A few months ago, not many Americans, in fact Europeans as well, knew that a Yazidi sect in fact existed in northwest Iraq. Even in the Middle East itself, the Yazidis and their way of life have been an enigma, shrouded by mystery and mostly grasped through stereotypes and fictitious evidence. Yet in no time, the fate of the Yazidis became a rally cry for another US-led Iraq military campaign.
It was not a surprise that the small Iraqi minority found itself a target for fanatical Islamic State (IS) militants, who had reportedly carried out unspeakable crimes against Yazidis, driving them to Dohuk, Irbil, and other northern Iraqi regions. According to UN and other groups, 40,000 Yazidi had been stranded on Mount Sinjar, awaiting imminent “genocide” if the US and other powers didn’t take action to save them.
The rest of the story was spun from that point on. The logic for intervention that preceded the latest US bombing campaign of IS targets, which started in mid-June, is similar to what took place in Libya over three years ago. Early 2011, imminent “genocide” awaiting Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi at the hands of Muammar Gaddafi was the rally cry that mobilized western powers to a war that wrought wanton killings and destruction in Libya. Since NATO’s intervention in Libya, which killed and wounded tens of thousands, the country has fallen prey to an endless and ruthless fight involving numerous militias, armed, and financially and politically-backed by various regional and international powers. Libya is now ruled by two governments, two parliaments, and a thousand militia.
When US Special Forces arrived to the top of Mount Sinjar, they realized that the Yazidis had either been rescued by Kurdish militias, or were already living there. They found less than 5,000 Yazidis there, half of them refugees. The mountain is revered in local legend, as the final resting place of Noah’s ark. It was also the final resting place for the Yazidi genocide story. The finding hardly received much coverage in the media, which used the original claim to create fervor in anticipation for Western intervention in Iraq.
We all know how the first intervention worked out. Not that IS’s brutal tactics in eastern, northern and central Iraq should be tolerated. But a true act of genocide had already taken place in Iraq for nearly two decades, starting with the US war in 1990-91, a decade-long embargo and a most destructive war and occupation starting in 2003. Not once did a major newspaper editorial in the US bestow the term “genocide” on the killing and maiming of millions of Iraqis. In fact, the IS campaign is actually part of a larger Sunni rebellion in Iraq, in response to the US war and Shite-led government oppression over the course of years. That context is hardly relevant in the selective reporting on the current violence in Iraq.
It goes without saying, US policymakers care little for the Yazidis, for they don’t serve US interests in any way. However, experience has taught that such groups only become relevant in a specially tailored narrative, in a specific point in time, to be exploited for political and strategic objectives. They will cease to exist the moment the objective is met. Consider for example, the fact that IS has been committing horrific war crimes in western and northern Syria for years, as did forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and militants belonging to the various opposition groups there. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and wounded. Various minority groups there faced and continue to face genocide. Yet, somehow, the horrifying bloodshed there was not only tolerated, but in fact encouraged.
For over three years, little effort was put forward to find or impose a fair political solution to the Syria civil war. The Syrians were killing each other and thousands of foreigners, thanks to a purposely porous Turkish borders were allowed to join in, in a perpetual “Guernica” that, with time, grew to become another Middle Eastern status quo.
Weren’t the massacres of Aleppo in fact genocide? The siege of Yarmouk? The wiping out of entire villages, the beheading and dismembering of people for belonging to the wrong sect or religion?
Even if they were, it definitely was not the kind of genocide that would propel action, specifically western-led action. In recent days, as it was becoming clear that the US was up to its old interventionist games, countries were being lined up to fight IS. US Secretary of State John Kerry was shuttling the globe once more, from US to Europe, to Turkey, to Iraq to Saudi Arabia, and still going. “We believe we can take on ISIL (previous name for IS) in the current coalition that we have,” he said. But why now?
In his speech on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Obama declared war on IS. Obama’s tangled foreign policy agenda became even more confused in his 13-minute speech from the White House. He promised to “hunt down” IS fighters “whenever they are” until the US ultimately destroys the group, as supposedly, it has down with al-Qaeda. IS, of course, is a splinter al-Qaeda group, which began as an idea, and thanks to the US global “war on terror”, has morphed into an army of many branches. The US never destroyed al-Qaeda; but it inadvertently allowed the creation of IS.
“That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven,” Obama said. Of course, he needed to say that, as his Republican rivals have accused him of lack of decisiveness and his presidency of being weak. His democratic party could possibly lose control over the Senate come the November elections. His fight against IS is meant to help rebrand the president as resolute and decisive, and perhaps create some distraction from economic woes at home.
That same media has also cleverly devalued and branded conflicts, and acts of genocide in ways consistent with US foreign policy agendas. While the Yazidis were purportedly stranded on mount Sinjar, Israel was carrying out a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Over 2,150 were killed, mostly civilians, hundreds of them children, and over 11,000 wounded, the vast majority of whom were civilians. Not an alleged 40,000 but a confirmed 520,000 thousand were on the run, and along with the rest of Gaza’s 1.8 million, were entrapped in an open-air prison with no escape. But that was not an act of genocide either, as far as the US-western governments and media were concerned. Worse, they actively defended, and, especially in the case of the US, UK, France and Italy, armed and funded the Israeli aggression.
