Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East

January 9, 2009

The following article was written by a KBRM member and submitted to the Northern Advocate (Whangarei) which, in keeping with its policy of balanced reporting, published it:

Northern Advocate publishes KBRM article

Why IS Israel Bombing Gaza?

By Rich Easton

When demands are made of Israel to halt its military activities in Gaza, a brief historical reminder is in order.
In September 2005, Israel vacated Gaza, dismantled all the settlements in the Gaza Strip and did not leave a shred of a presence there. Israeli-built infrastructure such as irrigation systems, telephone lines, and plumbing was all immediately ripped up and sold for scrap instead of being used intact for the good of the people.
In January 2006, majority rule over Gaza passed to the Hamas who were elected to power. In June 2007, in a bloody military coup, due to an inability to power-share, Hamas took control of Gaza and dug networks of tunnels and bunkers under civilian neighbourhoods. Typically these are under hospitals, mosques, schools etc, effectively using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Instead of bringing investors to Gaza, they brought in guerrilla-warfare trainers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. They smuggled in vast amounts of explosives, weapons and rockets; preparing for battle.
Instead of launching economic projects, Hamas launched rockets every day at Israeli towns and villages across the border.
Up until the Hamas takeover, 750 trucks would cross the border each day packed with imports and exports. Israel's policy was to promote this trade with Gaza, since the border crossings were controlled by Abbas's Presidential Guard, not by terrorists. The Hamas takeover is what, in effect, locked the gates of Gaza and forced its residents to suffer.
The rain of rockets on the citizens of Israel intensified. The cease-fire that lasted from June until Dec. 19, 2008 was used by Hamas to smuggle in rockets from Iran, which have a range of 30km.
These missiles have struck Ashdod, Israel's main port, and Beersheva, the capital of Israel's south. No sovereign state would have resigned itself to having its cities — cities such as Whangarei — bombarded or even hit by a single missile. Israel guarantees her citizens peace and security, as does NZ, so she cannot allow continued attacks.
Gaza's Palestinians, too, by telephone and e-mail, are expressing their urgent wish to end the nightmare that Hamas has imposed on them. An end to the Hamas regime in Gaza is essential for them, as well. It is not possible to govern Gaza without close cooperation with Israel on issues of trade, energy, environment, water and health. Without co-operation Hamas can't provide a normal life for Gaza's 1.5 million residents, who on average are living on US$2 a day.
Backing the Hamas in Gaza is directly supporting the destruction of a sovereign state: Israel (Hamas' own charter states this).

Until a peace-orientated Palestinian statesman finally arises with the courage to commit their people to a peaceful future with their neighbours, Hamas is probably here to stay. We can only feel sorry for the Palestinians doomed to ignorance and poverty, through fanaticism and war - the inevitable result of fundamentalist Islamic rule.