#Israel / Hamas' complete defeat - and then Gaza's rehabilitation
#Ynet is publishing a disturbing proposal written by some Israeli academics and “policymakers,” who are promoting the establishment of a system of governance in Gaza that eerily resembles US's failed state-building experiment in #Iraq, or more closely, the apartheid-era Bantustans of South Africa. The working paper was allegedly already read by government officials.
The paper is titled "From a murderous regime to a moderate society". It was written by four Israeli academics, and reviewed by members of the Military Intelligence Directorate and the War Cabinet. Its authors state that there is a need for Hamas' "complete defeat" - which, in their opinion, includes losing control over territory and "public trials" for its leaders. It also outlines a path for rehabilitation and de-radicalization. "Rehabilitation under fire is doomed to fail," the authors wrote.
The document, written in February, deals with the question of how Gazan society can become “a peaceful neighbor to the State of Israel.” The authors assume that victory - at least in the sense of preventing Hamas' resurgence and harming Israel - requires "rehabilitating and transforming a nation led by “a murderous ideology,” and cultivating stable institutions and an Arab culture that does not educate for jihad and accepts the existence of the of Israel as the Jewish people's nation-state."
The authors’ conclusions are provocative. First, there is a need for Hamas' "complete defeat," which means losing territory (for an unlimited period of time) and "public trials" for Hamas leaders. One of the authors, Dr. Palmor, says: "My position is that the average Palestinian needs to feel defeated. He needs to feel that the path they've taken so far, including education, hasn't worked. In my opinion, we should have declared the entire northern Gaza Strip as Israeli territory, for all intents and purposes." This is his opinion, not the document's recommendation.
All the writers agree that Hamas' defeat is necessary and that “rehabilitation under fire is doomed to fail." To succeed, they propose setting a "positive horizon for the defeated nation, conditioned on achieving concrete and measurable goals," and suggest establishing an "autonomous Palestinian entity."
The authors proposed (already in February) the immediate establishment of an effective mechanism to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They wrote that "it is necessary to achieve control as soon as possible over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in order to prevent further deterioration and to deprive Hamas of one of its most important recruitment bases."
But this is clearly not a “peace plan”: "The state independence of this entity must be conditional on strict conditions, including education for peace, renunciation of violence and terror, and effective security and administrative capabilities," they write. "Even if Israel is not interested in ruling Gaza and prefers to establish a different civilian government in the Strip, the option of Israeli military rule must hover in the background."
A glaring omission in the proposal is, understandably, the occupation itself. Regardless of how Israel chooses to frame the events of October 7th, it's impossible to detach them from the broader context of Palestinian resistance and the right to self-determination, which is enshrined in international law. Israel can continue down the path of entrenching its occupation, but it's unlikely to find much support from its allies. In fact, by doing so, Israel risks becoming increasingly isolated and likened to the apartheid regime of South Africa, a comparison that already has severe diplomatic and economic consequences.
The full article will be published of Friday in "Yediot Ahronot" and ynet.
So far, no. But there is time. And the student protests in support of Palestine, and the union support of them, particularly at the University of California, is a positive sign.
What are the lessons we can learn from the past?
Organizers of Redwood Summer, in the 1990s, had the hubris to make a similar claim, that the actions they were organizing were so radical, would be so effective, that they'd make the radical 60s look like the mundane 50s. To be sure, the 90s were a radical time. We were organizing mass civil disobedience, direct actions and sabotage to end US support of death squads in Central America, to end the death penalty in the U.S., to end nuclear testing, to support immigrants at the southern border, to support LGBTQ rights, and to halt the U.S. war in Iraq. Food Not Bombs were getting arrested for serving free food to the unhoused, while publicizing the U.S. war machine. Homes Not Jails was liberating federally-owned buildings and converting them into squats for the unhoused to live in. And left-wing pirate radio stations were popping up in cities to report on and publicize these efforts. But in the end, the 90s did not make the 60s look like the 50s.
I participated in Redwood Summer (and many of these other movements). It was fun and exciting. But Redwood Summer, in particular, was supposed to be a collaborative effort between radical environmental and labor activists, as well as indigenous rights activists and others. There was a bit of this. A very little bit of it. Worse, there was too much class bigotry and arrogance by the predominantly white, middle class environmental activists, and this alienated the working class timber workers we hoped to unite with over saving the ancient redwood forests from being clear cut by Pacific Lumber.
So, one major lesson is that effective coalitions require real solidarity, which requires listening to others, and authentically nonhierarchical structures, in contrast to the hidden power structures that often evolve in movements, even within so-called anarchist organizations. (A great read on this topic is: "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," by Jo Freeman).
