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Israel Culpable on Palestinians
By Mark L. Hage, Times Argus 4/12/2004
My son, who is studying in Cairo, wrote me after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed by Israel."When I came home from school yesterday, there were Egyptian students watching footage of the attack...and weeping," he said. "There are shirts here that say 'We are all Palestinians," and it's not just an expression. An attack on Palestine is viewed here as an attack on the entire Middle East...." The murder of Yassin will only strengthen Hamas's standing in the occupied territories. It also advances Israel's ultimate goal: the annexation of more than 50 percent of the West Bank via a network of Jewish colonies and a vast separation wall-and-fence complex." Some observers of the occupation believe that Israel's stated aim of withdrawing from Gaza is predicated on the U.S. accepting as permanent the Jewish state's theft of the choicest land reserves and water resources in the West Bank. In other words, there will be no sovereign, unified Palestinian state, only fragmented cantons subject to Israeli military and economic dominance. There's a word for this: apartheid. As this strategy unfolds, Gaza remains an open-air cage for Palestinians and a free-fire zone for Israel's army, which protects a few thousand lavishly subsidized Jews who reside there. The cost in blood that 1.3 million Gazans pay in tribute to these settlers is enormous. Chris Hedges, a veteran war correspondent, said of Gaza: "Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered...but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice in a trap and murder them for sport." In the crucible of this dehumanizing occupation, Yassin emerged as a powerful symbol of Palestinian dignity and resistance. He was revered because he never collaborated with Israel or profited from his people's misery. He was one of them, a refugee who grew up in the slums of Gaza. He lived simply, had a reputation for honesty and charity, and often criticized the Palestinian Authority for its failings. The violent fanaticism he inspired killed innocent Israelis and brought many to their knees in grief. The attacks by Hamas against civilians constitute a grave injustice. But those who heed the call to Islamic militancy are also well acquainted with death and grief, having spent nearly four decades on their knees under Zionist occupation. Yassin was also the pragmatist among Hamas leaders. Last summer, he was instrumental in securing the organization's agreement to a unilateral cease fire. He told a German newspaper months ago that resistance against Israel would end if the Jewish state withdrew to its 1967 borders. He even offered Israel a 30-year truce. Was he sincere about an extended truce and negotiated settlement? We'll never know, and that is exactly what Ariel Sharon wants.
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