Experience has taught us that not all “acts of genocide” are created equal: Some are fabricated, and others are exaggerated. Some are useful to start wars, and others, no matter how atrocious, are not worth mentioning. Some acts of genocide are branded as wars to liberate, free and democratize. Other acts of genocide are to be encouraged, defended and financed.
But as far as the US involvement in the Middle East is concerned, the only real genocide is the one that serves the interests of the west, by offering an opportunity for military intervention, followed by political and strategic meddling to re-arrange the region.
The US experience in Iraq also taught us that its effort will only succeed in exacerbating an already difficult situation, yielding yet more disenfranchised groups, political despair and greater violence.
Ramzy Baroud continues to support Arab fascism over non Arabs in the Mideast.
From the Jews, Kurds, Black Christians of Sudan, Berbers, Chaldeans, Coptic Christians and now the Yazidis.
Here is a very good article about this.
http://www.aina.org/news/20140826163600.htm
For Yazidis Betrayed By Arab Neighbors, ‘It Will Never Be the Same’
By Azam Ahmed
New York Times
8/26/2014
DERA BON, Iraq — The afternoon before his family fled the onslaught of Sunni militants, Dakhil Habash was visited by three of his Arab neighbors. Over tea, his trusted friend Matlul Mare told him not to worry about the advancing fighters and that no harm would come to him or his Yazidi people.
The men had helped one another over the years: Mr. Mare brought supplies to Mr. Habash’s community in the years after the American invasion, when travel outside their northern enclave was too dangerous for Yazidis. Mr. Mare bought tomatoes and watermelon from Mr. Habash’s farm and sometimes borrowed money.
But his friend’s assurances did not sit right with Mr. Habash. That night, he gathered his family and fled. Soon afterward, he said, he found out that Mr. Mare had joined the militants and was helping them hunt down Yazidi families.
“Our Arab neighbors turned on all of us,” said Mr. Habash, who recounted his story from a makeshift refugee camp on the banks of a fetid stream near the city of Zakho, in Iraqi Kurdistan. “We feel betrayed. They were our friends.”
It would be the last time the men saw each other, as they were swept into different spheres of Iraq’s fracturing sectarian landscape, where militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are filling their ranks with the country’s disenfranchised Sunni Arabs.
Some Iraqis fear that the plight of the Yazidis, thousands of whom are missing or have been massacred by ISIS fighters, could be a harbinger of a return to the sectarian nightmare of 2006 and 2007, when neighbors turned against neighbors.
Many Sunni tribes have not supported ISIS’s advance. But the group has benefited from widespread bitterness among Sunni Arabs over perceived mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. When ISIS arrived, officials say, some Sunnis saw an opportunity to reclaim some of the supremacy they enjoyed under Saddam Hussein’s rule.
As ISIS has advanced, more than 400,000 Yazidis, who follow an ancient religion with roots in Muslim and Zoroastrian traditions, have been forced to flee their enclaves. The humanitarian crisis helped prompt President Obama to authorize American airstrikes to halt the slaughter, a decisive step in checking the militants’ advance across northern Iraq.
“I called my closest friend after we fled, an Arab man who owned a shop in our village,” said a Yazidi man who identified himself only as Haso, declining to give his first name out of fear of reprisal. “When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was looking for Yazidis to kill.”
The friend denied Haso’s account. But he grew angry when a journalist referred to the militant group as ISIS, because the militants now prefer to be called the Islamic State.
Another Yazidi refugee, Qasim Omar, said that just before ISIS reached his village, Arab neighbors began flying the group’s black flag from their homes.
“Before ISIS came, the Arab villagers had already helped them,” said Mr. Omar, 63. “I couldn’t believe it. They were our brothers.”
The extent of the collusion is hard to map. Many Yazidi families interviewed did not have firsthand information of Arab neighbors aiding ISIS. And in some cases, Arabs risked their lives to save persecuted friends.
But amid the chaos, an emotional truth has emerged: ISIS has destroyed the peaceful coexistence that many northern towns once cherished.
“We would like to go back to our village, but we will never have a relationship with the Arabs anymore,” Mr. Habash said. “It will never be the same.”
His realization began on Aug. 4, when Mr. Mare and some other neighbors who lived near his family’s farm came to his door, seemingly making the rounds of all of their Yazidi neighbors.
Over tea, the men told the family to remove their flag supporting the Kurdish Democratic Party and replace it with a white one.
“You will be safe,” Mr. Mare repeated, according to Mr. Habash and other family members who were present.
The men left at sunset and the family waited, Mr. Habash said.
A few hours later, calls began to pour in from friends as nearby villages fell to ISIS. The Kurdish pesh merga security forces were retreating. Men were being executed. Women and children were vanishing. At 2 a.m., the family fled.
But Mr. Habash’s niece stayed behind with her husband’s family.