Perhaps the most powerful tool we have is the General Strike. Of course, this tool has been virtually obliterated by the Taft Hartley law, which bans them. Consequently, none of the mainstream unions will ever consider this tactic out of fear that their leadership will be imprisoned, and their war chests will be seized. But that doesn't mean we can't still have a General Strike. Just means it will have to be organized in other ways, outside of mainstream union channels, like word of mouth, social media, wheat pasting posters, stickers, etc. But it also requires good old-fashioned relational organizing: going "door-to-door," talking with colleagues at work, at school, neighbors, family, friends, educating them about the power of this tool. Actually listening to their fears and concerns. Providing support and mutual aid whenever possible. Empowering them. And it will require employed workers, not just students and professional activists. Why? Because if we really want to hurt the bosses, we need to halt profit-making, which is most effectively done by halting production. And while blocking roads and bridges can slow down business as usual for a few hours, getting millions of workers to refuse to work can halt a lot more business for a lot longer. It can literally bring capitalism to its knees. Compel leaders and decision-makers to buckle to our demands. It can even become revolutionary and lead to major social change. But we don't currently have millions of workers who are already radicalized to the point that they will participate in a General Strike, let alone believe that revolutionary social change is possible. So, there's a lot of organizing that still needs to be done. That's a lot of us going out and listening to our colleagues, neighbors, peers, doing the underappreciated, not so glorious, time consuming work of building a movement.
Just FYI: 🇺🇸 🇮🇷 🇮🇱 U.S. warns #Israel "limited war" with #Lebanon could draw Iran to intervene
🔶️ U.S. officials told Axios the #Biden administration told Israel it doesn't think "a limited war" in Lebanon or a "small regional war" is a realistic option because it will be difficult to prevent it from widening and spinning out of control.
🔶️ The Biden administration warned Israel that a ground invasion of Lebanon, even if it is only in the areas close to the border, would likely push Iran to intervene, U.S. and Israeli officials said.
🔶️ One scenario the administration raised with Israel is that Lebanon could be flooded with #militants from pro-Iranian militias in #Syria, #Iraq and even #Yemen who would want to join the fighting.
🔶️ A senior #IDF official said that the situation has been escalating since May because #Hezbollah conducted more successful drone attacks against Israeli targets that weren't intercepted.
🔶️ At the same time, Hezbollah started launching "Burkan" rockets with 1,000-pound to 2,000-pound warheads that caused significant damage to IDF bases along the border.
🔶️ No decisions were made in the war Cabinet meeting, but the IDF presented several options for expanding the fighting, including a ground invasion aimed at pushing Hezbollah's elite Radwan force away from the border, the IDF official said.
Just FYI: 🇺🇸 🇮🇷 🇮🇱 U.S. warns #Israel "limited war" with #Lebanon could draw Iran to intervene
🔶️ U.S. officials told Axios the #Biden administration told Israel it doesn't think "a limited war" in Lebanon or a "small regional war" is a realistic option because it will be difficult to prevent it from widening and spinning out of control.
🔶️ The Biden administration warned Israel that a ground invasion of Lebanon, even if it is only in the areas close to the border, would likely push Iran to intervene, U.S. and Israeli officials said.
🔶️ One scenario the administration raised with Israel is that Lebanon could be flooded with #militants from pro-Iranian militias in #Syria, #Iraq and even #Yemen who would want to join the fighting.
🔶️ A senior #IDF official said that the situation has been escalating since May because #Hezbollah conducted more successful drone attacks against Israeli targets that weren't intercepted.
🔶️ At the same time, Hezbollah started launching "Burkan" rockets with 1,000-pound to 2,000-pound warheads that caused significant damage to IDF bases along the border.
🔶️ No decisions were made in the war Cabinet meeting, but the IDF presented several options for expanding the fighting, including a ground invasion aimed at pushing Hezbollah's elite Radwan force away from the border, the IDF official said.
Urgent: The Secretary-General of the United Nations: We condemn the practices of “Israel” that led to the martyrdom of dozens of innocent people who were searching for shelter, and there is no safe place in #Gaza, and this horror must stop.
@Scmurcott@gooba42@kpeace@jeremy_pm@israel@palestine sorry to jump in, but the "#Iraq freedom score" hit me in the eye. Here's a video of the famous khuld meeting of saddam Hussein Baath party, last 15 minutes, he's calling names of people, to be escorted out of the saal to be executed as "agents of imperialism". No due process, nothing but his word https://youtu.be/XKBN_uh7MEI
#Syria#Iraq - US repatriates 11 citizens from horrible al-Hol camp for relatives of Islamic State militants (also 1 non-citizen child & facilitated repatriation of 11 others) @syria@iraq
The director of al-Mayadeen office in Baghdad reported that these aggressive attacks targeted the main entrance of the Kalso base, a car garage and two offices of the Hashd al-Shaabi forces, and the intensity of the attacks was strong.
The director of al-Mayadeen also explained that the air traffic of American planes in Iraqi skies is active as usual and a refueling plane was observed in Iraqi airspace.
