The Rape of Rafah (Uri Avnery)

[Violet_Crumble]

The immense might of the Israeli army, assembled from all over the country, has attacked a small Palestinian township on the margin of the destitute Gaza Strip. Palestinians, both fighters and civilians, are being killed by the dozen, homes are being destroyed wholesale, the sight of the fleeing population bring back memories of 1948.

All this--for what?

At first sight, the whole action is absurd. Ariel Sharon has proposed a unilateral withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip, and his original plan included the evacuation of the "Philadelphi Axis", a narrow buffer zone cutting Gaza off from Egypt. This means that he does not consider this entire territory necessary for the security of Israel. According to him, the Gaza Strip is a military and demographic burden, and the quicker we get out of it, the better.

Sha'ul Mofaz, a former Chief of Staff and the present Minister of Defense, went even further. This eminent thinker revealed that Gaza is not a part of "our patrimony", that the settlements there were a mistake from the start. This means that the soldiers who were killed there under his command died for nothing, for a mistake, and every soldier killed there now is dying in vain.

http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery05222004.html

[bemildred]

1. Thanks, I was wondering what Avnery's take on Rafah was.

The analogy with Napoleon's little adventure in Spain is well taken.