“Her new family trusted the Arabs more than they trusted us,” said her father, Mohsin Habash, who stayed behind for his daughter.
The rest of the family raced toward the Yazidi enclaves at Mount Sinjar, but discovered that the road to the Syrian border was still open, and headed there instead. That evening, they arrived at a border checkpoint, among a caravan of trucks swollen with passengers collected along the way.
Later, they headed into Iraqi Kurdistan, where they received a call from a fellow Yazidi who had been stopped at a snap checkpoint set up by the militants. Manning the roadblock was an armed crew of ISIS fighters and local Arabs, among them Mr. Mare.
“He asked me why I was leaving, and I told him I needed to see my family members,” said Nasr Qasim Kachal, the friend.
“Then go to hell,” Mr. Kachal, reached by phone, recalled Mr. Mare saying before he was waved through.
Mr. Habash’s niece, Ahlan Mohsin Kalo, was not as lucky. She and her family stayed for two days before deciding to flee. But on their way out of town, Mr. Mare spotted them, according to villagers and Mr. Kachal.
Her father has not heard from her since. “They didn’t have time to run,” Mohsin Habash said.
Though Mohsin Habash’s family suffered because of one Arab neighbor, he pointed out that they were saved with the help of another: a longtime friend who led a convoy of Yazidi refugees to safety at great risk.
The convoy drove through the night, passing ISIS-controlled territories undetected. Mohsin Habash believes it was because his friend knew the Arab areas better than any of the Yazidis.
Hours later, they reached Syria. From there, Mohsin Habash’s friend introduced them to another Arab man who took the group the rest of the way to the border with Kurdistan.
“He saved us,” Mr. Habash said.
Rod Nordland contributed reporting from Erbil, Iraq.
Please quote Mr. Baroud where he supports Arab fascism. Thanks.
Jeremy why do you have a liar like Baroud write on your site?
Baroud was one of the biggest promoters of the Jenin massacre hoax in 2002.
Baroud wrote a book called Searching Jenin in 2002.
To quote a review on the book.
This book is so filled with lies that even its title is a
lie. Based upon hearsay and fabricated evidence, Ramzy Baroud comes to
conclusions even the Israel hating UN and human rights organizations deny ever happened:
1. “The ‘invasion’ of Jenin” was not justified – FALSE. The TRUTH –
Operation Defensive Shield was responding to the fact that at least 3 major Palestinian terrorist organizations were utilizing Jenin as a base of operations to launch their vicious homicidal attacks against Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs (over 450 murdered 9/2000 – 4/2002), as well as a major recruitment and training
center for Palestinian terrorists.
2. Israeli destruction of Jenin was
massive and indiscriminant – FALSE. The TRUTH – The total area destroyed was less than 100 X 100 meters and was limited to areas known to be used by HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
3. More than 250 Palestinian civilians were massacred by the IDF at Jenin – FALSE. The TRUTH
– 54 Palestinians (the overwhelming majority “militia”/”fighters” armed with assault rifles, submachine guns and RPG’s) were killed along with 14 Israeli soldiers. Most of the Israeli soldiers were killed in a ambush where the
Palestinians used a 12 year-old boy to lure than into an enclosed area before exploding the boy and the soldiers into bits.
4. A child died when Israeli tanks flattened a Palestinian house – FALSE. The TRUTH – This never happened.
The footage that “proves” this was doctored. The man who produced this footage, Muhammed Bakri, has admitted to doctoring the footage.
5. The IDF endangered a hospital treating Palestinians – FALSE. The TRUTH – The IDF guarded a “Palestinian” hospital’s water and oxygen supply and blew up nothing that might endanger the hospital despite the fact that it served as a refuge for several fugitives. Baroud’s “witness” was in fact being treated in a hospital while the Jenin operation was occurring. The hospital was in Afulla and is an Israeli hospital.
There was one rather shocking truth excluded from Baroud’s Book.
Wounded Palestinians treated by the IDF refused transfusions of Israeli blood on the grounds that “Jewish blood was always tainted and impure” (an old Joeseph Goebbels charge). The IDF responded by having “acceptable” Arab blood flown in
from Jordan at NO small expense to transfuse the Palestinians.
In short, Ramzy Baroud’s book is [incorrect] supported by unsubstantiated heresay, false accusations and fabricated evidence.
Now Baroud has become an apologist for ISIS by denying their crimes against the Yazidis.
This the same Baroud that thinks Israel defending itself against Hamas is genocide.
Baroud the Hamas apologist thinks Israel should just do nothing while Hamas fires thousands of missiles at Israeli civilians and builds tunnels to kidnap and kill Israeli civilians.
To understand the Hamas criminals Baroud supports, please read this article by this Arab journalist who describes exactly what Hamas is.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4706/gazan-hamas-war-crimes
Gazans Speak Out: Hamas War Crimes
by Mudar Zahran
September 19, 2014
“If Hamas does not like you for any reason all they have to do now is say you are a Mossad agent and kill you.” — A., a Fatah member in Gaza.
