What the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and sections of the U.S. media claim is an attempt to "free" an abducted soldier, has so far driven around 25,000 Palestinians from their homes, left 700,000 without electricity and further imprisoned many in an already reduced region – by obliterating roads and bridges (food is running short and is difficult to preserve with fridges out of action). International aid agencies are already warning of a possible humanitarian crisis if the blockade continues.
Israel has arrested or kidnapped half of the democratically elected Hamas government ministers, and also holds in its prisons some 9000 Palestinians (including large numbers of women and children), many of whom have not been charged with any crime. Thomas Asher claims the prisoners are "routinely tortured" and argues that a military assault and invasion of Gaza was planned long before officer Shalit's capture.
Press Coverage
Why, when a team of Israeli 'commandos' enter the Gaza strip to "detain" Palestinians with suspected links to Hamas militants (believed to be responsible for hand-made Qassam rockets fired out of Gaza – rockets reported recently by Jane Kinninmont to be "incredibly inaccurate" and "in military terms… pathetic"), does the news receive a single sentence in the 'World in Brief' section of a national British newspaper (Observer 25 June), whereas the news of an Israeli soldier held captive after a Palestinian attack on a military post (used to "fire shells into Gaza and contributing to civilian deaths") immediately received so much coverage?
Does this attack on the civilians of Gaza show that Israel is focussed on the release of Gilad Shalit?
Though Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers might be considered a 'legitimate target' in this 'war', we must not forget the members of the Israeli military whom are forced into fighting for their country – 'conscientious objection to military service in Israel' has been reported as an unrecognized human right, national service is compulsory for Jewish men over 18 and can last for up to two years. Although a number of soldiers have previously taken this to the courts, cases have been rejected and some have either been forced to participate in military action or imprisoned.
The Geneva Convention – for human rights – states:
The taking of [civilian] hostages is prohibited.
A civilian is any person who does not belong to any of the following categories: members of the armed forces, militias or volunteer corps, organized resistance movements, and residents of an occupied territory who spontaneously take up arms. If there is any doubt whether a person is civilian, then he or she is to be considered a civilian. (Protocol I, Art. 50, Sec. 1)
Combatants must distinguish between civilian and military objects and attack only military targets. (Protocol I, Art. 48)
These protections include the right to be free from attacks, reprisals, acts meant to instill terror, and indiscriminate attacks.
Where does the bombing of power stations fit in this? The sonic booms over the Gaza Strip which cause greatest suffering to children?
If the assault, as Asher claims, is to force a regime change, I am struggling to understand Israel's methods. Surely this will have the opposite effect; fuelling support for the more radical members of Hamas. Won't it just become a recruiting force for Palestinian militants?
