Monday 16 December 2013

Roger Waters - did he hit a sore point?

The Gruniad ran a piece by Roger Water's in which he set out to demonstrate that the Israeli State had ended up no better in terms of how it deals with the 'Palestinian Problem' than the National Socialist State which gave rise to Israel's re-birth in 1948, dealt with the 'Jewish Problem' in the 1930's. At no point did Water's infer that the Israeli State was indulging in state authorised concentration or murder camps.

The argument now rages over in Gruniad land over whether Waters is an anti-Semite or is he simply using history to reflect on some unpalatable decisions made and which continue to be made by the Israeli State, under the guise of 'security'.

If posters stopped and found out what the Israeli Government via its armed forces are up to on the Gaza strip you would begin to ask just what is the difference between the forced 1930's Jewish Ghettos in Germany and the current Palestinian Ghetto of Gaza.

A month ago the Israeli Government as a 'punishment' stopped all fuel supplies entering the Gaza Strip. The inability to generate power for public amenities left raw sewage running through the streets, not just from Gaza but from the surrounding Jewish settlements which use the Gaza treatment plant. When ever the Israeli Government takes the hump with Gaza or the Palestinian Authorities in general, the Gaza Ghetto is sealed off.

The Israeli Government is guilty of ethnic cleansing on the West Bank, as well as in the period immediately post 1948 which is recognised in the numerous resolutions in the UN with respect to Israeli Government land grabs. Land grab resolutions which the US routinely vetoes. The current Israeli Government is guilty of authorising such land grabs within the last six months on the West Bank. To anyone with a knowledge of history of the 1930's and 40's the similarity with the National Socialist concept of 'lebenstraum' and forced removal of native populations does not pass unnoticed. The Palestinians would argue that the Israeli Government has indulged in the equivalent of 'Christal Nachts' on numerous occasions since 1948. Most recently in the release phosphour weapons over civilian areas and the shelling of the UN Compound in Gaza.

The weakness of apologising for the Israeli Government's behaviour against the Palestinians on the basis the other side are just as bad is, it misses the point, as a Western sponsored and funded state Israel should be demonstrating a better example, rather than indulging in the same religious pettiness and division.  More, as a people who suffered such indignities and destruction at the hands of an evil oppressor; they should, surely, be seeking to avoid dealing in the same evil currency.

The idea the State of Israel is cohesive in its religious attitude and committed to a right wing form of Zionism is a myth generated, in the main, by the ex-patriot US Jewish community who are far more extreme than the Jewish people I have met, when in Israel, on the subject of Gaza and the Palestinians, and much else to do with the Arab problem. This extremism is reinforced by the billions of dollars each year pumped into Israel by ex-patriots into West Bank settlements (many who have never been to Israel) alongside a US Federal aid budget to Israel of in excess of $3 billion which further skews the argument in the Knesset.

The average Israeli is no more or less an extremist 'nutter' than the average EU citizen - we all have our illogical hatreds and equally illogical likes - but what most citizens in the EU and Israel wish, is to be allowed to live their lives in security and at peace with their neighbours. I bet if you ask the average Palestinian, Syrian, Iraqi or Iranian that is what they would wish as well. 

The Middle East will remain the mess it is for as long as Russia and the USA continue to use it as their proxy battlefield in an attempt to safeguard their own oil and gas supplies. Saudi Arabia is the USA's balancing counter to Russian influence in Iran and so it goes on across this sad and conflicted region.This continuing ulcerating sore is about Exxon and Gazprom and on which, Israel's continuing existence is presently reliant. This knowledge, in some part, explains the Israeli State's paranoia over its long term future - what happens when USA world policy and strategy no longer needs Israel?

The problem lies not with people but with Governments and power blocks who continue to fight imperial and political battles of the 18th Century in the 21st Century, in a real time game of 'Risk'.

If this all makes me an 'anti-Semite' (with all its pejorative accusations) then I stand guilty, as charged.

No comments:

Post a Comment