“Hamas wanted us butchered so it could win the media war against Israel showing our dead children on TV and then get money from Qatar.” — T., former Hamas Ministry officer.
“They would fire rockets and then run away quickly, leaving us to face Israeli bombs for what they did.” — D., Gazan journalist.
“Hamas imposed a curfew: anyone walking out in the street was shot. That way people had to stay in their homes, even if they were about to get bombed. Hamas held the whole Gazan population as a human shield.” — K., graduate student
“The Israeli army allows supplies to come in and Hamas steals them. It seems even the Israelis care for us more than Hamas.” — E., first-aid volunteer.
“We are under Hamas occupation, and if you ask most of us, we would rather be under Israeli occupation… We miss the days when we were able to work inside Israel and make good money. We miss the security and calm Israel provided when it was here.” — S., graduate of an American university, former Hamas sympathizer.
While the world’s media has been blaming Israel for the death of Gazan civilians during Operation Protective Edge, this correspondent decided to speak with Gazans themselves to hear what they had to say.
They spoke of Hamas atrocities and war crimes implicating Hamas in the civilian deaths of its own people.
Although Gazans, fearful of Hamas’s revenge against them, were afraid to speak to the media, friends in the West Bank offered introductions to relatives in Gaza. One, a renowned Gazan academic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that as soon as someone talked to a Western journalist, he was immediately questioned by Hamas and accused of “communicating with the Mossad”. “Hamas makes sure that the average Gazan will not talk to Western journalists — or actually any journalists at all,” he said, continuing:
“Hamas does not want the truth about Gaza to come out. Hamas terrorizes and kills us just like Daesh [ISIS] terrorizes kills Iraqis. Hamas is a dictatorship that kills us. The Gazans you see praising Hamas on TV are either Hamas members or too afraid to speak against Hamas. Few foreign [Western] journalists were probably able to report what Gazans think of Hamas.”
When asked what Gazans did think of Hamas, he said:
“The same as Iraqis thought of Saddam before he was toppled. He still won by 90-something percent in the presidential elections. If Hamas falls today in Gaza, people here will do what Iraqis did to Saddam’s statue after he fell. But even though Western journalists may not have been able to speak freely with Gazans, they still need a story to send to their editor by the end of the day. So it is just easier and safer for them to stick to the official line.”
“What was that,” I asked: “‘Blame Israel’?”
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “More like, ‘Never blame Hamas!’. Hamas was making a ‘statement’: Opposing Hamas Means Death. Hamas is a dictatorship that kills us.”
M., a journalist, confirmed his view. “I do not believe any of the people Hamas killed in the last weeks were Israeli spies,” he said. “Hamas has killed many people for criticizing it, and claimed they were traitors working for Israel during the war.”
That conversation took place four weeks before Hamas killed 21 alleged “Israeli Mossad agents.”
D, a store owner, said:
“There were two major protests against Hamas during the third week of the war. When Hamas fighters opened fire at the protesters in the Bait Hanoun area and the Shijaiya, five were killed instantly. I saw that with my own eyes. Many were injured. A doctor at Shifa hospital told me that 35 were killed at both protests. He went and saw their bodies at the morgue.”
To verify those reports, I spoke to a second Gazan academic, who holds a PhD. from a Western university, who stated:
“Hamas did kill protesters, no doubt about that. But we could not confirm how many were actually killed. If I have to guess, the number was more than reported. I am confident that not all of the 21 men Hamas killed on August 22 were collaborating with Israel. Hamas killed those men because it was weakened by Israel’s attacks and felt endangered. So it went on a ‘Salem Witch-Hunt.’ They arrested everyone who opposed them and had to make a few examples to scare people from standing against Hamas. Hamas’s tactic worked. Now Gazans are afraid to talk against Hamas even in front of their own family members. Gazans are probably afraid to criticize Hamas even in their sleep!”
As already reported by the award-winning journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh, Hamas killed one of its leaders, Ayman Taha, and blamed Israel for it.
Asked about Abu Toameh’s report, S., a Gazan political activist said:
“Taha was already in Hamas’s jail before Israeli operations started. Hamas imprisoned him and tortured him because he was critical of its radical policies. He had warned Hamas not to cooperate with Qatar and Iran. Eye-witnesses said they saw Hamas militants bring him alive into the yard of Shifa hospital in Gaza and shoot him dead. They kept mutilating his body in front of viewers and little children and left it on the hospital’s yard for a few hours before allowing the staff to take it to the morgue.”
A., a Fatah member in Gaza, spoke over Skype — fearful that Hamas was intercepting phone lines:
“Even before the Israeli operation began, Hamas rounded up 400 of our members and other political-opposition figures. I would not be surprised if Hamas kills them all and then claims they were killed in an Israeli bombing. Hamas already beheaded a man known for opposing its views on the 22nd day of the war, then reported on its Facebook page that he was caught sending intelligence information to Israel. If Hamas does not like you for any reason, all they have to do now is claim you are a Mossad agent and kill you.”
