Pretext for Gaza Assault Exposed

The Israeli government is now ready to unleash the "defense forces" on the Gaza strip, in what CNN has called "retaliation" for the latest suicide bombing, that of Rishon Letzion.

Even the most uniformed observor familiar with
the geography of Israel/Palestine would question the assumption that has provided the justification for the invasion of Gaza - that the suicide bomber was from the Gaza strip. This is because Rishon Letzion is twice as close to the West Bank than it is to Gaza.

In addition, the Gaza strip is completely surrounded by barriers, ditches and checkpoints in a way that makes the barrier between the West Bank and Israel appear porous. Nevertheless, the Israeli Minister of the Interior has used the bombing as a pretext for the invasion of Gaza, where "terrorist nests" (note the dehumanization inherent in the phrase) are supposedly located.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has made the claim that the bomber was in fact a former resident of Jenin, the site of an atrocity which Israel refused to allow the international community to investigate.

The Israeli government refuses to address the issue that the man the PA accusses of being the bomber, Zidan Mohammed Vazani, was from Jenin. In fact, they do not need to do so, since the story does not appear in the leading American press outlets, including those updated frequently, such as CNN online. (My source on the identity of the bomber is the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, story located online at http://www.globeandmail.com)

Of course, admitting that the bomber came from Jenin would completely demolish the pretext for not only the invasion of Gaza, but that of all the invasions of "Operation Defensive Shield", as Jenin's "terrorist infrastructure" was apprently not destroyed despite the complete obliteration of the refugee camp where Palestinian militants coordinated their operations within Jenin.

Rather, it exposes the fact that Israel is intent on destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority or indeed that of the Palestinian population.

If the pattern of Ramallah, Jenin and Nablus is continued, water pipes, electrical generators and town halls will all be destroyed. This may not happen, as the operation will need to be more "focused" owing to the fact that a full-scale invasion of Gaza is almost impossible without taking serious casualties.

The latest developments in fact validate the opinions of Robert Fiske and other alternative journalists who have highlighted Israel's true aims for "Defensive Shield."

For more information visit http://www.zmag.org and in particular the piece by Fiske entitled "They are Coming", which predicted these latest events.

See also "Cockburn: Sharon's Solution" and Uri Averny's "The Real Aim" for futher analysis in depth of what is happening at present.

The massacre at Rishon Letzion illustrates that safety and security for Israel will not come from warfare - but following the latest turn of events, one might be forgiven for being cynical enough to presume that Sharon, who came to power because of Israeli insecurity, is all to happy to catalyze further violence.