 2013). The Gazan gas fields are part of the broader Levant assessment area. What is now unfolding is the integration of these adjoining gas fields including those belonging to Palestine into the orbit of Israel. (see map above). It should be noted that the entire Eastern Mediterranean coastline extending from Egypt’s Sinai to Syria constitutes an area encompassing large gas as well as oil reserves.

My first reaction to the above finding was (still is), "Wow!!!!!" This is a mega deal man. Multi-billion dollar deal. This reminds me of some comments made by my friends suggesting that if Israel wanted to kill all Palestinians, they would have done so long time ago. They claim that this is not about Zionists wanting to kill Muslims for ethnic cleansing or religion for that matter. Well, let's just, hypothetically, accept that argument. Let's say that yes, Zionists are not after the Muslims in Palestine.... Errrr... Duhhh.. of course! They are after the damn gas reserves right? I think I agree with the claim now because I found the above article on 'gas reserves' as a reason to explain why Israel did what they did (and what they will do further) - expansion for gas reserves control and not because of religion - how convenient, as they already have the holy land (Jerusalem).

Accusations made on Hamas and how history shapes the current complexity

Hamas has been accused of drawing first blood and using civilians as human shields. Hamas was also accused of launching rockets from densely populated areas including hospitals and schools. This is said to cause very little damage on the Israeli's side but great damage on the Gaza side. Hamas was also blamed for not accepting Israel's decision to pull out soldiers and settlers in 2005 as well as opening border crossings to facilitate commerce. Israel even gave 3,000 greenhouses to produce fruits and flowers for the economy. Hamas was also accused of not choosing to invest in schools, trade or infrastructure. Worse still, Hamas invested in underground tunnels to facilitate military campaign against Israel. Hamas also did not build bomb shelters for the Palestinians and as a result, Palestinians face the bombs being dropped on their roofs. In a nutshell, Hamas is accused of disordering priorities and could have sought help from neighbouring rich Arab nations.

In order to understand the complexities of the Palestinian people supporting Hamas to the extent that they allow themselves to be faced with sufferings, we ought to understand the history. In 1948 the British Government 'awarded' the land they call Israel now to the Jewish people that was led by Zionists. Since then, there have been many conflicts including the infamous 7-day war involving Egypt on the Palestinian's side. This is clearly the response to the giving away of land that belonged to the Palestinians. In a way, the oppression was started by the British and its allies. Understandably, the British Government (and the United States of America (USA)) had already been infested by Zionists. The 5 million Palestinians have always fought against Israel. They may be stupid fools throwing stones at a bunch of Israeli soldiers shooting machineguns but they were reacting to the oppression. With or without Hamas, what you see (assisting military force for Palestine) would have happened anyways. Hamas only came into existence in 1987, which is 39 years after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Still scanning through history, one must remember that the oppression was not only from Israeli's side. it was also at the United Nations (UN) level where Palestine could not be granted full member status by the UN as the USA (ally of Israel) threatened to veto against it at the Securities Council in 2011. In the end, they only got a Non Member State Observer status only. How do you respond to that? Any nation would continue to fight (even if it means sacrificing lives). Mind you, the USA funds USD3 billion a year of its tax payers monies to Israel particularly to support military campaigns against Palestine. Today, the USA is trying to show that they care and that they want to champion a peace treaty between the Palestinians and the Israelis. One cannot ignore how superficial this looks like. They (US) seem to portray characteristics of a hypocrite and what is worse (or worst) is that, the entire world seems to be blinded by them (or choose to remain silent). With all this painful history and the continuous blockade of the Palestinians, one can only ignore logic and start 'feeling' the unhealthy psychological development of the people of Palestine. No wonder they are willing to work together with Hamas and ended up having their kids and wives blown up into pieces.

Israel kept on using Hamas' rockets as a reason to do a full military attack on civilians. In a way, the civilians themselves have evolved into military agents of sorts. I have read many non-conventional media to uncover that the accusations on Hamas are not all necessarily correct. Many times in the past Hamas respected peace agreements but started firing rockets again because Israel drew first blood - an example would be Israel's massive crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank during a ceasefire agreement. Conventional media may have reported differently but how do you conclude when 2 separate groups of media report contradictory findings? Of course the more pervasive one would be the conventional media that is controlled by the Zionists (An idea promoted by Henry Ford in his thesis, the International Jew, to prove the authenticity of the Zionist's secret blue print to control the world, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion). To demonstrate a point, Hamas even sent some of its Palestinian members to jail for disobeying peace treaties. There are many examples that I can give but to cut the story short and to have a rough feel of the contradictory messages (as opposed to conventional media), I urge you to read www.salon.com 29 July 2014 article entitled "Debunking the Myths About Gaza: the Truth Behind Israeli and Palestinian Talking Points."