S. a medical worker, said:
“The Israeli army sends warnings to people [Gazans] to evacuate buildings before an attack. The Israelis either call or send a text message. Sometimes they call several times to make sure everyone has been evacuated. Hamas’s strict policy, though, was not to allow us to evacuate. Many people got killed, locked inside their homes by Hamas militants. Hamas’s official Al-Quds TV regularly issued warnings to Gazans not to evacuate their homes. Hamas militants would block the exits to the places residents were asked to evacuate. In the Shijaiya area, people received warnings from the Israelis and tried to evacuate the area, but Hamas militants blocked the exits and ordered people to return to their homes. Some of the people had no choice but to run towards the Israelis and ask for protection for their families. Hamas shot some of those people as they were running; the rest were forced to return to their homes and get bombed. This is how the Shijaiya massacre happened. More than 100 people were killed.”
Another Gazan journalist, D., said:
“Hamas fired rockets from next to homes. Hamas was running from one home to another. Hamas lied when it claimed it was shooting from non-populated areas. To make things even worse for us, Hamas would fire from the balconies of homes and try to drag the Israelis into door-to-door battles and street-to-street fights — a death sentence for all the civilians here. They would fire rockets and then run away quickly, leaving us to face Israeli bombs for what they did. They are cowards. If Hamas militants are not afraid of dying, why do they run after they fire rockets from our homes? Why don’t they stay and die with us? Are they afraid to die and go to heaven? Isn’t that what they claim they wish?”
Hamas boasted that Palestinian civilians were killed while Hamas’s terrorists remained alive, hiding in their underground bunkers and tunnels. (Image source: Hamas video screenshot)
K, another graduate student at an Egyptian university who had gone to Gaza to see his family but was unable to leave after the war started, said on July 22:
“When people stopped listening to Hamas orders not to evacuate and began leaving their homes anyway, Hamas imposed a curfew: anyone walking out in the street was shot without being asked any questions. That way Hamas made sure people had to stay in their homes even if they were about to get bombed. God will ask Hamas on judgment day for those killers’ blood.”
I asked him if Hamas used people as “human shields.” He said: “Hamas held the entire Gazan population as a human shield. My answer to you is yes.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the press on September 6 that Hamas had killed 120 Fatah members who broke the curfew.
T., a former Hamas Ministry officer, said: “Hamas fires from civilian areas for a good reason: The Israelis call the civilians and give them ten minutes to evacuate. This gives Hamas time to fire another rocket and run away.”
Why, I asked, did Hamas not allow people to evacuate?
“Some people say Hamas wants civilians killed in order to gain global sympathy, but I believe this is not the main reason. I think the reason is that if all the people were allowed to evacuate their homes, they all would have ended up in a certain area in Gaza. If that happened, it would have made the rest of Gaza empty of civilians, and the Israelis would have been able to hit Hamas without worrying about civilians in all those empty areas. Hamas wanted civilians all over the place to confuse the Israelis and make their operations more difficult.”
S., a Gazan businessman, said:
“The cease-fire Hamas agreed to carried the same conditions the Egyptians and the Israelis offered during the second week of the war — after only 160 Gazans had been killed. Why did Hamas have to wait until 2,200 were killed, and then accept the very same offer? Hamas has blackmailed the world with the killed Gazan civilians to make itself look like a freedom fighter against an evil Israel. Hamas showed Gazans that it could not care less for their blood and their children. And why should Hamas care? Its leaders are either in mansions in Qatar or villas in Jordan. Mashaal [Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas] is in Qatar, Mohammad Nazzal is in Jordan and Abu Marzouk is in Cairo: why should they want a ceasefire? Everyone here in Gaza is wondering why Hamas rejected so many ceasefires. Hamas knows it will not defeat Israel’s army, so why did it continue fighting? The answer is simple: Hamas wanted us butchered so it could win the media war against Israel by showing our dead children on TV and then get money from Qatar.”
I asked S. if other Gazans shared his view. He said,
“Gazans are not stupid. We are now telling Hamas: Either you bring victory and liberate Palestine as you claim, or simply leave Gaza and maybe give it back to the Palestinian Authority or even Israel — or even Egypt! We have had enough of Hamas’s hallucinations and promises that never come true.”
O., a researcher who lives in Gaza Strip’s second largest city, Khan Younis, said:
“Most of us see Hamas as too radical and too stubborn, especially the way it was refusing ceasefires offered from Israel. They even refused a 24-hour ceasefire during the third week of the war. They denied us even 24 hours of quiet to bury the dead. Even some Hamas loyalists here are asking why Hamas refused several ceasefires and made us suffer. Hamas did this on purpose because Hamas is a slave to Qatar. Qatar wants the war to go on because it is a terrorist Islamist country, and Hamas wants more of us dead to appease its masters in Qatar. Let’s be realistic, Hamas is in a bad shape now. Israel destroyed most tunnels; that is why Hamas had to join the ceasefire talks in Cairo.
