On Israel and Gaza Operation (updated)
Israel’s raid on Gaza, now in its 5th day, continues to dominate international politics in the end of 2008. Condemnation and critics have been delivered to Israel’s brutal acts on Palestinian’s Gaza.
Here in Indonesia, Palestine-Israel war is a sensitive issue for most of the students, particularly those who associated with Islamic organization. Students are now gathering up to condemn Israel, burned Israel’s flag along with the US star-stripped flag. Some of the Islamic fundamentalist group here in Indonesia even organized an open-recruitment for those who want to volunteer—not for humanitarian purposes, but to help Palestinians wipe Israel out of the map.
Palestinian hatred toward Israel
Frankly speaking, I’m no fan of those fundamentalist movements. I’m a Muslim, but for me they’re just plain stupid to think that they can help Palestinian to achieve peace by going there and join the Hamas. Trapped in some short-sighted religious fundamentalist group will get you nowhere near peace, it will only make you even more brainless thanks to their indoctrination process.
More and more hatred towards Israel is, I believe, the ultimate obstacle for Middle East hope for peace. The recent air-strike is the latest example of how Hamas was doing no good at all for the Palestinian.
Hamas must bear responsibility for ending a six-month cease fire agreement with their barrage of rockets attacks into Israeli territory. There can be no justification for Hamas’ rocket frenzy within the corridor of the cease-fire agreement on June 19 and its refusal to stop its violence approach toward Israel. There is no use of getting elected and govern to reach the goal of a sovereign Palestine by keep sending your neighbor deadly rocket attacks. Hamas is too arrogant to let ordinary Palestinian live in peace and side-by-side with Israel.
Friends and family of Irit Shitrit, 39, Ms. Shitrit was killed by a Hamas rocket in Ashdod on Monday.
And for Israel, they might have the right to defend themselves and targeting the Hamas, but launching a full-scale air attacks on Gaza strip and hoping that they will only hit Hamas without doing any bad for the civilians is somehow unacceptable. Gaza operation is provoked and a disproportionate response. Israel was also never really lived up to its commitment to lift its punishing embargo on Gaza.
Another point to be added for Israel—especially for the government—is the poor attempt to gain votes for the upcoming election. Yes, ironically, attacking the Palestinians is highly favorable for the Israelis. And this might be a good reason for the Defense Ministry-Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister-Tzipi Livni to continue their hawkish plan only to gain more votes.
Too much to blame for this mother-of-all-conflicts, yet there is no use of blaming anyone. It will not resolve anything for the sake of the peace process. All I’m trying to do here is to balanced up the opinion among Indonesians *particularly those fundamentalist* who always thinks that religious bond is on top of everything and they’re free to be subjective on all matters.
SITUATION UPDATE
Excerpt taken from the International Herald Tribune: The United States has blocked approval of a UN Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, diplomats said.
French UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, the council president, said the 15 council members could not agree on a statement in closed discussions held after Israel launched a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip on Saturday. But he said there were “strong convergences” among the members to express concern about the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the need for “an immediate, permanent and fully respected cease-fire.”
Libyan Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi said the United States during the discussions late Saturday objected to “any outcome” on the proposed statement. He said efforts were made to compromise on a weaker press statement but there was no consensus.
Several other council members, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were closed, also said the U.S. was responsible for the council’s failure to issue a statement.
Some comments on this article heavily stressed on the needs of diplomacy to resolve the conflict, me included. But the recent update from UNSC seemed to blow our hope on the use of diplomacy. Or at least, UN diplomacy. On a different note, this is an undeniable example on how badly we need the UN reform, but that’s a whole other debate.
On the situation, I’d like to point out that the United States had (again) unfairly use their political resources over UN to halt any resolution that might hurt their ally’s (Israel) interest. They made a big point of blaming Russia for overreacting to the sudden attack of Georgian troops on the enclaves South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August. Considering the death toll and physical destruction in Gaza, why has the US not decried the Israeli onslaught as a disproportionate use of force in response to Hamas’ rockets?
I’m not going to refer this as a ‘double-standard’ of how US judge and react to Israel’s military action. They only have one standard to comply with: their national interest; which includes to protect their ally.