He also said that this Hashd al-Shaabi headquarters was targeted with three attacks and at least 3 people were injured.
(Auto translated from Arabic)
The Israeli military has conducted missile strikes against Iran, a snr #UnitedStates#military ofcl told NPR Thurs. There are also reports of explosions in #Iraq & #Syria.
Iran's Fars News Agency says explosions were heard in the central city of #Isfahan, according to the Reuters News Agency.
The extent of Israel's strikes & the weapons used weren't clear.
Flights to #Tehran, #Isfahan & #Shiraz have been suspended following reports an explosion was heard in the city of #Qahjavaristan, Iranian state media reported.
"A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News Israeli missiles have hit a site in #Iran. The official could not confirm whether #Syria and #Iraq sites were hit as well."
Although Iran looks weak and Israel very strong i think Israel military planners are worried (as they should be) about Iran's response after the coming Israeli attack. How large will it be, will Hezbollah from Lebanon participate etc. They will not underestimate the uncertainty and chaotic nature of war i hope.
Let's not forget Iran's strategic position (geographically), they can seriously harm trade and oil supply routes for example.
Israel started this feud by bombing an Iranian embassy in Syria, killing 7 people.
Western media seems to be overlooking this fact, which is hardly surprising given their usual bias towards Israel.
Some 52 years ago, when I was in 4th grade of primary school, I found a book "who put glasses on the kid's eyes" in a small book shop in open bazaar of my hometown Ahvaz in khuzestan province of Iran.
A few days later, we had to bring a book to school and read it in front of the class. Happy as I was to have found a great book, I took it to school and read it in front of the class.
I couldn't understand why my teacher was acting so scared and stopped me before I had finished the book and sent me to the principals office.
I was nervous, didn't know what I had done wrong and our principal, who was a really nice man, and went to the same university as my oldest sister took the book and asked me where I had bought it. I knew something was wrong, so I said I bought it at the book store of our local mosque, to protect the guy who was my source of cheap and lovely books and would buy back my old ones to help me afford buying new ones.
In the evening my father came home, agitated and clearly upset. Asked me what I have done and I explained the situation, including the fact that I lied about wher I had bought the book. Told him the highlight of the book about a happy child who was living in a town with happy people who were all wearing glasses.
He was seeing flowers, colorful houses. Nice people and happy children all around him, birds flying in the sky and everyone were so friendly to him.
Until one day he fell of and his glasses broke. He couldn't believe his eyes, the flowers, colorful houses and happy people were all gone. All he could see was a run down city, with piles of garbage everywhere, people wearing worn out clothes, looking hungry and sick.
He was nece happy after that, he couldn't believe that everyone were walking around with glasses and we're happy all the time. But he was sad and miserable, because he had seen his town without those glasses.
Anyway. My father took me to a building close to the main police station on the other side of the Karun river, he spent almost entire day in a room where I could people screaming at him and a few times someone his the table very hard. But couldn't hear what they were saying.
My dad came out. Pulled my hand without saying a word, we walked for an hour to get home, didn't take taxi as we used to do.
He didn't say a word during the whole day and told me to go over my books and bring all the books I had bought from that shop, he through them in a metal bucket and poured some fuel over it, set them on fire and waited until they were completely burned, mixed the ashes to turn them into dust, filled the bucket with water and through it in the toilet.
He told me to never go back to that shop and be careful to take any books to school from now on.
That' was my first interaction with the notorious Savak police of Shah of Iran. In the next days, all the 4 book stores in our town were raided. Books confiscated and doors locked. Never heard about any of them again.
Reading the comments of pro Israeli accounts on mastodon reminded me of that book and that experience that changed my life when I was only 8 years old.
This post specially triggered those memories. Unlike the kid in my book and the people living in the town, these people know very well tat what they are posting is not true, they have seen the horror of the past 76 years of occupation, they have seen the 66 times they were subject to UNSC charges, and 45 that were vetoed by the US..
But they don't care, they see themselves as victims. They don't see the millions of starving palestinians, or the millions living in refuge camps around the world as worthy of their empathy or cause of why Palestinians and some of the world is fed up with their out of control criminal behavior
They don't have glasses on their eyes, they have chosen to be selective and above the laws of the world.
I don't like to share from media discussions, but this is just priceless, the Israeli woman claims that majority of Iranians support Reza Pahlavi (son of Iran's former dictator) and also support Israel bombing their country.
These are the same people who convinced the world that Americans wouldb be greeted with flowers and celebrated as liberators. And it ends up giving us #ISIS and millions of deaths.
Trust them. They know what #Iranian people think and want. They have some #Twitter polls to prove their ponts.
> Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani arrived in Washington, DC, on Sunday embarking on an official visit at the invitation of US President #JoeBiden.
> Discussions during Al-Sudani's visit will encompass various aspects of the bilateral relationship between the #US and #Iraq, including security and defense partnership and economic ties. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2492896/middle-east