I was recently a guest speaker at a well-planned three day college conference in Arizona where the subject was the Islam, Judaism and Israel / Palestine Conflict. The last day program featured a Jewish Rabbi and a Muslim Imam who presented their sides of the story. They were kind to each other, each tried to leave the impression that his religion sought peace was not to blame for the mean and vicious acts by both sides.
My part was to be a 20-minute racehorse presentation on Christian Zionism. It was my chance to explain, if I could, that Christian Zionism is very much a cause of the conflict and that those who follow it have the innocent blood of many Philistines and a lesser number of Jews on their hands. *
Alas, technology broke down just as I began, and I was left standing on my feet without props to prove my rather complicated point, nor was there time to improvise in the very fast moving program. So I switched directions and asked the students a direct and simple question and told them they should demand an answer from every speaker:
“Who is the aggressor in the land of the Philistines, the Israelis or the Palestinians.”
In order to solve any conflict, an intercessor, judge or parent must establish which warring party is pressing the issue. Which one keeps the war, squabble, hair-pulling match or dogfight alive? There is always an aggressor who does not want it to end. I went on to say it was my observation from being there, that it is the Israelis who are the aggressor and they always have been. Israel justifies every assassination on what it says is Philistine aggression, and it claims to only be retaliating each time.
Gaza is a microcosm of the prisons in which every Philistine exists to a greater or lesser degree. A very few inside the locked down towns and villages of Gaza continue to spray rockets over the walls and fences at their captors. These “Qassams” are unguided and uncontrolled and rarely hit anything. They do not really have targets, only directions of flight. They cannot be aimed, they are simply pointed. In two years, only 11 unlucky Israeli humans have been killed. An unknown few were actually wounded by what both sides agree is several thousands of Qassams.
No accurate figure for the injured are available because Israel’s military treats large numbers of persons for “shock ” whenever a Qassam lands near someone. Israel photo-ops these events with supposed “shock victims” who seem to be unmarked.
Philistines’ rockets can reach only one Israeli town, Sederot, built just over the fence from the Northeast corner of the Gaza Strip. Occasionally a super big Qassam reached the near edge of a more distant military town, Askalon. Israel claims the intended targets are innocent civilians.
The Philistines used a “guided” weapon system for several years until about 2005, which I call “Human bombs.” I went to Gaza to find out who they targeted and why they did it. I found out quickly by riding a bus full of Israeli soldiers, a sitting target for a bomber. A volunteer courier with an explosive device, is directed hopefully at a military targets. The records over four years show success at about one in three or four. Israel called these messengers “suicide bombers.” I use a more respectful name, Human bombs that delivered to their captor-enemy and manually explode it.
Less there be doubt, this author does not believe in suicide because God forbids taking human life. This includes ones own life. However, I do not for a minute believe the intent of the Human bomb is to kill himself, nor do they want to die. He want to kill Israeli soldiers, and giving his own life is his sacrifice. There is another reason I oppose Human bombs. They end the life of the bravest and most dedicated of those capable of resisting. But my opinion is not important in this matter because it is not my life that is at stake.
Israel lionizes its own mythical human bomber. According to the Hebrew Old Testament book of Judges, Samson became the Israelite hero by knowingly sacrificing his body in order to kill the enemy, including women and children. Recall that Samson was sort of an Israeli Goliath, killing Philistines. He was captured, but managed during his captivity to destroy the temple of the Philistines in Gaza with the royal family, the army, and himself, all inside. Here are Samson’s words, according the Hebrew Bible, Judges 16:30:
“Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life.”
The modern day Philistines (the Arabic word for Palestinian) have been championed by rock throwing youths, who starting in the uprising of the 1980s. Many of these died as children, assassinated by angry soldiers. They are modern day, brave-as-David rock throwers and human bombs, who struck back at their captors in desperation. Many more have tried and failed to reach a military target before being killed or captured.