What is left for diplomacy might be multilateral engagement with 3rd-actor country as a peace-broker. Jimmy Carter managed to brokered this Middle East peace in his era when the infamous ‘Camp David Accord’ took place. In 2000, Bill Clinton managed to invite Israeli PM, Ehud Barak and the late Palestinian Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat, in the negotiation table. Unfortunately, the negotiation came out without any agreement reached.
Today, US under Bush regime has showed us how reluctant they are on this issue; the recent UNSC failed-attempt to reached resolution was the proof. There are ongoing buzz on how Obama might want to step in to this conflict and pursue his stated goals of calming the Middle East through diplomacy. Does he has the chance with all these circumstances?
After all, it is ironic that Hillary (as the next Secretary of State) will have to deal with the same problem as what Bill faced in his era. Well, you know what they say; ‘history repeats itself’, and, ‘Clintons are destined to clean-up Bushs messes’. (George H.W. Bush was succeeded by Bill Clinton and Bill inherited his post-Desert Storm problems). Hopefully Hillary will do the job better than Bill, don’t let the irony failed her job to ease the tention, and last but not least, is to repress Israel’s agressive movement.
In my personal opinion, it is better to have neutral country to broker the peace. Certainly not the Egypt and the US. France might be a good idea, or maybe, Indonesia? 
[All images are courtesy of The New York Times, taken from here]
Gue senang dengan adanya artikel yang mem-balance tulisan dan berita yang beredar di media yang terkesan pro-Palestina. Ya, HAMAS yang memulai konflik ini dengan menembakkan misil ke daerah Israel dan menewaskan banyak orang.
Tapi tindakan HAMAS ini tidak bisa menjadi justifikasi sebuah serangan besar yang menewaskan lebih dari 380 orang dan 1000 korban luka-luka. Banyak cara untuk melawan provokasi HAMAS dan bukan dengan cara kekerasan yang justru akan menyudutkan Israel di mata dunia.
Aniwei, gue udah link tulisan di portalHI. Keep the good, Andika!
Verdinand
31 Dec 08 at 2:21 pm
yang terpenting menurut saya sekarang adalah semua Muslim bersatu. Ndak usah ngributin yang satu hamas dan yang lain bukan. Selama Tuhannya sama, Nabinya sama, kitabnya sama….berarti kita sodara toh,,,
Andika, great posting. serius.
wennyaulia
31 Dec 08 at 3:33 pm
The Israelis have wisely declined a ceasefire proposal from France. Hamas is getting the stuffing blown out of them in the Gaza strip. Why would Israel want to give Hamas a break to regroup and rearm? Many people will claim there is a need for the ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to enter, but that is already happening. Read the last excerpted sentence.
The Intellectual Redneck
31 Dec 08 at 9:42 pm
hi, a very long post you have up there. i’ll get back here to comment on this later.
anyway, new theme (again?). you’re into codes now, aren’t you? haha.
and, what did you do to those photographs above? did you retouch them or something?
michaeljubel
2 Jan 09 at 3:47 am
@Verdinand
Iya, gw greget aja karna tampak semua menyudutkan Israel tanpa memberikan porsi yg fair dalam analisanya. Tapi ver, tentang justifikasi, sepertinya counter-attack dari israel sendiri dalam level tertentu bisa dijustifikasi. Hanya memang serangan balik yang dilancarkan Israel sama sekali tidak proporsional dan ikut melukai/menewaskan non-combatant. Thx tulisannya udah di link di PH!
@Wenny
Yap. Ga akan pernah damai, ga akan pernah bisa punya kekuatan kalo ga bersatu. Udah dekeeet banget jadi negara berdaulat, eh, ada yg berulah. Hancur lagi deh. Sayang banget…btw, thx for the compliment!
@The Intellectual Redneck
With the scale and intensity of the air-raid, I think Hamas will not have enough time to regroup and rearm. Cease-fire is very much needed to allow humanitarian aid to enter in a large scale, because the casualties is tremendously huge. And also, to give diplomacy a try in this particular time.
@Verdinand
Yes, its a new theme (again). Bel, when you put it like that (I’m into codes), it sounds too nerdy…..hwaha! I didn’t retouch the photo, I just happen to choose the good one on the web.
Waiting for yours to enlight me!
