The Peace Talks Charade

I wish the propects for peace between Syria and Israel were real.

As history teaches us, lasting peace can only be achieved with long-term confidence building measures and a more equal balance of power.

Israel, with American backing, still has the upper hand militarily but feels more insecure than ever before. Israel fears not so much Iranian nuclear missiles (which America would presumably shield it from) but the proliferation of nuclear technology in the Arab world in response to the growing Iranian threat.

So what are Israel's motives in talking to Syria? Prising Syria away from Iran, even if it were possible, might slowdown Iranian encroachment on Israel's northern borders but would not eliminate the Iranian threat altogether or ensure non proliferation of WMD in the Middle East. So that cannot be the main motive. Restraining Hizballah and Hamas while building Israel's capacity to fight guerilla wars is one possible reason. Diverting the attention of the Israeli public away from Olmert's problems is another. The Israeli public is extremely sceptical and fearful of cedng any territory. It simply does not trust the Syrian government and can see that it can no longer deliver on Hizballah or Hamas. The two beasts have outgrown their old master and now take their orders directly from Tehran. Olmert cannot possibly deliver a peace treaty.

Syria's motives are clear; the nation wants the whole of the Golan back and the government is internationally isolated and in deep trouble economically. The Syrians do not trust Israel because of its apalling treatment of the Palestinians, its illegal settlements and indirect fanning of the fires of fundamentalist Islam (to secure the tacit sympathy and protection of the Christian world) and because Syrians have been programmed to hate rather than engage with Zionists.

Syrian public opinion would not stop Bashar Assad signing a peace treaty but his regime thrives on oppression in the name of security. The regime would not be able to survive if peace broke out because it would lose its raison d'etre. Assad knows any peace talks between his unrepresentative regime and Israel will be protracted and almost certainly humiliating, so he cannot be serious about peace either.

Yet, it is better to talk than fight and let the Israeli and Syrian public get used to the idea of regular contact, albeit on false pretences :)

It will be pure theatre and quite amuzing to see the same play again, this time with a touch of amateur dramatics.

200:1 is the ratio - who cares?

When I wrote my previous post ("A thousand little eyes for an eye") I was looking for statistics on the number of Palestinians in Gaza who have died or been injured as a result of Israeli attacks since 2000.

Israel has always justified these attacks on the basis that its settelements were coming under fire without provocation and that it had to carry out targetted assasinations of "terrorist leaders". The total number of Israeli casualties in the last 7 years has amounted to 20 dead and 583 injured (Israeli source).

I have now found statistics for Palestinian deaths in all occupied territories. They come from a reliable Israeli human rights organisation, B'Tselem. Data for the Gaza Strip alone is not available but we can safely assume that the vast majority of deaths relate to Gaza. The table below shows how vicious, vindictive and fatal Israeli arttacks have been against the defenceless population of the Gaza strip since 2000. The shocking figures do not even take into account the number injured and maimed over that long period which must run into tens of thousands (why is no one keeping an accurate record of these when the Iraelis record momentary distress from a loud bang as a casualty?).

As per the table, Israel has killed nearly 4,440 people in the last 7 years, of whom 867 were children. As stated above, we aleady know from Israeli sources that only 20 Israelis have died as a result of shelling and rocket fire from Gaza. The number of Israeli deaths in all other areas therefore total 1,010. So, the ratio of Palestinian to Israeli deaths - excluding Gaza - is roughly 4:1. For Gaza the ratio looks more like 200:1. Enough said!

Click on image to enlarge

A thousand little eyes for an eye

Failed Qasam missiles






The Qassam missiles that Hamas uses to fire at southern Israel are pathetic little toys. They have a maximum range of 9 kilometers and hardly ever hit their targets.

Since 2001, according to Israeli sources, these missile have caused just 10 Israeli deaths and 433 (probably mainly minor) injuries. Mortar shells, which have a range of 3 kilometers, have caused a similar number of deaths and 150 wounded. Two of the dead and 70 of the injured were army personnel.

I would hate to think how many Palestinians have died or lost their eyes and limbs in Gaza over that 7 year period; how many families have been blown apart in their homes or lost their livelihoods; how much of the infrastructure has been obliterated with F-16 laser-guided missiles and Apache helicopter cluster bombs. I wish someone would publish the statistics and bet you the ratio would be at least 1000:1.

UNRWA reports that, in just 5 months in 2006, the Israeli army killed 382 and severely injured 1,229 people in Gaza, the vast majority of whom civilians. The UNRWA appeal for help for the imprisoned 1.4 million Palestinians paints an extremely distressing picture of the suffocating conditions in the Gaza strip. It is worth reading, if only to put things into perspective.

Hamas fires missiles at southern Israel because the Israelis who have entrapped a whole nation by sealing the Strip's borders, sea shores and skies are a sly and vindictive bunch. Like a bully in a school playground, they punch, pinch, strangle, stab and slap the other kids, when the world is looking away, then moan with excruciating pain when the poor kids try to wriggle out of their grip or hit back.

Moses, or whoever, thought eye for an eye would keep humanity in check. These sub-humans in army uniform with chips on their shoulders will not be satisfied until they have gouged out a thousand Palestinian children's eyes for an Israeli one, before dinner.

I don't care what God Hamas worships, the world should not keep quiet while trigger- happy Israeli army and intelligence bandits, their pockets stuffed with American dollars, commit genocide and torment a defenceless people for years on end.

If you are an Israeli hothead, please don't give us any BS about having left Gaza voluntarily. You left the tent because you could not stand the stench. Now you are urinating all over it from the outside. Don't complain when a smelly, one-eyed and one-legged Palestinian kid emerges from the tent and lops a little Qassam at you.