A Hamas mortar shell shot from Gaza has killed an Israeli civilian and wounded some others this morning.
The past week or two has seen a number of local attempts by Israeli civilians to hurt the Palestinians in Gaza. Last week it was a demonstration to block supply trucks headed into Gaza. Now there's a consumer boycott being launched against the Dor fuel company, the main supplier of fuel into Gaza.
As regular readers will have noticed by now, I'm not a starry-eyed fan of international law in its contemporary form. These new developments, however, seem to pose a new challenge. As the prophets of international law often tell us, it relates to states, not to sub-state players, which is why they castigate Israel (a state) more than Hezbullah, Hamas, al-Qaida et al, which are less than states.
OK, very well. What then would happen if large numbers of Israeli citizens, acting as private citizens rather than as a national agent, were to begin inflicting pain on Gaza in response to the pain being inflicted from Gaza by non-state actors. Clearly this can't be illegal, can it.
FROM CAROL HERMAN
ReplyDeleteSorry, this "event" will not start a war. Hey, today, killing Arch Duke Ferdinand wouldn't start a war!
Did the Europeans, then, learn something new?
Maybe, it's a question of scale?
If you want the arabs to stop completely ... And, they just never did. So you'd notice ... starting in 1880 or so; when Jews began seeing "ZION" as a place to move into ... The terrorists always did the same schtick.
That's why I compare them to the American Indians.
Terrorists. They don't win. But they do kill people.
The American Indians got away with terror; including scalpings. And, stealing everything the American settlers had worked for ... until it was more tit for tat ... than anything else.
Benjamin Franklin, in his autobiography; (A book that has not gone out of print.) Relates how indians were good at coming up close to civilization. They were barefoot. And, to keep their feet warm, in one example he gives; the indians dug a deep hole. And, they knew how to start a fire (embers), that would give off no smoke. So they could all (8 of them), stick their feet into the hole to keep warm.
Yes, Benjamin Franklin called the indians "savages." And, he also tells the story of how, once, he and other Philadelphians, drew up a treaty. Which the indians came to sign "because they wanted the rum."
And, how, ahead of time, Franklin knew the indians would consume the rum, early. And, go on the warpath. Around midnight, they began banging on his door. And, Franklin just wouldn't open it.
By the way, all the skirmishes didn't end it for the indians. What did, however, came a bit later. When the railroads got built. And, American capitalism was expanding by leaps and bounds. Yes. Making some people extremely rich.
THese rich people were called RAILROAD BARONS, and STEEL BARONS. (Steel was used to lay the thousands of miles of railroad track.)
Just at the time MORSE CODE WAS DISCOVERED. See? You could send messages ... (The Civil War was the first time a war had seen such a thing!) And, to make Morse Code work ... all you needed were men who could finger tape in the alphabetical codes ... Distances were great. The wires were overhead of all the railroad tracks.
Alas, lots of the area was "empty." The railroad tracks ran cross country. And, it criss-crossed from state to state, as well. And, this meant the indians saw opportunties to steal the telegraph wires. Which they found made better "strings" for their bows than animal guts.
The indians weren't chased when they went about their nightly raids and thefts. But it did anger the BUSINESSMEN.
So? Well, Winchester developed the repeater rifle. The indians had no such tools. And, the making of bullets for these guns? Millions of bullets were made. And, given to cowboys.
If you know anything about American history, you'd know that the cowboys were loners. They survived on the land. And, if they joined up, they'd form "bands." As the outposts became towns. Actually ruled by violence. Laws weren't readily available, yet. (To get to "laws" you need large settlements of people.)
While in the Badlands ... not only did Theodore Roosevelt venture there ... to build his own home ... He gravitated to the idea of the Federal Government buying and owning PARK LANDS.
All this comes about, around the same time.
The cowboys (who made their livings moving cattle around) ... also got lots of bullets. And, they went into "THE HOME WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAMED." And, they killed each and every animal. See? Americans weren't partial to buffalo meat.
On the other hand this was the mainstay of Indian LIFE. Everything of the buffalo was used. Heck, even their teeth made jewelry. Necklaces for the men. Etc. Once all the buffalo were killed, the indians starved to death. And, they were without a culture that would help them "take the next step" and develop changes to fit in.
History is actually repleat with examples. I'm just surprised that it isn't common knowledge.
While Israel's problem? Created by the RIGHT. Because they think they own the government's apparatus to "dictate to all" a greater Israel. With arabs conveniently moved into jordan and eygpt.
Go ahead. Pick your scenarios.
Figure out the "wave of the future."
If you're gambling on Morris Talansky, however, I think you'll lose.
You know why? Too many Israelis who pay in their blood to live in Israel, are watching a rich American Jew trying to influence politics. Including all the maneuvering you don't see. As, for instance, an outfit like the Mossad loses its left leadership. And, those on the right take over. (Not caring very much whose toes they step on. So they've stepped on American toes. Pollard. And, British toes. Victor Ostrovsky points this out.)
All going on as if there are no prices to pay.
When you're dealing with the future you can only guess outcomes.
Later on? Maybe, someone will come along an extend Scott McLellan's charge against Bush ... that he hasn't spent a day in office NOT campaigning. As if to have a propaganda war, you are alone, without opponents.
On the other hand? What if you can't win propaganda wars? You think Jews ever did?