Were the Israelis’ hits to Hamas not so painful, Hamas would not be negotiating in the first place. At the same time, Hamas is asking Israel for the impossible, like an open seaport and an airport. Israel would never allow that, and Hamas knows this, but Hamas might just be buying time by throwing out these demands. You have to keep in mind that Hamas is not concerned with our conditions as Gazans. After all it is our children who are dying, not the children of Hamas’s leaders. Hamas is weak now, and I believe it lost most of its tunnels. Israel’s Iron Dome destroyed so many of their rockets before they landed in Israel; that is why Hamas is being ruthless with Gazans. When Hamas locks people inside homes about to be bombed, when it kills people protesting against it and when it executes alleged traitors without even a trail, these are war crimes.”
A report by the Washington Institute, released in July, also reports that most Gazans are not happy with Hamas’s governance.
“It is true,” said A., a teacher. “I do not know a single Gazan who is pro-Hamas at the moment, except for those on its payroll. Hamas maintains its control here through a military dictatorship, just like North Korea. People will be killed if they protest. Even Gazans living abroad fear to criticize Hamas because Hamas will take revenge on their relatives who are here.”
M., a Gazan television producer, stated:
“Of course I am against Israel and I want it out of Gaza and out of the West Bank, but I still believe Hamas is more of a threat to the Palestinian people. Hamas took over Gaza by killing us [Palestinians] and throwing our young men from high buildings. That is what Hamas is about: murder and power. Hamas is also delusional. Its leaders refused the Egyptian cease-fire proposal, they got hit hard by the Israelis, and then when the war stopped, they declared victory. Even the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, admitted it when he lost Ohoud war [A war in which pagan Arabs defeated Muhammad’s army and in which Muhammad was almost killed]. Hamas lives in its own fantasy world. Hamas wanted the dead bodies to make Israel look ugly. The media has exerted a huge pressure on Israel for every dead Gazan. In that sense, Hamas’s tactic has worked, and we have seen more Western tolerance of Hamas, especially in Europe. Of course Hamas doesn’t care if we all die so long as it achieves its goals. We are not going to accept living under Hamas any longer. Even if there is calm, and the firing stops, we are going to still be under Hamas’s mercy, where all basic living standards are considered luxuries. Hamas is just buying time by going to the ceasefire talks. Hamas does not want a ceasefire.”
When asked why that was, he said, “Ask Qatar’s Sheikh, not me. He is Hamas’s god who gives them billions and tells them what to do. May God curse Qatar!”
A first-aid volunteer, E., said that Hamas militants had confiscated 150 truckloads of humanitarian supplies the day before. He said the supplies were donated by charities in the West Bank and that their delivery was facilitated by the IDF. He commented: “This theft angers all of us [Gazans]. The Israeli army allows supplies to come in, and Hamas steals them. It seems even the Israelis care for us more than Hamas.”
Another aid worker, A., confirmed that Hamas steals the humanitarian supplies given to Gaza. “They [Hamas] take most of it, sell it to us, and just give us the stuff they do not want.”
A Gazan mosque’s imam said that the most precious aid item Hamas stole was water. “Gazans are thirsty and Hamas is stealing the water bottles provided to us for free and selling them at 20 Israeli shekels [approximately $5] for the big bottle and 10 Israeli shekels for the small one.”
H., who did not want his profession to be mentioned, lost one of his legs in an Israeli raid. I asked him who he thought was responsible for his injury. He stated:
“Hamas was. My father received a text-message from the Israeli army warning him that our area was going to be bombed, and Hamas prevented us from leaving. They said there was a curfew. A curfew, can you believe that? I swear to God, we will take revenge on Hamas. I swear to God I will stand on my other foot and fight against Hamas. Even if Israel leaves them alone, we will not. What had my two-year-old nephew done to be killed under the rubble of our home so Khaled Mashaal [Hamas leader based in Qatar] could be happy? We want change at any cost. I am not claiming the Israelis are innocent, but I know Hamas has fired rockets from every residential spot in Gaza. If that was not hiding behind civilians, then it was stupidity and recklessness. Nobody who is normal, in his right mind, in Gaza supports Hamas. People have lost parents, children and friends, and have nothing more to lose. I believe if given the chance and the weapons, they will stand against Hamas.”
K., a Gazan school teacher agreed:
“When Hamas starts caring for our children we will start caring for Hamas. Hamas has one policy, to attack Israel; so Israel attacks back, and gets us killed and Hamas then gets more money from Arabs and Erdogan [Turkey’s president]. My son has autism; he cannot handle the sounds of rockets and bombs landing. Why would I support Hamas, which causes this suffering to him? Gazans have had enough of Hamas, any claims that we love Hamas is just propaganda. A recent poll indicates that most of us support Hamas; this is not true, except maybe in the West Bank where they have not yet lived under Hamas rule. I cannot accuse the polling center of fabricating the poll, but my safest explanation for the result is that Gazans polled are too afraid to give their true opinions of Hamas. Hamas watches everything here. Most Gazans now have to deal with the aftermath of the war. Almost 300,000 Gazans are now homeless and Hamas is not providing them with anything. So why would they or their extended families have any love for Hamas? Would there be any common sense to that? Most Gazans are angry at Hamas, and most of us would love to see them replaced by any other force.”