Andika
3 Jan 09 at 12:33 am
hamas won the election which means they had full support from the palestinian. but, israel didnt accept the winning of hamas in palestine election. US too. they wanted fatah to took charge instead. fatah, fyi, for indonesians’ like the golkar in soeharto’s regime. i didnt want to generalize but that’s what happened there. and they (israel & US) want them to be in charge? well, dunno. but some stupids like me disagree.
hamas breached the calm? maybe the did. but this air-strike attack was planned over 6 months ago by israel’s military. so i guess who made the move first?
there’s no ends when we talked about palestine-israel. i’ve reading this conflict since i was 8th grade, and it’s quite stressing everytime i hear “it was hamas’ fault” and “there are casualities on israel’s side(and yes i agree with this one)”.
everyone knows who invaded who.
everyone knows who built the wall.
everyone knows who support who
everyone will always know who’s doing the genocide or should i say the new holocaust.
fajar ajie
3 Jan 09 at 2:58 am
Israel adalah negara yang sombong sesuai dengan ajarannya…bahwa umat lain diluar Yahudi adalah halal untuk dibunuh karena mereka (Yahudi) merasa mempunyai derajat yang tinggi mengingat pertolongan Tuhan ketika masih di tuntun olej Nabi Musa AS….
Hamas sesungguhnya hanya mempertahankan apa yang menjadi hak mereka, siapapun orangnya tak akan pernah berdiam diri tatkala negaranya di caplok oleh negara lain
Omiyan
3 Jan 09 at 9:32 am
hi bebek, this is my first comment in your ever-interesting blog
ok , I have something to say regarding media unfairness here.
The fact is that Hamas is still denying Israel’s right to exist, and at the same time barraging rockets into Israel’s territory, killing and hurting people.
Israel has a long history of global hatred and genocide. Until now, a significant portion of the world population is still hating Israel, some even trying to wipe it off the world map.
And now, their (jewish people) only homeland, is being barraged, and when they retaliates with dozens of airstrikes, the world calls it as “unproportionate”.
OK. War, in any form, is not a mathematical equation, especially when it is illegal ( Both parties broke the truce, hamas first ). It is important to note that even Hamas won the last election democratically, but Hamas took Gaza by force, just like the Second Intifada plays out. Therefore, we must realize that the basic objective of any warring party (both Israel and Hamas) is to inflict maximal damage on the enemy while minimizing its own casualties.
Israel is doing exactly what any other country has done in the past. While it might seems cruel, but this is reality. This is how war works. As long as there is mankind, war will plague the earth.
Also regarding civilian casualties. OK, Gaza has 1,4 millions population, and it is one of the most crowded places on earth. I genuinely believe that Israel is purely targeting , because if they were intentionally targeting palestinian people as a whole, they wont kill 300 civilans in 3 days, they might kill thousands or more.
Civilian casualties is inevitable in ANY armed conflicts, and human excess in any past wars is undenieable. Remember when the Indonesian Army massacre over 200 hundred men, women, and children on 91 during our war with East Timor? THAT is human excess.
What I’m trying to say here is, War, would never become the best answer to any political conflicts. Hatred and unfairness toward Israel will become an eternal obstacle to achieve peace in the region, so does the arrogancy of both warring parties.
Israelis has the right to exist and to defend their homeland, and so does the Palestinian people. Hopefully, in a civilized manners. Diplomacy.
Wafa
3 Jan 09 at 10:05 pm
@ wafa: 200 hundred men? haha
but really, nice comment, waf. hmm i wonder when diplomacy will lead us to world peace?
bek, really like this post. i prefer reading this post of yours than any other media haha. great job, sir! well, i guess i’ll see you soon (HUAHUA LATIAN HNMUN HM)
rarasekar
4 Jan 09 at 11:49 am
Menarik. Jarang ada yg secara terbuka berani berdiri di sisi yg berbeda. Tp sadar ndak ketika sudah menunjuk hidung pada aktor kadang jd lupa untuk fokus pada tindakan yg salah. Akan lebih menyenangkan jika yg ditentang kekerasannya jd bs diberikan porsi yg berimbang pada keduanya. Masalah ndak akan selesai meski Hamas bisa dihancurkan. Ataupun Israel dimusnahkan. Diplomasi bs dijadikan alternatif ketika semua sadar bahwa diplomasi berarti talking to the enemy dan bukan bicara dengan sahabat.
