MRZINE, February 8, 2008
by Mahmoud El-Yousseph
Let’s pretend for a moment that Israel and not Gaza is under siege by its Arab neighbors. The Arabs are preventing all food supplies, medicine, and fuel from reaching starving Israelis. The reason given: Israel’s refusal to accept the Arab peace initiative (land for peace).
What would America and the rest of the world do? You can bet the sky would fall down and America would raise holy hell.
First, President Bush would put our armed forces on worldwide alert, dispatch aircraft carriers to the region, and issue a 24-hour ultimatum to lift the siege or else. U.S. lawmakers would be tripping over each other to the microphone to condemn the act as war crime against humanity. It would headline front pages in all mainstream media, with editorials denouncing the Arabs as bloodthirsty savages who do not value human life and appeal to save Israel before it is too late. TV stations would preempt regularly scheduled programs for constant updates and analyses. The topic would be on every radio talk show with calls to “Send the Marines” and to start the “Tel Aviv Airlift.” The crisis would dominate the presidential debate, and every candidate would try to outdo the others as to who cares more about Israel. And yes, Arab/Muslim communities would be asked if they condone or condemn the siege.
That is a hypothetical scenario — the truth is, the siege has indeed taken place since June 2007, and the victims are not Israelis, but rather 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza (more than half of whose population are under 18). The reasons given by Israel for the siege: the Hamas government does not recognize the Israeli occupation as legitimate and it has fired home-made rockets across the border.
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