Where is the outrage?

Gaza devastation from Israeli bombings -
originally reported by ABC as Israelis fleeing to a bomb shelter

We have become accustomed to the one-sided reporting of the American and Western media on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The current outbreak of fighting is getting similar biased coverage and little to no reaction from most of the world's governments.  The disruptive but useless rocket launchings into Israel are being treated similarly to the devastation being wreaked by Israeli bombing raids into Gaza.  As of this morning, 204 Palestinians have been killed and 1450 wounded.  Most of these are civilians and include numerous children.  According to the UN,  1,370 homes have been destroyed, directly displacing 8,200 Palestinians, and 600,000 people were at risk of losing access to water supply.   The Israelis have suffered 1 death and "several" wounded. 


The increase in hostilities started when Israel assassinated seven Hamas members after declaring Hamas responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.  The fact that Hamas had nothing to do with the incident and that another group took credit for it apparently meant nothing to the self-appointed judge, jury and executioner.  Hamas responded to these murders by launching rockets into Israel - which. of course, gave Israel the excuse to overreact and begin the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.


Why is the world not outraged at the latest Israeli war crimes?  Have we become so used to the tragedy that is Gaza that we no longer care?  Have we become so inured to the collective punishment of these stateless people that additional hundreds of mostly civilian deaths mean nothing? 


Declaring America to be Israel's great friend and asking for peace, as Obama did in an op-ed piece in Haaretz, is fine and good.  Meanwhile, the killing of Palestinians continues.  As long as the United States continues to condone - by its inaction, by its military aid and by its use of the veto in the UN - Israel's illegal actions, nothing will change.  Gaza is deemed to become unlivable by 2020.  The ongoing blockade and the devastation being wreaked by the Israeli attacks may hasten that date.

18 members of the family of a Gaza police chief were killed in an Israeli air strike
.Photo in Al Jazeera is by Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Al Jazeera reported on the promised escalation of attacks by Israel after Hamas rejected the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire.  "Hamas said it never received a cease-fire proposal, and added that any deal that did not address its preconditions could not be approved. The group is demanding that Israel end its seven-year blockade on the occupied territory, recommitment by Israel to the terms of the 2012 cease-fire that ended the last offensive and the release of scores of Hamas members arrested across the West Bank in past weeks.  Hamas also wants Egypt to ease its Rafah border closure, which along with Israel's control of Gaza's other borders has economically strangled the strip and restricted the movement of its residents."  The same article reports on the Human Rights Watch's statement.  HRW said that " 'providing warnings does not make an otherwise unlawful attack lawful,' and condemned both Israeli and Gazan attacks on civilians. Israeli airstrikes investigated by HRW have been targeting civilian structures and often unlawfully killing civilians. 'Deliberate or reckless attacks violating the laws of war are war crimes,' the rights group said in a statement.  HRW also condemned Israel's attacks on the family homes of alleged Hamas members. 'The presence of a single, low-level fighter would hardly justify the appalling obliteration of an entire family,' Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of HRW, said in the statement. 'Israel would never accept an argument that any Israeli home of an Israel Defense Force member would be a valid military target.' "


Link to petition requesting Obama to demand that Israelis refrain from bombing Gaza hospital

Sunday Roundup - July 13, 2014

This is the fourth of four special editions of The Sunday Roundup.  Today we continue to look at the historical roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, covering the period from 2000 to 2012.

Seven years of the Oslo Process failed to achieve the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel still occupied the West Bank and Gaza.  Israeli settlements were being built in the Occupied Territories. Following a visit to the Temple Mount by right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon in September 2000, fighting erupted between Muslims and Israeli police.

2000-2005: The Second Intifada

September 2000 - Beginning of the Second Intifada - a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence.

January 21-27, 2001 - The Taba Summit negotiations between Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat comes close to achieving a solution. The talks were halted by the politics of the Israeli elections and the changeover in leadership in the US.

February 2001 - Likud candidate Ariel Sharon is elected Prime Minister of Israel. Sharon refuses to negotiate with the Palestinians on the principles of either the Taba Summit or the Oslo Accords.

March 2002 - Arab League Summit in Beirut. Arab Peace Initiative calls for Israel to withdraw its forces from all the Occupied Territories, including the Golan Heights, to recognize "an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as a "just solution" for the Palestinian refugees. In exchange the Arab states affirmed that they would recognize the state of Israel, consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over and establish "normal relations" with Israel.

March 2002 - 15 suicide attacks against Israeli targets; overall during March 2002, 138 Israelis and 238 Palestinians were killed.

March 27, 2002 - Suicide attack on Park Hotel in Netanya kills 30.

March 29, 2002 to May 10, 2002- Sparked by the suicide attack in Netanya, Israelis launch "Operation Defensive Shield", an offensive into Palestinian territory on March 29.

• The operation resulted in the deaths of 30 Israeli soldiers and 497 Palestinians.
• Over $361 million worth of damage was done to Palestinian infrastructure and institutions, $158 million of which came from the aerial bombardment and destruction of houses in Nablus and Jenin.

June 2002 - Israelis begin construction of the West Bank Wall. Upon completion, the barrier's total length will be approximately 700 kilometres. A 2004 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice called "the construction of the wall, and its associated régime...contrary to international law".

