Pondering the Israel, Gaza Situation.

The Idle Man has avoided posting on the recent Israeli Incursion into Gaza, primarily because my thoughts on the entire episode have been contradictary:

Before going further a map of the entire Gaza Strip:

• I fully understand why the Israelis decided to take military action. Having daily rocket attacks into your villages and towns requires action to stop it. As Hamas seems impervious to any diplomatic or economic pressure, military action was the only option left. As to whether the action was proportionate, is not a subject I feel qualified to judge. Unfortunately this has not stopped many just as unqualified as I, making pronouncements in Newspapers, or through Broadcast Media.
• I have immense sympathy for ordinary Palestinians who have been wounded, traumatised, lost love ones, homes, or livelihood.
• I intensely loath Hamas and its core agenda, but admit it has played its few cards extremely well and in many cases has trumped the incredibly slick and well organised Israeli PR Machine.
• I found the British Media's whining about the restrictions placed on them by the Israelis annoying, as none of them apparently tried to report from the Egyptian Side of the Gaza Border and the stalled supplies and medical volunteers stranded there, because Egypt for very good reasons kept the official border crossing closed. Maybe the Egyptians refused them access, if so they didn't mention this. Also none of them tried to get past the Israeli Naval Blockade on the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps our fearless reporters felt that even if this didn't endanger their lives, it might endanger their careers as if caught they would never work in Israel again.
• In addition Western Media have an unfortunate tradition of endangering the lives of their own servicemen and women due irresponsible reporting and one can therefore understand the Israelis being reluctant to let them anywhere near the front line.
• I agree with the BBC and Sky refusal to broadcast the British Disaster Emergency Committee Appeal. Although this puts the BBC and Sky in a no-win situation, the decision is correct as this is not just another humanitarian disaster, but a political minefield. A minefield involving the fact that the Gaz Strip is governed by a Terrorist Organisation dedicated to the destruction of Israel and is anti-semitic and anti-christian. This coupled with the delicate political situation regarding the other Palestinian Enclave on the West Bank, plus Egypt, Jordan as well as Israel, means that any station broadcasting this appeal is sending a political message, that many will see as a statement of position, rather than simply a request for relief donations. I find it sad that ITV and Channel 4 have decided to Boradcast, but it is a free country, so it is up to them.
  
• At a personal level, whilst I accept that in many disasters some of the donations end up in the hands of the Corrupt, in this case, unless I receive a written guarantee that any monies donated will NOT be accessible by, pass through, or be paid to Hamas Officials, or Agencies, or Agents, then I will not be donating anything. I have never (at least knowingly) donated money, a proportion of which has ended up in the coffers of a Terrorist Organisation and I am not going to start now!
  
• The senior clerics of the Anglican and Catholic faiths in Britain have 'waded in' criticizing the BBC, yet they have been strangely silent over the plight of Palestinian Christians who have been persecuted for decades. I suggest that before having a go at the BBC and Sky, I suggest you start looking at what you should have been doing to help the Christians who live in a climate of persecution and abuse. He who casts the first stone..

Other Posts on Gaza in this Blog:
Hamas and Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, 06/07 Feburary 2008