Itok
4 Jan 09 at 1:18 pm
LOL I was so sleepy when I wrote that
Yeah see you too bek tomorrow maybe we’ll have a bit of chit chat about this hehe
Wafa
4 Jan 09 at 1:35 pm
that’s not israeli homeland, actually.
if you want to put this matter objecttively, you have to read the history, look from the humanity point of view, too.
it’s started because the european felt sorry for the genocide and then brough them a land in middle east.
but wait, it was palestinian.
if europe felt sorry, the why didnt they give a land in europe instead?
and i’m sick of people talking about holocaust or whatsoever. let’s do the math (victims of WW II):
sovyet : 26 millions
indonesia and indochina : around 12 millions
jews : 7,6 millions
so for those who always bring the “holocaust” as an excuse, dont bring it no more. if you want to, sovyet people deserve better.
i’m sorry to write this. no intention to offend anyone. but please, if we want to think objectively, we have to consider the history as well. not from the media, but the real history.
fajar ajie
5 Jan 09 at 3:32 am
i really support the peace diplomacy. but put them in a fair degree of diplomacy. punish the war criminal from both of sides. and the third party shouldnt US or arabs.
fajar ajie
5 Jan 09 at 3:34 am
@Fajar Ajie
Fatah is I believe those who struggle full sovereignty for the Palestine in a much peacefull manner. True that Hamas won the election by a landslide, but as I put it in my writing, there is no use of getting elected and govern to reach the goal of a sovereign Palestine by keep disrupting any negotiations by sending rockets, even in the middle of a cease-fire agreement. They are undermining their huge responsibility as a government by directly endangering the Palestinian people with their violent approach. But I agree with your point on the exhausting-never ending conflict of Israel and Palestine. That is exactly why we don’t need any more violent approach to reach their goal of a sovereign Palestine.
On your second comment, true that it is Israel who took the Palestinian’s soil. And as you mentioned history, I will put my opinion based on history. Zionism emerged as an outgrowth of the 19th century Jewish enlightment. Since the medieval era, Jewish had been a subject to variety of discriminatory action. Despite of all the discriminatory, anti-semitism was considered a thing of the past when the European lifted all the discrimination and Jews integrated seamlessly into European society. Unfortunately, an event changed it all. It was the scandalous trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer of Jewish background, for passing military intelligence to Germany. The trial became infamous for its obstructions of justice and libelous press coverage that exposed resistant strains of anti-Semitism in Europe and had a transformative effect on Theodore Herzl, a Hungarian-Jewish journalist reporting on the Dreyfus Affair. Shortly after, in 1896, Herzl wrote The Jewish State, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state in the biblical homeland of Palestine. On August 23, 1897, Herzl convened the World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland to ratify Zionism as a political goal. The Basel Program resolved to create a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine “secured by public law” and promote the “colonization of Palestine by Jewish agricultural and industrial workers.
So, basically, it’s not about how Europeans ‘feel sorry’ on the holocaust and decided to help Jews to occupy the Palestine soil. No, it was happened long before the WW II. Another point, from its birth, zionism had put legal aspect of international recognition as an important aspect of their goal. This is what’s lacking in the Palestinian’s struggle. Instead of showing the world their ability to handle a country, they declare wars, send rockets, shouting JIHAD with an intention to kill all Israelis. Does all that sounds like a good thing to be seen by the world when you’re asking for a recognition? You decide…
@Omiyan
Couldn’t be more agree on that. Israel, dengan segala sejarah dan tindakannya adalah negara yang ‘antagonis’ di mata dunia. Perang memang tidak akan pernah berhenti jika kita hanya melihat ke belakang (untuk melihat siapa yang berhak atas tanah Palestina) karena hasilnya pastilah konflik kepentingan yang tidak ada ujungnya. Maka dari itu, sudah saatnya melihat ke depan, untuk menciptakan visi Palestina yang merdeka, berdaulat dan hidup berdampingan dengan tetangga-tetangganya, bahkan dengan Israel sekalipun.
@Wafa
On your point, I think I’d like to respond that war is indeed not a mathematical equation yet it is is a by-product of logical equation, which includes mathematical reasoning.
Quite a long comment you have there, Waf
Here’s what my mathematical reasoning in my head looks like: “Hamas is a threat for Middle East hope of peace by their violent approach and their reluctant to negotiate. With Hamas existence as government/freedom-fighter, it will take longer time to achieve peace in Middle East. Longer war will only means more dead bodies, more spending, and more suffering for both sides. Let’s just take a bold step, destroy Hamas and minimize the civilian casualties that we might have to save other thousands of Palestinians and Israelis future.”
