Building A Coalition

Over the last several weeks, Israel's true face has been exposed to the world.The ghetto that the Israelis(ironically enough)have created for the Palestinians in Gaza has been succesfully transformed into a bloodbath. The rising number of civilian deaths and the disproportionate response of Israel to the threat posed by Hamas has shown, that Israel is no beacon of freedom and equality as the Western "intellegentsia" would have us believe.

It's hard to remove oneself enough to defend the actions taken against the Palestinians.The barrage of images fed into our homes of dead children,and destroyed schools are not the images of a respected nation fighting to defend itself,but that of an imperialist proxy state,seeking to impose the will of a superpower to which they owe their allegiance.How can we allow these actions to continue?Embarrasingly enough the President has remained silent. George W. Bush has turned a blind eye to this issue,at best. At the very worst the president has been complicit in this inhumane violence. He has decided to"Let Obama,handle it." and expressed his "support of Israel's defense".The blood of these civilians, now...also rests on his hands. This all seem like a strange case of deja vu. Not to mention, the virtual absence of a ceasefire agreement.Afterall we had seen a foreshadowing of these atrocities;with the Israeli action in 2007 in Lebanon. And as Naomi Klein outlines in her recent article of The Nation, Israel has not been condemned by the West;but rewarded: "Since 2006 Israel has been steadily escalating its criminality: expanding settlements, launching an outrageous war against Lebanon and imposing collective punishment on Gaza through the brutal blockade. Despite this escalation, Israel has not faced punitive measures--quite the opposite. The weapons and $3 billion in annual aid that the US sends to Israel is only the beginning. Throughout this key period, Israel has enjoyed a dramatic improvement in its diplomatic, cultural and trade relations with a variety of other allies. For instance, in 2007 Israel became the first non-Latin American country to sign a free-trade deal with Mercosur. In the first nine months of 2008, Israeli exports to Canada went up 45 percent. A new trade deal with the European Union is set to double Israel's exports of processed food. And on December 8, European ministers "upgraded" the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a reward long sought by Jerusalem. " We have a humanitarian crisis at our hands and it's time that we do,what should have been done years ago. We must hold Israel accountable for it's treatment and abuse of the Palestinian people.

We have the tools at our hands to bring justice to this region.The two state solution is possible if only there is a global outcry.The pressure must be put upon European and U.S. governments to force sanctions upon Israel,and condemn their use of violence and millitarism. This can be accomplished only by the formation of a widespread movement commited to seeking social justice and solidarity with the Palestinians ,similar to the movement forged in opposition to apartheid in South Africa. Once public sentiment is swayed, we may be able to produce real change in the Middle East. Sanctions MUST be the method of choice. Only with the economic lifeblood of Israel on the line, will an honest dialogue be able to emerge.A dialogue that will offer the two state solution, we have so long hoped for.

I would like to further conclude that my criticism of Israel's government is not a criticism of Israel's right to exist. I strongly support the existence of Israel itself. My criticism,rather, is upon the use of Israel to further a neo-colonial agenda,in the name of the U.S.' millitary industrial complex ,and it's desire to dominate the Middle East. In fact a growing number of Israeli Jews, share my sentiments. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ,the violence must end.