2003 - Truce between Palestinians and Israelis leads to the Aqaba summit of May 2003 in which Israel endorsed the "Roadmap for Peace" put forth by the United States, European Union, and Russia.

March 19, 2003 - Arafat appoints Mahmoud Abbas as Prime Minister

June 6, 2004 - Gaza disengagement originally proposed by Ariel Sharon at the end of 2003 is adopted by the Israeli government.

November 2004 - Yasser Araft dies.

January 2005 - Mahmoud Abbas is elected President of the Palestinian National Authority.

August 2005 - Israeli diesngagement from Gaza is effected, including the relocation of all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

2006 - 2012: The Israel-Gaza Conflict

January 25, 2006 - Hamas wins a majority on the Palestinian Legislative Council.

• The United States and some European countries cut off funds to the Hamas and the Palestinian Authority insisting that the Hamas must recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous peace pacts.
• Israel refused to negotiate with Hamas, since Hamas did not renounce its beliefs that Israel has no right to exist and that the entire State of Israel is an illegal occupation

Summer 2006 - Israel-Gaza conflict begins.

March 2007- Hamas and Fatah formed a Palestinian authority national unity government headed by Ismail Haniya.

June, 2007 - Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in the course of the Battle of Gaza; Fatah maintains control of the West Bank. Israel and Egypt begin the air, land, and sea blockade of Gaza.

June 2008 - Israel-Hamas agree to a six-month truce

December 19, 2008 - Israel-Hamas Truce expires.

The Gaza War: December 27, 2008 - January 18, 2009

December 27, 2008 - Gaza War begins. Israel attacks Gaza with an intense bombardment of police, military and civilian structures in Gaza. Hamas intensifies its rocket attacks.

January 3, 2009 - Israeli ground offensive into Gaza begins.

January 18, 2009 - Israel and Hamas declare cease fires. Israeli troops withdraw on January 21.

Impact of the Gaza War

• The conflict resulted in 1,417 Palestinian (65% civilian) and 13 Israeli deaths (4 from friendly fire).
• Early estimates by independent contractors in Gaza say that Gaza lost nearly $2 billion in assets. The Israeli Defense Forces destroyed or severely damaged as many as 4000 homes, 600–700 factories, small industries, workshops and business enterprises, 24 mosques, 31 security compounds, and 10 water or sewage lines.
• The World Health Organization said that 34 health facilities (8 hospitals and 26 primary health care clinics) were damaged
• The UN reported that over 50 United Nations facilities sustained damage.
• A satellite-based damage assessment of the Gaza Strip by the United Nations revealed 2,692 destroyed and severely damaged buildings, 220 impact craters on roads and bridges, 714 impact craters on open ground or cultivated land, 187 greenhouses completely destroyed or severely damaged and 2,232 hectares (22.32 km²) of demolished zones targeted by IDF bulldozers, tanks and phosphorus shelling.
• In September 2009, a UN special mission, headed by the South African Justice Richard Goldstone, produced a report accusing both Palestinian militants and the IDF of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, and recommended bringing those responsible to justice.
• The United Nations Human Rights Council ordered Israel to conduct various repairs of the damages. On September 21, 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded that 75% of civilian homes destroyed in the attack were not rebuilt.

November 25, 2009 - Israel imposed a 10-month construction freeze on all of its settlements in the West Bank. Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories are almost universally considered illegitimate and in violation of international law.

September 2, 2010 - United States launched direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Washington. When the Israeli partial moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank expired and was not renewed, the Palestinians left the negotiations.

September 2011 the Palestinian Authority led a diplomatic campaign aimed at getting recognition of the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. On September 23 President Mahmoud Abbas submitted a request to recognize the State of Palestine as the 194th UN member to the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Security Council has yet to vote on it.

October 2011 - Israel and Hamas prisoner exchange. The captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would be released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners.

Gaza Incursion of 2012

Nov 14, 2012 - Preceded by a period of mutual Israeli–Palestinian responsive attacks, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation was officially launched against the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip with the assassination of Ahmed Jabari, chief of the Gaza military wing of Hamas.

Nov 21, 2012 - A ceasefire mediated by Egypt was announced.

Impact of the Gaza Incursion of 2012

• 4 Israeli civilians and 2 soldiers were killed by Palestinian rockets.
• 174 Palestinians in total died, 107 of them civilians (6 civilians may have been killed by Palestinian armed groups firing rockets from Gaza)
• The IDF destroyed 124 (and partially damaged 2050) homes in Gaza and damaged or destroyed 52 places of worship, 25 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 97 schools, 15 health institutions, 14 journalist premises, 8 police stations, 16 government buildings, and 11 political sites. Fifteen factories and 192 trade shops were damaged or destroyed. Twelve water wells as well as agricultural lands were destroyed.

November 29, 2012 - The Palestinian Authority applied for admission as a United Nations non-member state. Hamas also backed the motion. The draft resolution was passed on November 29, 2012 by a vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions.

References
Wikipedia articles on the topics related to Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the major source for these posts. The articles on Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were particularly helpful.