Israel vs. Hamas... Palestine loses

The government of Israel has stated that they are in a battle against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people. They blame Hamas for locating weapons in apartment buildings, mosques and educational buildings so that civilian casualties are inevitable. Unfortunately, Israel is fighting a war it can not win and taking America with them.

Every image on Arab language TV showing Israeli pilots attacking Hamas in Gaza is a reminder to all that the planes came from the United States.

Greens all over the world are condemning the violence of the Israeli government, viewing the reaction of Hamas as justified by years of Israeli oppression and apartheid. It is messier than that and I hope that you click Read more! to follow.


The best policy for America that I have heard comes from a Palestinian Doctor, now on the faculty at UC San Francisco. Dr. Jess Ghannam writes from his experience in Gaza, setting up clinics. In an Op Ed that ran in today's San Francisco Chronicle, Ghannam gave his perceptive suggestion of a new US Policy.

For too long, American support of Israel has come without condition. Billions of our tax dollars have supported a state that betrays American values and engages in policies that harm America's image and interests abroad. Millions of Arabs and Muslims are glued to television sets right now. They are watching scenes of Palestinian men, women and children bathed in blood, aware that American-supplied F-16 fighter jets delivered the bombs. Imagine the difference if, instead, they saw an American leader declare that Palestinians - like Israelis - have the right to live in freedom and security. Imagine if those American planes were delivering much-needed food and medicine to people in Gaza.

We are still remembered for the Berlin Air Lift. As Green Party's Presidential Candidate, Cynthia McKinney is blocked from reaching Gaza to function as an observer, we are reminded again that there is a real need for purposeful action on the part of all.

In all cases, the need is to help the Palestinian people, but not to support Hamas in any way. The charter that founded Hamas shows little regard for anything but the way of Jihad. It calls for the elimination of Israel by force.

Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.

It makes specific reference to the idea that peace initiatives and cease fires are not worthy of consideration.

Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement.

This approach is not one that Greens can ever accept. If Israel sees Hamas as an enemy to be destroyed, they are correct. However, this enemy can never be destroyed by military force. You only pull its fangs by removing the obstacle to the fulfillment of the Palestinian dreams, that "Palestinians - like Israelis - have the right to live in freedom and security."

It is currently impossible to separate Hamas from the Palestinian people. The failure to recognize this, the failure to understand the every Palestinian civilian casualty creates 100 new converts for Hamas, is ultimately the great moral failure of Israel, one that the old testament God of Abraham would have punished. The failure of the United States to exert any pressure at all on the Israeli government is ultimately an act of cowardice in the realm of realpolitik. I am glad that Cynthia is there. I hope that she continues to talk on the need for Green Values to be represented by all.