I mean, how lucky can Israel be? For years, Israel has claimed that anyone would defend itself against the
unprovoked attacks of a neighboring nation.
I remember the news commentators consistently asking “What would the US
do if Mexico fired rockets
into Texas ?”
Now, Abbas is talking of joining the International Criminal
Court. The whole world can see how long
the Palestinians have been abusing Israel .
Now, Israel
can take the Palestinians to court for putting their land under all those
expensive settlements. And building the city of Qalqilya
right over Israel ’s main aquifer
in the West Bank . And forcing Israel into the humiliating position of having to
beg the US for more money
and bombs to drop on Gaza .
Now, the ICC can tell the international community to get off
Israel ’s
back for shooting a five year old boy in the face as he was getting off his
school bus. He was going home. But who knows? He could have been a “terrorist” going
to a cell meeting to build a bomb to wipe Israel off the map. The courts could declare it illegal for any 5
year old to be a terrorist. And the
mothers of the babies who froze to death last week in Gaza
when the temperature dropped to four degrees should be made to understand that Israel cut off
their heat in order to save them from an exorbitant electricity bill.[1] And the children, around 1200 of them, injured
by Israeli forces last year in the West Bank are probably better off than those
detained and subjected to humiliation and even torture in Israel ’s jails.[2]
They no longer have to work for a living within the horrible conditions of
occupation. Israel
is always looking out for those needy Palestinians.
And, suddenly, like icing on the cake, the Palestinians may have
to face their responsibility for building their homes in front of Israel ’s walls
and bulldozers. And surely the court
will have some judgment on those Palestinians catching Israel ’s fish off the Gaza coast. The world will have a chance to
finally get it straight. Like Golda Meir
told Bob Schieffer, host of Face the Nation, “We can never forgive the Arabs
for forcing us to kill their children.”
How lucky can Israel be? Because Palestine
is now going to the ICC, the whole world
will be able to see exactly the level of harassment with which Israel
has been forced to live for decades.
However, putting sarcasm aside, the court would also hear
the claims of the Palestinians. For
years, Israel has referred
to the West Bank and Gaza
as “disputed territory.” A court, by definition, is where disputes are aired and
settled. Should not Israel, or any civilized
people, choose to settle a dispute by appealing to a court, rather than resorting
to bombs, planes, gunboats and white phosphorus gas? However, Israel is the only party in the dispute
who has bombs, planes, tanks and
white phosphorus to fire into the unarmed people on the other side of the
dispute. So, why should Israel
go to court?
Thomas
Are
January
17, 2015
[1] International Middle East
Media Center ,
News and Agencies, 4th Infant
Dies of Cold in Gaza
[2] See
Mondoweiss, January 7, 2015, UN report: 1200 Palestinian Children Injured
by Israeli Forces in West Bank during 2014. , International Middle East Media Center, also
reports December 5, 2014:
Cases of physical abuse,
solitary confinement, stripping off clothes in chilly night air, deprivation of
food and water for hours and denial of breaks were also reported… The report states
that at least 600 Palestinian children were arrested in Jerusalem since last June, of whom nearly 40%
were exposed to sexual abuse during arrest or investigation by the Israeli
authorities.
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