Well, that might not be true, but here I’d like to give you example of how the rationing of war can justify such action, its a matter of ‘how many to sacrifice and how many to safe’. And they have to make sure that the one that sacrificed must be in a less number than they will save. That is one ‘jus ad bello’ for humanitarian intervention. Mathematical reasoning?
And personally, I think Hamas is a real party-pooper that disrupt the peace process. Couldn’t be more agree on your last point. Diplomacy. *but I have another critics on diplomacy concerning the latest situation. Read my updated post!*
See you today! We’ll have a long chat on this with HNMUNers!
@Itok
Setuju sekali bung Itok!! Masalah tidak akan pernah selesai jika kekerasan yang selalu ada di garis depan!
@Rara
When will diplomacy will lead us to world peace? It is when diplomacy is done with pure intention to create peace, no more national interest involved; which is unlikely to happen, but still possible though. See you today!
Andika
5 Jan 09 at 7:31 am
Hi Andika, nice writing! Dalam perang, sulit memang untuk menentukan siapa yang salah duluan. Perang seperti perkelahian anak kecil yang gampang dimulai tapi sulit diakhiri. Kayaknya Israel dan Palestina harus duduk bersama memandang sebuah peta, lalu nagabonar jadi moderatornya.
misalkan kita di palestina,
masihkah kita memperdebatkan peta
yang tak pernah dibuat kekal batasnya
Fahd
5 Jan 09 at 8:00 am
There is a BIG difference between 20-millions random victims in a single warring countries with 7 millions victims of intended jewish ethnic cleansing, regardless of nationality.
Victims in Soviet Union is a result of the Soviet Union’s state of war against Nazi Germany at that time.
While, the Holocaust, is a systematic killing of millions of jews. Those who are responsible for it, deliberately killed those people, with the killing plan prepared long before it was executed. And these people are purged regardless of nationality, including even in Germany itself.
Big difference, right?
Hehe bek agree on ur point. One thing I want to clear up tho, what I meant with Mathematical questioning here is that when Hamas killed 3 people and Israel killed 50 people, we cant say that only Palestine deserve a better living and support just because they suffer less victims.
BOTH of the Israeli and Palestinians deserve peace and support because they both suffer human losses, regardless of numbers. Thats what I meant hehe
Well yeah regarding diplomacy and your updated post, it seems difficult for a country to broker a peace truce while their (Israel and Palestine) respective supporting proxy countries behind them.
France might do. But Indonesia, lol.. never will. At least until we recognize and respect Israel’s sovereignty and existence, also then establish a full diplomatic ties with Israel, thus not only Palestine, never will.
Wafa
5 Jan 09 at 12:04 pm
Ada dua lelaki yg tinggal di satu kampung. Keduanya selalu berkelahi. Suatu hari, ada seorang pemuda yg datang ke kampung itu dan mendapati cerita tentang perkelahian itu. Karena tertarik dengan cerita tsb, dia datang menemui kedua orang itu secara terpisah dan menanyakan pertanyaan yg sama. Jawaban yang dia dapatkan pun sama.
Inilah percakapan tsb:
“Kenapa kau berkelahi dengan tetanggamu?
Karena ayahku melakukannya.
Kenapa ayahmu berkelahi dengan ayah tetanggamu?
Kata ayahku, karena kakekku melakukannya.
Kenapa kakekmu berkelahi dengan kakek tetanggamu?
Kata kakekku pada ayahku, karena kakek buyutku melakukannya.
Kenapa kakek buyutmu berkelahi dengan kakek buyut tetanggamu?
Entahlah, mungkin karena masalah tanah. Mungkin karena masalah asmara. Aku tak tahu.”
Betapa melelahkannya bicara sejarah, apalagi sejarah Timur Tengah…
Itok
5 Jan 09 at 1:11 pm
bek, i just wrote a long comment. and you know what?
an error in the database connection..
i’m beginning to hate the internet.