The billion-dollar wall around the West Bank was more than paid for by the USA. The Gaza “canary cage” with 1.5 million living in it is now almost airtight. Human carried bombings have declined since 2004 because it has became nearly impossible to get out of Israel’s animal cages, and because the world has allowed Israel to build walls around their prisoners.
Many Philistine youths have been captured trying to bomb Israel. The Philistines put out Sampson’s eyes and chained him to a post, according to the Hebrew story. Captured by the Israelis can be worse than what biblical Sampson suffered. We will not go into the Israeli practice of routine torture of their captured, both men and women, but it is well-known.
Qassam rockets are no more than a feeble protest, a signal to the world that something is not well inside those walls from a society in the midst of mass execution. As feeble a protest as they are, Qassams are Israel’s latest excuse to proclaim that the Philistines are the aggressor and Israelis are the victims.
Former President Jimmy Carter defied President Bush, the Congress, and the state of Israel in meeting with the leader of Hamas in Damascus, Syria, on April 18, 2008. International pressure from Israel, UK and the USA prevents Hamas from carrying out the Palestinian voters’ mandate, and worse yet, allows Israel an excuse to hunt down and systematically assassinate Hamas workers and leaders, usually with American made missiles. No one denies that Hamas is the lawfully elected government of Gaza, as well as the West Bank. The excuse for not recognizing Hamas is always “suicide bombers and Qassam rockets.”
Israel would not allow past President Carter into Gaza, and they denied him protection during his visit. But Israel did take time to make a photo of Carter examining the carcasses of exploded Qassam rockets. This photo-op should backfire because the pathetic crudeness of the rockets is revealed in the photo in Haaretz newspaper, and we can finally see what a Qassam is. Mr. Carter is seen looking at lengths of rusty sewer pipes with crudely cut and unmatched welded on tail fins. Israel showed Carter weapons that were incapable of rocket flight. It should make the world feel sorry for the Philistines.
Israel paints all acts of resistance with the same “terrorist” brush. They would never let 80-year-old President Carter inside besieged Gaza to witness what Israel does to its captives because he might tell and many would believe him!
The American media has persuaded most Americans that if Palestinians kill an Israeli it is terrorism, and deserves fierce punishment, even collective punishment. But when Israelis kill dozens of Palestinian civilians, often children, it is viewed as collateral damage. There is no excuse for such supposed ignorance among Christian Zionists; they believe Israel is the victim because they want to believe it, not because it makes sense.
It pains me when Imams or any Muslim apologizes for the Human bombs, or condemns them; to do so, plays into the hands of those who claim the Philistines have always been the aggressors. I am aware of and sympathetic to the pressures put on Muslims in the USA to exemplify peace. This pressure is also largely fanned into flame by the pro-Israel racism of Christian Zionists in the USA. We must all defend the rights of an occupied people to revolt, by whatever extreme means.
Who wants the slaughter to go on, and why…who benefits from its continuance, clearly not those in the gulags. Israel is the only possible aggressor. It benefits from the continued conflict, and it cannot live with other possible conclusions.
Americans are preoccupied with Iraq, and most (with the big exception of Christian Zionists) admit that the USA is the aggressor. For religious reasons Christian Zionists also deny Israel’s guilt. But it is time the rest of us admits that occupation of the land of the Philistines continues because Israel’s present leaders do not believe they can live in peace with Muslim Arabs. They pretend to seek peace, but they keep the conflict going.
*The Cause of the Conflict, Carlson (audio-visual) www.whtt.org/show
Postscript:
Six years ago, and just a few months after day 911, We Hold These Truths published Smart Bombs vs. Intelligent Bombs. At that time there had been only 54 Palestinian human bombs in the entire 54-year history of the Israeli conflict. The present number is a few over 100, and there were none in the first 50 years of the conflict. http://cp.whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=166
Movie, Paradise Now, the dramatic Warner Brothers award winning foreign language film, a dramatic film of two young men from the West Bank who became Human Bombs.
Recommend: Robert A. Pape, Dying to Win, the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, Random House, 2005.
