Gaza is supposedly in darkness. USA Today reports:
The exiled leader of Hamas appealed to Arab leaders and his rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday asking them to forget their differences and help the beleaguered Gazans, who saw Gaza City plunge into darkness after Israel blocked a shipment of fuel that powers its only electrical plant.The plea was rare show of emotion for the hard-line Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, Syria.
From articles like this you’d never know that Israel is supplying 70% of the usual amount of the fuel it has supplied Gaza in the past despite the dangers or that most of Gaza’s power is supplied by the Israeli and Egyptian power grids not the power plant in Gaza.
Uninformed comment unsurprisingly, breathlessly uses Wikipedia to declare Israel guilty of war crimes.
Wikipedia is just the common sense of the blogosphere. The Geneva Conventions were intended to avoid a repeat of the atrocities of WW II.The Israelis are going to have to live in the midst of the Palestinian people for the rest of the century. The Palestinians are not going away. The Israelis cannot wish them away or intimidate them into accepting statelessness, dire poverty, foreign domination and a condition analogous to slavery.
Moreover, Israel itself requires, in order to flourish, extensive economic and other relations with the outside world. If it is going to behave like this, the outside world will become less and less willing to have those relations. The Israeli Right is their country’s own worst enemy.
Given that his criticism is of Prime Minister Olmert, I wonder by what leap he concludes that the PM is member of the “Israeli Right.” Still his reading of the Geneva Conventions is selective. Here’s the text of articles 28 and 29 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
Art. 28. The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.Art. 29. The Party to the conflict in whose hands protected persons may be, is responsible for the treatment accorded to them by its agents, irrespective of any individual responsibility which may be incurred.
It is Hamas that is ultimately responsible for the well being of the residents of Gaza. Given that they are shutting down power generation (with the connivance of the international media) and restricting their citizens access to power so that they can launch attacks against Israeli civilians, it’s clear that perpetrators of atrocities are Hamas and not Israel. Juan Cole and his fellow travelers remain impervious to facts and logic.
The PoliGazette extends blame beyond Hamas, to those who elected the terror group.
As can be expected from the MSM, and especially the AP, journalists agree with the UN and “human rights organizations†(and I use these words loosely) that Israel’s the bad character in this story, but the fact of the matter is that if there’s anyone to blame, it’s the Palestinians.They could’ve dealt with the terrorists among them years ago already, if only they were truly willing to do so. That there still are so many terrorists in ‘Palestine’ tells us all we need to know about the attitude of the average Palestinian towards terrorism.
They’re being punished because they deserve to be punished. If they don’t want to live without lights, perhaps they should force the terrorists out of their neighborhoods.
Hamas is popular, not because of its bureaucratic competence but because of its radicalism. Hamas does reflect the views of its constituents. The people of Gaza are suffering because they voted to make war against Israel. Now their suffering is coming as their leaders use them as pawns. It’s hard to feel sympathy.
Israel is sending diesel fuel to power the Gaza electric plant. It’s actually a smart move. If Hamas refuses to power it up, Israel can say, “Hey, we just sent you the fuel. You’re not using it.â€
It would be a smart move if the Israeli claims was treated with any seriousness by the media. Unfortunately they’re more interested in highlighting the phony grievances of Hamas than in publicizing the truth.
More at technorati.
Crossposted at Soccer Dad.
