WHAT ISRAEL WANTS

Quoting Noam Chomsky, I opined in the
last log that we don't want peace in the
Palestine/Israel conflict, and never have.
Now I need to explain why: because Israel
doesn't want peace. And we want what they
want, nothing more and nothing less. From
its beginning we have rubber stamped every-
thing Israel does and wants. Israel in fact
determines our foreign policy! Think about
that!

And what is it Israel wants? I'll refer you to
an Israeli army vet who is now an Oxford pro-
fessor, Avi Shlaim. He writes in the 1/7/09
Guardian:
I write as someone who served loyally in the
Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never
questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel
within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly re-
ject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the
Green Line. The Israeli occupation of the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the
June 1967 war had very little to do with security
and everything to do with territorial expansion-
ism. The aim was to establish Greater Israel
through permanent political, economic and
military control over the Palestinian territories.
And the result has been one of the most pro-
longed and brutal military occupations of mo-
dern times.

Prof. Shlaim notes that on June 2, 1948, Sir
John Troutbeck wrote to British foreign secre-
tary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were
responsible for the creation of a gangster state
headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of lea-
ders." Shlaim adds that he used to think that
judgment was too harsh, but in view of current
vicious attacks on the people of Gaza, not now.

I hope that all of you who are interested in this
issue will click on www.guardian.co.uk/world.
The title of the article is: "How Israel Brought
Gaza to the Brink of Humanitarian Catastro-
phe." He does not spare Hamas from blame
and responsibility for its share of wrongdoing,
but places the major culpability squarely on
the people in control of overwhelming military
might. He writes further:

It is difficult to see how starving and
freezing the civilians of Gaza could pro-
tect people on the Israeli side of the border.
But even if it did, it would still be immoral,
a form of collective punishment that is
strictly forbidden by international hu-
manitarian law. (Emphasis mine.) The
brutality of Israel's soldiers is fully mat-
ched by the mendacity of its spokesmen.
Eight months before launching the current
war on Gaza, Israel established a National
Information Directorate. The core messa-
ges of this directorate to the media are
that Hamas broke the ceasefire agree-
ments; that Israel's objective is the defence
of its population; and that Israel's forces
are taking the utmost care not to hurt
innocent civilians. Israel's spin doctors
have been remarkably successful in get-
ting this message across. But, in essence,
their propaganda is a pack of lies. . . .Isra-
el's record over the past four decades
makes it difficult to resist the conclusion
that it has become a rogue state with "an
utterly unscrupulous set of leaders." A
rogue state habitually violates interna-
tional law, possesses weapons of mass de-
struction and practises terrorism -- the
use of violence against civilians for politi-
cal purposes. Israel fulfils all of these
three criteria; the cap fits and it must wear
it. Israel's real aim is not peaceful coexis-
tence with its Palestinian neighbors but
military domination.

I think that covers it. What do you think?

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net