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Recent Gaza Turmoil: Missing Context

As published in the National Post (National Online Edition): April 3, 2018

The recent violence in Gaza reminds me that historical context is missing from coverage of its frequent upheavals. For example, the 2004 remarks of Dov Weissglass, senior advisor to Ariel Sharon, “The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process…And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed from our agenda.”

That agenda includes pretending to acknowledge the “peace process”, which was and is a brilliant stalling tactic to facilitate the illegal settlement and development of the most valuable Palestinian territory. Even modest research reveals that the founders of Israel intended to use the 1947 UN partition as an expansion platform. Israel’s flexible borders show no signs of becoming fixed. When critiquing Hamas’ conduct; we must assume that they are aware of this reality and of those Israeli elements who wish to create a Jewish theocracy along Old Testament lines.

It seems perfectly natural to me that Palestinian Arabs would seek to return to the land from which their ancestors were driven in 1948 and 1967. Unfortunately for them, justice, as viewed through the lens of power; favours the mighty. In this case, the Israeli state, with full U.S. support; acts with impunity and rearranges the official narrative to justify its behaviour while successfully defining the opposition as terrorists. It’s a very old and reliable script.

In an ongoing effort to maintain their national myths, Israeli bureaucrats continue to reseal declassified records that threaten to expose the darker aspects of Zionism and Western efforts to help Israel expand territorially. As Orwell said of history, those who control the past control the future.

Morgan Duchesney, Ottawa Canada