12 Jan 2009

Disengagement and the Frontiers of Zionism

by Darryl Li

“Disengagement” is, of course, the name Israel gave its 2005 removal of colonies and military bases from the Gaza Strip. But rather than a one-time abandonment of control, disengagement is better understood as an ongoing process of controlled abandonment, by which Israel is severing the ties forged with Gaza over 40 years of domination without allowing any viable alternatives to emerge, all while leaving the international donor community to subsidize what remains. The effect is to treat the Strip as an animal pen whose denizens cannot be domesticated and so must be quarantined. Disengagement is a form of rule that sets as its goal neither justice nor even stability, but rather survival -- as we are reminded by every guarantee that an undefined “humanitarian crisis” will be avoided.

p.s. Yet, with over a thousand Palestinian victims, of which more than half are civilians, "survival" has suddenly become a deadly conundrum because the Zionist army of occupation is continuing to commit despicable war crimes, such as "shooting at fleeing Gazans" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7828536.stm, preventing medical supplies from reaching those in desperate need (children, in particular!), targeting mosques, shelters, schools http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7814054.stm as its rules of engagement blatantly disregard issues of "proportionality" or the need to differentiate "civilians" from "combatants" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7811386.stm

Surely though, no Israeli will ever have to face the UN War Crimes Tribunal for what they are doing in Gaza today, or will they?

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