This morning the newspaper screamed 'New Year Massacre' and under that there was a massive report about the slaughter of 200+ people in Gaza by the Israeli Air Force on the eve of the Islamic new year
( Read more... )
-noun the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Origin: 1940-45; < Gk géno(s) race + -cide
from haaretz: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/914570.html The first Palestinian census in 1997 counted 2.89 million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. According to estimates by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the figure now stands at 3.9 million. Both the Hamas government in Gaza and the Western-backed Cabinet of moderates in the West Bank have said they would support the census, conducted with international funding by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
from the guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/11/israelandthepalestinians.population The Palestinian territories have one of the fastest growing populations in the world, with numbers surging 30% in the past decade, according to a census which also finds that the number of Palestinians in Jerusalem is lower than expected.
either way--whether the census was inflated or not--no one is being "systematically exterminated" because birth rates are still either consistent or rising (when things are bad; which they are right now) and declining slightly only when things are good. you'll notice also that even among the most hardcore extremist israelis, there is no state-sanctoned talk to wiping out an entire population; the most controversial mode of dealing with the "palestinian problem" is transfer, rather than death. homicidal, maybe, among some. genocidal, not so much.
the israelis are not being systematically exterminated either. though hamas (and their allies and financial backers) might talk a genocidal game or write a genocidal charter or might FEEL genocidal, they currently lack the resources to make good on it because israel's still thriving.
i think it's kind of insulting to use the word genocidal on this conflict because there are real genocides going on around the world that everyone is just kind of ignoring.
Yes I know the Palestinians have a growing population as do the Israelis but what I mean by genocidal is that both sides seem hell-bent on killing as many as possible on the other side with their Qassams/Katyushas/air strikes. It's one race specifically targeting another. Isn't that genocide, whether they're achieving their goal or not? True, the IAF is targeting only rocket-launching militants but civilians are dying too and the Israeli Defence Ministry doesn't seem to care.
I mean what word do you use to describe such hatred? Xenophobia? But this is more than just xenophobia, ideas are being put into action and people are losing their lives. Without getting too philosophical, I want to ask what happened to our attribution of the quality of sanctity to human life that should supposedly override murderous feelings towards a fellow human?
"True, the IAF is targeting only rocket-launching militants but civilians are dying too and the Israeli Defence Ministry doesn't seem to care."
the IDM is trying to respect that sanctity. trying being the operative word. trying to minimize the damage on one side increases the damage on your side. look at jenin in 2004. we sent our soldiers in to go hand-to-hand, to target only the hamas operatives that they could see, to minimize collateral damage, and they were literally ripped limb from limb, or fell into booby-trapped houses. it makes much more strategic sense to "not care" about the civilians on the other side.
your question isn't so much about his particular conflict, it's about wars in general. it's easier for israel to send drones into gaza because they can't see what they're doing. it's easy for hamas to send rockets in because they can't see what they're doing. if this were hand to hand, i think things might be different.
probably not, though. war is kind of the human condition. to attribute sanctity to human life, to attribute a consideration of human rights to any one side.... that's just wishful thinking.
so i don't think we need to put a philosophical tag or label on the motivation behind these actions. maybe part of it is politics, but more of it is "yeah, we're kind of tired of rockets destroying our quality of life and economy for the past seven years" or "wow i really wish i didn't live in a refugee camp cum slum. maybe shooting rockets will help!"
-noun
the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
Origin:
1940-45; < Gk géno(s) race + -cide
from haaretz:
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/914570.html
The first Palestinian census in 1997 counted 2.89 million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. According to estimates by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the figure now stands at 3.9 million.
Both the Hamas government in Gaza and the Western-backed Cabinet of moderates in the West Bank have said they would support the census, conducted with international funding by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
from the guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/11/israelandthepalestinians.population
The Palestinian territories have one of the fastest growing populations in the world, with numbers surging 30% in the past decade, according to a census which also finds that the number of Palestinians in Jerusalem is lower than expected.
so, um, systematic extermination? not so much....
even among people who refute the census, there is no claim of "extermination" of any sort, just inflated data or declining fertility rates due to a better--not worse--situation:
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=38108
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/desktopmodules/newsscrollEnglish/newsscrollView.aspx?ItemID=74&mID=11170
either way--whether the census was inflated or not--no one is being "systematically exterminated" because birth rates are still either consistent or rising (when things are bad; which they are right now) and declining slightly only when things are good. you'll notice also that even among the most hardcore extremist israelis, there is no state-sanctoned talk to wiping out an entire population; the most controversial mode of dealing with the "palestinian problem" is transfer, rather than death. homicidal, maybe, among some. genocidal, not so much.
the israelis are not being systematically exterminated either. though hamas (and their allies and financial backers) might talk a genocidal game or write a genocidal charter or might FEEL genocidal, they currently lack the resources to make good on it because israel's still thriving.
i think it's kind of insulting to use the word genocidal on this conflict because there are real genocides going on around the world that everyone is just kind of ignoring.
Reply
True, the IAF is targeting only rocket-launching militants but civilians are dying too and the Israeli Defence Ministry doesn't seem to care.
I mean what word do you use to describe such hatred? Xenophobia? But this is more than just xenophobia, ideas are being put into action and people are losing their lives. Without getting too philosophical, I want to ask what happened to our attribution of the quality of sanctity to human life that should supposedly override murderous feelings towards a fellow human?
Reply
"True, the IAF is targeting only rocket-launching militants but civilians are dying too and the Israeli Defence Ministry doesn't seem to care."
the IDM is trying to respect that sanctity. trying being the operative word. trying to minimize the damage on one side increases the damage on your side. look at jenin in 2004. we sent our soldiers in to go hand-to-hand, to target only the hamas operatives that they could see, to minimize collateral damage, and they were literally ripped limb from limb, or fell into booby-trapped houses. it makes much more strategic sense to "not care" about the civilians on the other side.
your question isn't so much about his particular conflict, it's about wars in general. it's easier for israel to send drones into gaza because they can't see what they're doing. it's easy for hamas to send rockets in because they can't see what they're doing. if this were hand to hand, i think things might be different.
probably not, though. war is kind of the human condition. to attribute sanctity to human life, to attribute a consideration of human rights to any one side.... that's just wishful thinking.
so i don't think we need to put a philosophical tag or label on the motivation behind these actions. maybe part of it is politics, but more of it is "yeah, we're kind of tired of rockets destroying our quality of life and economy for the past seven years" or "wow i really wish i didn't live in a refugee camp cum slum. maybe shooting rockets will help!"
Reply
Leave a comment