Despite all Hamas has done to Gazans, they do not seem to hold much love — or less hatred — for Israel.
S., a graduate of an American university and a former Hamas sympathizer, warned:
“Don’t get fooled. Gazans are not in love with Israel yet, but they do not want to fight Israel anymore. We do not want to embrace Israel; we just want to live normally without wars. We want to live and work in Israel like we used to. We are under Hamas occupation, and if you ask most of us, we would rather be under Israeli occupation, instead. I would welcome Netanyahu to rule Gaza so long as Hamas leaves, and I think most Gazans feel the same way. We miss the days when we were able to work inside Israel and make good money, we miss the security and calm Israel provided when it was here, but politically speaking, we just think of it as the better of two evils: Israel and Hamas.”
M., who lost his 11 year old daughter in an Israeli bombing said: “I will not forgive either Hamas or Israel for losing my daughter. If you ask me if I hate Israelis, my answer would be no, but do I love them? Of course not. There is too much blood between us, but I can only hope someday we both will move on and heal our wounds.”
When asked what he would do if he were in Israel’s place, being attacked non-stop by Hamas, he responded: “I do not care if both Israel and Gaza burn in hell.”
F., a Gazan physician, said:
“I wish Israel never existed, but as it does not seem to be going away, I would rather be working in Israel like I used to before the first Intifada, not fighting it. Hamas sympathizers, apologists and appeasers should be ashamed of themselves for supporting a terrorist organization that has butchered civilians, Israeli and Palestinian. Apparently a group of Israelis is working on bringing Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to trial in the International Criminal Court. But perhaps the world should consider putting all the Hamas leaders on trial for crimes against the Gazan people.”
Yesterday their was a great victory over Hamas terrorists and their supporters like Baroud.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-22/arab-bank-found-liable-for-hamas-terrorist-attacks.html
Arab Bank Found Liable for Hamas Terrorist Attacks
By Erik Larson and Christie Smythe Sep 22, 2014
Jeremy to answer your question about Baroud being an Arab fascist.
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000682.html
Politically Correct: Palestinian Voices for Violence and Genocide
04/20/09
It is always better when people are honest about their intentions. Therefore, among the (relatively) moderate Arab voices, Ramzy Baroud’s article deploring nonviolence (that’s right – not a typo) is outstanding.
Baroud, who has been fighting the good fight to drive the Jews into the sea, pulls no punches and leaves nobody with any illusions. In an editorial published by the European funded Maan News service, Baroud expresses his dismay regarding the world support for non-violence. Let’s not decry murder, says Baroud.
In recent history, many advocates of non-violence have been celebrated as modern day icons. From Ghandi to King, songs are written in their honor, their life stories fill the pages of our children’s history volumes as noble examples of which everyone must aspire to emulate. Holidays are instituted in their honor and around the world; streets and boulevards carry their namesake.
Why is it that the “establishment” goes to such great lengths to lift up these individuals? Where are the holidays commemorating the life and sacrifices of Malcolm X, where are the stories of Crazy Horse or Geronimo?
Yes! Finally someone said it. Gandhi and King are terrible examples for Palestinian children, who are supposed to be learning to kill Jews. I mean, why is there a Martin Luther King Day, but there is no Genghis Kahn day? The Unibomber doesn’t get his own commemoration day either. Why doesn’t the world honor real heroes of murder and genocide like Osama Bin Laden or Heinrich Himmler If Baroud had his way they wouldn’t honor wimps like King and Gandhi.
Today is Adolph Hitler’s birthday and I bet you forgot to bake a cake. Baroud wouldn’t forget a thing like that. The Palestinian Authority would never forget to honor a fellow like “the Engineer” – Palestinian terrorist Yehyeh Ayash, who got a square named for him – the Palestinian Gandhi. Let’s face it, anyone who could blow up all those Jews has to be a hero, right? All is not lost however. In the Ukraine, they have lots of streets and statues honoring Bogdan Khmelnitsky. Khlmelnitsky is a Ukrainian national hero, having killed about 100,000 Jews in various pogroms. The Ukrainians even named a town after their hero. Appropriately enough, the town so named used to be the town of Proskurov where about 5,000 to 10,000 Jews were murdered in February of 1919. There is your hero, Mr. Baroud.
What really irks Baroud is this:
Recently, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released a report entitled: “UN: 70% of Palestinian youth oppose violence to resolve conflict with Israel.” The report addressed a survey conducted in the occupied territories that interviewed 1,200 youth in the West Bank and Gaza. The survey found that nearly 70 percent of young adults in the occupied territories do believe that the use of violence is “not helpful” to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The report stated that only eight percent found violence a necessary tool…
This is really a grave problem. If Palestinians don’t favor murder, folks like Baroud would be out of business. Moreover, Mr. Baroud is upset that the UN chose to emphasize this finding, rather than, say, faking the results to show that all Palestinians want to blow themselves up::
Just why does the UNDP find it fitting to highlight a survey that concludes that most Palestinian youth find violence “unhelpful”…
We can see his point? What’s the world coming to, when the UN won’t support terrorism? How could the UN advocate peace?
