Israeli tanks turn screw on besieged Gaza Strip
The Israeli army continues to inflict collective punishment on the residents of the Gaza Strip in the hope of securing the release of Gilad Shalit, the 19 year old soldier taken hostage by Palestinian rebels.No other purpose is achieved by cruelly depriving hundreds of thousands of ordinary Gazans of their electricity supply (and shutting down water pumps) in sweltering heat. The international community, rightly alarmed at this dangerous escalation, can only call for restraint and back whatever diplomatic moves are afoot, through Egyptian mediation, to secure a peaceful outcome to a grave crisis.
The Israeli action is as dangerous as it is bizarre. If the aim of the action is to secure the young man's release then one has to question it's logic. Punishing hundreds of thousands of ordinary Palestinians, who have nothing to do with the kidnap, will surely only harden local opinion and make the rescue less likely, indeed Israel are putting his life in considerable danger.
And from the US came the expected endorsement.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of the governing Hamas party, criticised Washington for giving approval to the Israeli incursion. Mr Haniya said Washington had "given the green light to aggression" and called on the United Nations to step in to prevent an escalation in violence.The Israeli army have also, it is being reported, taken control of Gaza's international airport - which hasn't seen a single flight in the last five years - and bulldozed the runway.
A spokesman for US President George W Bush has said Israel has a right to defend itself and the lives of its citizens.
What is the purpose of this kind of action? Israel will no doubt claim, as she did when she destroyed Palestinian bridges, that she is trying to prevent the movement of the hostage.
However, when the airport hasn't functioned for over five years this begins to look like wanton destruction. Which is, of course, a war crime.
Last night, the Israel army fired artillery shells every minute or so around two towns in northern Gaza, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, as tanks and troops waited to cross the border. Residents in towns in the line of fire rushed to stock up on food as they took on board a warning from the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that "we won't hesitate to carry out extreme action to bring Gilad back to his family".
Human rights groups said it was in breach of the Geneva conventions which bar attacks on targets of no immediate military value and on reprisals against civilians.The Israeli army seemed at a loss to explain the value of severing electricity to most of Gaza's population, and destroying bridges that will take weeks or months to repair, unless it is to make civilians suffer in order to pressure the armed groups holding Cpl Shalit. "This is part of an ongoing effort to cause disruption, it's all part of the same effort to get the soldier released," said a spokeswoman, Captain Noah Meir. "It's part of measures against those who are directly involved and those not directly involved."
Miss Meir appears at that point to admit that war crimes are being committed. Collective punishment occurs when you punish civilians who were not directly involved in the crime for which you are meting out the punishment. This is exactly what Miss Meirs admits that the Israelis are now doing.
And in the final showing that the Palestinian Authority has no authority other than that which it is allowed by it's Israeli neighbour:
On the West Bank, Israel has detained more than 25 ministers and lawmakers from the Hamas-led government.
Among those held after the raids in several separate towns were at least eight cabinet ministers, Palestinian officials said.
In the West Bank town of Qalqilya, the Hamas mayor and his deputy were taken into custody.
Does Israel have any proof that links these people to the kidnapping? Can you imagine any other nation where a foreign power could enter, at will, and arrest so many members of the governing party? Can you imagine any other situation where the US would publicly back such an action?
The Israelis claim that all of the above is to help secure Gilad Shalit's release. I would say that this is a high risk strategy that is as likely to provoke his death as it is to help release him.
Israel is now punishing hundreds of thousands of innocent people for a crime that they did not commit, and she is doing so with the tacit approval of George Bush.
But, more disturbingly, she is making a rod for her own back and proving that she has not learned the lessons of Lebanon. The lesson of the Israeli's time in Lebanon should have been that it is easy to invade when you are a regional superpower, but it is not always quite so easy to leave.
If the worst comes to the worst, and this young Israeli soldier is not returned alive, how does Israel leave?
This plan is ill thought out, counter productive, against international law and as likely to ensure Gilad Shalit's death as it is to ensure his rescue.
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