The recent war was said to have been erupted when Hamas kidnapped 3 Israeli teenagers. Before any validity, Netanyahu sent his military force to bulldoze Gaza only to later confirm that Hamas was not involved. How crucial was that validity? Clearly this shows that any reason, whether justified or not, serves as justification to war anyway. Even if Hamas was behind it, the conventional media did not emphasise that 10 days earlier (from the kidnapping) a 10 year old Palestinian kid was killed in an airstrike by the Israelis. So who drew first blood? The simple fact is that Israel has all the intentions to demolish Hamas following the potential threat it can be if Hamas were to combine forces with its brothers in the West Bank forming a United Palestinian Leadership (which was progressing anyway).

In the past Israelis offered a retreat of its soldiers and open borders. This meant nothing. For the Palestinians it is as if they were asked to accept slavery. The offer was on the back of Israelis still controlling the borders, the roads, the supplies, the land and everything else under the sun. It is like saying, "O.K. we will stop bombing you and let you live your lives but as our slaves." Who in their right mind accepts that especially when their families have died previously defending the very right to freedom? 3,000 greenhouses to produce fruits and flowers for the economy means nothing if the economy is still controlled by the Israelis. As I mentioned earlier, logic (IQ) does not work. Psychological comprehension (EQ) is what fuels the Palestinians. You must put your self in their shoes. Feel them. 66 years of oppression surely is more than enough to psychologically turn the people of Palestine into fighters - fighter for their own freedom - fighter to protect the remaining 22% of their land not yet occupied by the Israelis (for which Israelis are subtly expanding into by way of illegal settlements) - fighters mistakenly labelled as terrorists.

Before I forget about the question on 'help from neighbouring rich Arab nations', I think it is pretty clear that the neighbouring Arab countries did very little to assist their Palestinian brothers. Firstly, Egypt had blocked the South border of Gaza that traps Gazans in an open air prison while Israelis are attacking from the North and the West - One can only wonder whether this is an intentional colluding act. Saudi King superficially expressed concerns after 25 days of Gaza being destroyed. Never did he offer any help earlier (unlike the late King Faisal who was murdered for championing the Palestinian course). Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arabs Emirates, Bahrain and many more are practically under the grips of the USA Government that is controlled by the Zionists. This is the result of many years of subtle political colonisation in the name of oil. Meanwhile, USA had also paralysed countries like Iraq, Egypt and Libya via military campaigns and toppling of Governments of those countries. Meanwhile, Syria and Iran are busy dealing with almost 180,000 killings of Muslims in their countries by the ISIS militant group rumoured to have been organised by the Western super powers' intelligence agencies inclusive of CIA and Mossad.

So what now?

So what? Well, we need a remedy. A remedy that is biased towards the oppressor is not a remedy. Some may argue that we should not look back at history because history is full of vendettas and vendettas will never end the conflict. Some also say that there are 3 generations of Israelis who were born in Israel which gives them the right to claim the land. Some also say that you really don't have to choose between being "pro-Israel" or "pro-Palestine" - i.e. support secularism, democracy and a two-state solution - at the same time oppose Hamas, oppose settlement expansion/occupation and don't pick a side. Some also say that there is no use posting images of the dead Palestinians on Facebook as it will not make any difference and disrespectful to the demised family members.

In my humble opinion, the 22% should be left alone and Israelis should retreat back into the Israel that was given to them in 1948. Even if we are to ignore history, moving forward, Israelis must not be allowed to occupy more land than what they have stolen. Giving excuses to expand land in order to distant settlements away from the firing distance of Hamas rockets is no longer acceptable as Israel has proven themselves not trustworthy when they kept on putting in settlement right till the edge of the border whenever they expand their invasion in the name of Hamas' rockets. If West Bank and Gaza wants to combine into a united front, so be it as it is their freedom to choose.

As for the Facebook postings, no matter how ugly and painful those images can be, I believe it must be made public. Awareness must be shouted. This needs to be exposed. If previously it was said that Zionists control media, the age of social media now works against that. Why? Because now everybody can publish. Of course Facebook is owned by a Jew but so far, I have seen numerous postings against Zionists on Facebook. It is either Facebook is not Zionist or they just cannot stop an inertia so strong and pervasive evidenced by the numerous rallies across the globe involving both Muslims and Non-Muslims (inclusive of Non-Zionist Jews) supporting Gaza. The voice of the people is strong.

Some Governments had to take action in response to their people's pressure even if the action is a mere declaration. Ireland has blocked supplies of goods from Israel. Argentinian President has revoked any Argentinian passports given to holders of Israeli passports. Germany's Deutschbank has blacklisted Israeli banks who finance the properties of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestine. Many countries have asked Israeli embassies to be closed. People around the world are boycotting Israeli products or products of companies that heavily give financial assistance to Zionism. In the end, it is more compelling for you to take the Palestinian's side because to remain silence (or worse, to support Israel) is simply incomprehensible in light of the arguments put forth earlier.

In the end, it is more compelling for you to take the Palestinian's side because to remain silence (or worse, to support Israel) is simply incomprehensible....