AUTHOR: Redaspie DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 ----- BODY:

Following the kidnapping a few weeks ago of an Israeli soldier in the occupied territories, and now the kidnapping of two more in Lebanon by Hezbollah, the state of Israel is once again unleashing deadly force to pulverise innocent civilians in acts of collective punishment and retribution. Premier Ehud Olmert made a statement in response to Hezbollah's actions which was so ferocious that it surprised even me - a statement tantamount to declaring war on the Lebanon. It appears likely that Israel has in fact been awaiting an opportunity to reinvade and reoccupy Lebanon ever since the Syrians withdrew their troops last year. I thought that had been a mistake myself, Syria doing that...

A brief smile was pushed to my face, I have to admit, when news came earlier this evening that Hezbollah had actually repulsed the Israeli attacks, leaving the IDF with a bloody nose and four of its troops dead. Yes, I know that no-one should be celebrating the killings of human beings, but nonetheless the fact that Israel was given a pummelling can only lift the hearts of Palestinians. However I rather doubt that it will put Israel off, unfortunately. And of course Israel's actions carry the implied blessing of her paymasters in Washington, the US (and European leaders natch) condeming the kidnapping of the soldiers but not a word about the actions of Israel.

From the depressing to the very depressing, and the news from Mumbai is indeed terrible. Almost 200 are dead so far in the series of co-ordinated acts of terrorism (and yes that is the correct term) carried out on the underground train lines in India's financial capital. Interestingly, Indian shares went up in the aftermath, indicating that India's financial class don't give a shit about the deaths of civilians. Again, the US condemned the acts of terror, but again not a word about India's activities in Kashmir. Now, of course, we don't know for certain that the attacks are related to the Kashmir issue, but let's assume for a second that it was. The Kashmir issue has certainly given rise to plenty other terror attacks in previous years. The Indian government's rigging of regional elections in 1987 - one in a long line of abusive acts - led to an armed uprising against Indian rule, to which the Indian army responded with appalling repression, including widespread massacres, torture and rape. In the 1990s, over 70,000 Kashmiri civilians were killed (see this excellent article). Unfortunately, over time, there has been a swing away from secular pro-independence resistance to Islamic pro-Pakistan resistance, and it is out of this that there has been a series of vicious terror attacks against the Indian civilian population over the past decade. And yet, despite this, it is surely understandable why many young Kashmiri Muslims have been attracted to jihad when faced with the brutality of the Indian state.

And further north to Chechnya, where Russia has been fighting an even more brutal war against Chechen rebels. One of the leading rebels, Shamil Basayev, was assassinated a few days by a death squad from the Russian state security force, the FSB. Basayev was no angel - he masterminded the school siege at Beslan in Russia two years ago, which as everyone knows ended horrifically with the deaths of scores of children (the responsibility for this outcome it must be said lies as much with the Russian authorities as it does with the Chechen rebels). Again, however, as with Kashmir and Palestine, the rebels are the product of a situation of appalling and brutal oppression by an occupying power. This was acknowledged by the European Court of Human Rights last year.

Palestine - Kashmir - Chechnya. In each case, the people of a region oppressed by an occupying power are seeking to fight back, and in each case the form of the resistance has taken on the form of radical Islamic nationalism of one form or another, who have themselves carried out terrible acts. This latter fact has to be acknowledged, but what the establishment and its supporters in the media want us to do, is to reserve our condemnation solely for the brutality of acts of resistance, and not of acts of oppression by the 'other side'. Some on the left, unfortunately, have fallen into the trap of seeing the undoubted reactionary nature of the politics of these groups to simply condemn them out of hand and adopt a 'plague on both your houses' approach to these situations - seeing both the oppressor and those resisting as just as bad. However, this approach is wrong-headed. In such situations, where these forces are the only ones of any note that is attempting to resist occupation and oppression, anti-imperialists have nonetheless to stand on the side of those resisting, no matter how much we oppose some or all of their methods. Quite simply, nations and peoples living under oppression have a right to fight back, and to oppose resistance forces outright on the basis of their actions or politics, is to indulge in pious moralising.

-------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Louisefeminista COMMENT-DATE:10:38 AM COMMENT-BODY:I was watching Channel 4 news last night and it was appalling watching what was happening in Lebanon.
The Israeli army chief was filmed warning that "nothing is safe in Lebanon". Also mentioned was the massacres in 1982 at Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.

Margaret Beckett this morning: "The Israelis had every right to respond to the provocation but in a proportionate and measured way".

"Proportionate and measured way"... Obviously that means bombing the crap out of Lebanon
by marauding Israeli F16s and gunboats.

Dubya: "they need to protect themselves against terrorists"

Yes indeed, the Israeli state are acting as terrorists but he wasn't talking about them was he now.... -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:10:57 AM COMMENT-BODY:Quite. The level of disproportion that the Israeli state has reached in its response makes it very clear that the kidnapping of the soldiers was merely a pretext. I think Israel is seeking to reconquer Lebanon. Most worrying were hints last night that Israel may expand its actions to Syria. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Louisefeminista COMMENT-DATE:1:01 PM COMMENT-BODY:What is also happening in Gaza due to the capture of the Israeli soldier by Hamas is beyond belief.

Conditions are worsening for the Palestinians such as rubbish is filing up as there is no fuel, raw sewage, shortage of electricity caused by airstrikes.

And hardly any wages have been paid and the Israeli state (out of the goodness of their heart) allows just enough food in but people can't leave or enter on ship.

The "offcial" figures are that 86 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and around one fifth of the deaths are civilians.

And West sits back and lets the Israeli state do what it wants.

There is a post over at Socialist Unity Blog re: Israel and Lebanon situation
http://socialistunity.blogspot.com/ -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Ivan COMMENT-DATE:6:04 PM COMMENT-BODY:I also found it almost impossible to believe that for two soldiers only, three counting the one in Gaza, that Israel would go and bomb innocent civilians. No wonder our country and Israel are such good friends, our nations are both quite militaristic....and remember Dubya's comment, something like this: all Hizbollah needs to do is stop the s*** (he was talking to British PM Tony Blair about Hizbollah's shelling.) If I recall correctly, that shelling started AFTER Israel began its attack on Lebanon. What the hell is wrong with the world????? It's all rather backwards at the moment, I think. Do you see a pattern here? Western allies in the Middle East provoke something, and we side with them, and the other side gets more radical. I have heard this happen over and over and over again and no one is learning anything it seems. Is it just my incorrect thinking or is there something to what I'm saying about the pattern?

AI -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:8:12 PM COMMENT-BODY:I actually don't think it's about either side 'learning' anything. Increasing radicalisation of the Arab world suits Bush down to the ground (as long as his buddies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia are able to hold on to power of course). The Western countries have a very good idea of what their interests are, and that involves stuffing the Palestinians and the Arab peoples generally. --------