We can see why so many progressive humanitarians look to Mr. Baroud as a hero, right? Baroud is also upset because Dr Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, who lost his three children in Gaza, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace prize because he doesn’t advocate violence:
And why does the world renown a man who calls for reconciliation…
Right on Baroud! If people don’t stop trying to murder each other, what’s the point of the whole thing? Evidently Mr. Baroud thinks it would have been more appropriate to nominate someone like Khaled Meshal perhaps, or maybe a Palestinian rocket launching crew. It is rare and refreshing to meet a soul who is so frankly dedicated to the ideal of murdering people.
Ramzy Baroud also complains:
In the midst of this mess, where is the call for Israel to embrace non-violence?
Isn’t it terrible, all those people in the UN Human Rights Council egging Israel on? Israel for its part, was willing to endure the Hamas rockets in silence, but the United Nations kept passing resolution after resolution calling on Israel to defend itself, and media like the BBC and the Independent and Time magazine kept deploring the terrible psychological state of Israeli children subjected to continuous bombardment by those non-violent Palestinian rockets. How come the media and the UN only call for Palestinian non-violence?
Mr Baroud has an ally, of course, in this Hamas “spiritual leader”, Ziyad abu el Haj, who has issued a call to solve the Jewish question:
The Jews want to destroy every inch … Perhaps their famous book, which they deny [its authenticity] – known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, but we call it, “The Protocols of the imbeciles of Zion” – in this book, my brothers, the Jews set down their plan to besiege the entire world by land, by air, and by sea – conceptually, economically, and its communications, as is happening today…
The Jews’ grandeur today, and their ascent to the world’s throne, is because America, with all of its power, is ruled by the Senate, I won’t say ‘American’ but rather ‘Jewish’ [Senate] … The time will come, by the will of Allah, when their property will be destroyed and their children will be exterminated, and no Jew or Zionist will be left on the face of this earth.”
Now there’s a fellow who deserves a few streets named after him in Ramzy Baroud’s Palestine! No namby-pamby sentimentality there. Mr. Abu al Haj attended a conference of Imams and Rabbis promoting peace. He was an honored guest. Why wasn’t Mr Abu el Haj invited to speak with Mr. Ahmadinejad at the UN conference promoting racism? Is this part of the sinister plot against violence being hatched at the UN, that Mr. Baroudy has exposed? What could be more appropriate on Hitler’s Birthday?
The strange thing is that my “cynical” commentary is not half as black as reality. Mr Baroud’s ideas are accepted as politically correct and respectable by a growing crowd of terror groupies: Ordinary people, including Jews, who endorse, legitimize and respect murder and violence, as long as it is done by progressive, enlightened oppressed Palestinians, like Mr Abu El Haj, and Mr. Baroudy, and as long as the violence is not being done by ultranationalist, right-wing extremist Zionists. The “pro-Israel” J-Street wants Israel to negotiate with Mr. Abu El Haj and his friends and recognize their legitimacy. We could for example, propose to save 10,000 Jews by giving the Hamas 10,000 trucks, as the Jews once negotiated with Adolf Eichmann. The Dutch Labor Party likewise wants to force Israel to negotiate with Hamas. They want to legitimize Hamas, and boycott Israel until it knuckles under and accepts Mr. Abu al Haj’s program.
I read as far as “Baroud, who has been fighting the good fight to drive the Jews into the sea…” No need to read any further. Scanning the article, we can see it doesn’t provide any actual quotes from Mr. Baroud saying all the horrible things it attributes to him. I asked you to quote Mr. Baroud where he supports Arab fascism. You failed to do so. You are banned for trolling and making up lies in an attempt to slander in violation of the terms of use of the comments area.
You are using an unusual definition of “supporter” to describe Mr. Baroud as a “supporter” of Hamas terrorists. Please quote him where he does so. Thanks.
So you are insisting that there was genocide?
Please quote Mr. Baroud where he “supports” Hamas so we may know what you are talking about.
Please keep your comments relevant and of reasonable length. It is sufficient to post a link; you needn’t paste the entire piece into the comments.
I have “Searching Jenin” on my shelf. It isn’t even a book written by Mr. Baroud. He was, as you know, the editor of the book, which contains a preface by Noam Chomsky and is a compilation of eyewitness accounts of the Israeli invasion (as the subtitle informs).
“The presence of armed Palestinian militants inside Jenin refugee camp, and the preparations made by those armed Palestinian militants in anticipation of the IDF incursion, does not detract from the IDF’s obligation under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians. Israel also has a legal duty to ensure that its attacks on legitimate military targets did not cause disproportionate harm to civilians. Unfortunately, these obligations were not met. Human Rights Watch’s research demonstrates that, during their incursion into the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting prima facie to war crimes.” — Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/print/reports/2002/05/02/jenin-0