Entry: Gaza, Israel's Version of the Warsaw Ghetto Monday, January 05, 2009

As an American serviceman in 1967, I wore a "J" on my dog tags, indicating I was Jewish. I was told in no uncertain terms that if deployed on a U.S. Naval vessel, that I couldn't set foot on any Arab soil. I was in training as a combat field corpsman preparing to go to Viet Nam when the 6 Day War broke out between between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In six days, Israel conquered the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights. I volunteered to go to Israel if the 3rd Marines wee sent, but in 6 days the Israelis were able to defeat the Arab enemy.

In May 1994 it became a largely autonomous zone under the leadership of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), although some Jewish settlements remained and were under the protection of Israeli military forces. In August 2005 Israel began unilaterally evacuating Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip, and the last Israeli soldiers departed soon after. However, Israel retained control of Gaza’s air space and most of its borders. In 2005 a concrete wall was erected to encircle the Gaza Strip to keep Palestinians in, now the Gaza strip is being demolished by Israel's war machine, because Hamas extremist started firing rockets into Israel and in the process are killing many innocent Palestinians many of the children.

A similar wall was built around Warsaw Poland in 1940 surrounding a large Jewish population; it was called the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1943 after years of abuse by their Nazi captors, there was an uprising by the Jews. As a result the Nazi army went in and leveled the ghetto, capturing about 56,000 and killing about 7,000. The final solution.

I read and view the news and wonder if the invasion of the Gaza Strip is Israel's version of the "Final Solution". They have the ability to make surgical strikes, but they don't. They defeated 3 Arab states in 6 days; 3 states that had tanks, and aircraft; the war on the lessor equipped Palestinians has lasted for weeks and there is no end in sight because Israel does not want a cease fire.

I'm sorry, but I can no longer think of myself as a Jew.

   2 comments

Nic
February 1, 2009   06:26 AM PST
 
rose,

I had hoped for a response from you, and appreciate what you wrote. There is indeed a difference between being a Jew and being Israeli; though if you listen to those in the community here, not much. There is this sense of "Homeland" if not "Promised land" when you speak to many in the U.S. Jewish community, which is why our politicians make a point of showing their support for Israel while campaigning.

Yes it was an exaggeration to compare the Israeli offense in Gaza to the Nazi “final solution”, but on the surface I see an offense by a strong nation against a small percentage of Palestinians who are Hamas terrorist. When Ronald Reagan was president he coined (or at least made public) the term “collateral damage” referring to those non-combatants killed during a military action. The (any) military realizes there will be civilian casualties and have even developed an allowable percentage realizing if the death toll becomes too great, that it will get a (more) negative response in public opinion. The Nazis did not care about public opinion and when they went into the Warsaw ghetto to battle the Jewish resistance there, they killed every man, woman and child without concern for public opinion. In Gaza western reporters were denied access, as planes dropped bombs in neighborhoods housing suspected terrorist. What film we see here showed total devastation and the body count included civilians and children; bombs, whether yours or theirs do not differentiate between the enemy and the innocent. I also believe that when innocent civilians are killed, that the families of those killed are more likely to support Hamas in the future than they might have in the past.

I believe that there are those in Israel who would (if they could) exterminate all Palestinians, but realize the world looks down on those who commit genocide; due in part to the Holocaust. I hate the fact that innocent people on both sides of the Gaza wall are being killed, because Hamas militants fire rockets into Israel. I cannot justify 14 days of bombing the area, especially since it appears the militants with rockets have not been stopped. As of today I hear Israel is one again readying to retaliate; why not just relocate those Palestinians who do not support Hamas and then level the Gaza strip and get it over with.

I am sorry that you have to live in this mess, but am also sorry for those Palestinians who do not want war, but only want to live and watch their children grow. I wish I knew how to surgically go into Gaza and remove the cause of this problem, but I don’t. I do know, that the history of this feud between the Palestinians and Israeli people has gone on for millennium and that all that killing has resolved nothing, so how is it in this day and age going to be different?

I am glad you responded and hope to hear from you again.
rose
February 1, 2009   02:05 AM PST
 
my friend,
i am not about to try and defend my country's aggression. i found it as sickening as you did (although my reaction was probably less extreme). however, for the sake of accuracy, i wish to point out what i perceive as flaws in this logic.
firstly there is a vast difference between being a jew and being israeli. they are not the same. ironically, i see myself as an israeli, but do not much identify as a jew.

forgive me, but your comparing israel's aggression, however wrong, to the nazis is a gross exaggeration. the jews were persecuted just because they were jews, and did nothing to provoke the violence against them, except by simply existing.
sadly, the same cannot be said of the hamas. they are not innocents. they are violent against israel, and their own people. we have friends in gaza who tell horror stories about the behavior of the hamas to the palestineans themselves. it is not unlike the taliban. it is them that hide armed militias in kindergardens and hospitals and use children as. it is them that refuse to even consider negotiation, or backing down from their sworn goals - the destruction of israel. they do not want peace either, it seems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TejVJWSTTpY

i am not pro-war, nor can i justify israel's actions in gaza. but neither can i romaticize the palestineans, and their situation. the truth and the reality are far more complex than you have portrayed it. seeing the palestineans as victims (although partially true) is just as dangerous as the self-righteous outlook of many pro-israelis (although also partially true).

all i'm saying is that neither side is innocent. and, as always, truth lays somewhere between the two extreme portrayed.

regards,
rose

Leave a Comment:

Name


Homepage (optional)


Comments