Ben Laksana
7 Jan 09 at 11:12 pm
andika..salam yak…kayaknya ini komen pertama gw. pdhl sering kesini perasaan.
i agree with you in that: one, this issue is no place for religious zealots. because this simply is not
a matter of whose god is best. two, i agree that both parties, israel and hamas, should be held accountable.
provocation of any kind does not justify an act of violence.
but i think there are several things that people either do not know or have forgotten:
many argue that Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. Israel’s governemt and the U.S. has deemed Hamas a terrorist organization. This information, of course, has been funneled into the mainstream media and fed to the public. So what most people understand is that Mahmoud Abbas & Fatah are the good guys who fight for a peacful regime and go to Washington once in a while to high-five the U.S.
while Hamas are the evil Islamic fundamentalists throwing crappy bombs into Southern Israel because they’re justreally mad muslims.well, unfortunately, if you sift through distorted media well enough and go through the timeline of events you’ll understand that in fact Hamas was elected by the people of Palestine in what was considered to be a land-slide win. Fajar Ajie touched upon this. And he is exactly right on the spot to say thatFatah along with Abbas is nothing but a US-Israeli satellite just asSoeharto was to the US. Hamas, in this case, is PKI.
The assumption that Hamas is the sole party responsible for disrupting peace negotiations is also not true. Again, I’d advice you to go back and look at the timeline of events. Also read carefully what the news say Hamas wants as a condition to ceasefire: lift the blockade. And that is the key.
Remember that before this atrocity began, Gaza was already in an extremely impoverished state. Before Israel began showering Gaza with missiles, the region had already been in dire need of humanitarian aide. Israel happens to be Gaza’s only source for fuel and is a gateway/passage for many Palestinans who have to seek jobs outside of Gaza. Border blockades by both Eygpt and Israel not only violated the ceasefire agreements that had been made with Hamas in previous months but also ensured that Gaza receive as little life support as possible. You do not need to be a scholar to admit that what Israel along with Egypt had been doing this past year and now, most certainly, is collective punishment to a people who have nothing to do with this conflict.
The devil’s advocate might argue that the blockade was put in place because Hamas had been throwing crappy rockets into Israel. Well, the fact is, a militant branch of Fatah had began it all. not Hamas.
This act, to the surprise of many, was condemned by Hamas, which proceeded to abide by the laws of ceasefire (even with blockades being erected)…up to a certain point.
I’m not trying to justify rocket throwing whatsoever but I do want to address the importance to recognize
that bad policies are big bad boomerangs for any government. to erect a wall to prevent economic development in a poor region is no way to create peace.
it’s also important to recognize numbers.
no matter how you try to put it, the statistics matter. do count the bodies. because there is a law of warfare.to wage war in a densely populated region and fire attacks of extremely disproportionate size is against international law.
of course, this ongoing conflict is part of a bigger picture. one which many tend to dismiss. it’s about imperialism. to those who think that imperialism ended in the 40s and 50s. well..i hate to piss
on your party but imperialism is alive and well. its most evident in third world countries. in a very subtle kind of way.
so to put hope in the new president elect or secretary of state or the UN security council or the general assembly is just futile IMO. the UN needs a reform, your right. I’d go further and say that the UN with its ever so dysfunctional permanent five security council is nothing but a state tool. and as for the president elect and sec of state, well no hope in them either. its a permanent policy in washington to never negotiate with the enemies of Israel. peace is not in the national interest of the United States. nor is it in the interest of the state of Israel. oil and territory is.
Irene
8 Jan 09 at 8:24 am
gw ikutan yak..
melihat konflik ini, gua ga dukung mana2 si,, gua ada comment juga di portal, cuma krna gua tertarik timteng dan kebetulan skripsi ttg timteng jadi ya comment lg de,,hahahaha
hmm sebnarnya si sama2 salah menurut gw, HAMAS nembakin roket dluan, terus Israel balas serangan dengan tidak proportional.
dan menurut gw kenapa negara-negara arab tidak ada yang bertindak lebih dari pada sebuah himbauan dan arab saudi pun belum gw denger ada ngomong karna HAMAS itu sendiri yang mulai melenceng dari jalan..dulu hamas kan sangat dekat dengan MESIR, tetapi dalam beberapa tahun belakangan ini HAMAS sangat dekat dengan IRAN, dimana senjata2 nya disokong oleh Iran.. dan jelas sekali negara-negara arab tidak suka dengan situasi ini, disatu sisi mereka memperjuangkan palestina, di sisi lain membantu HAMAS sama saja dengan membantu pengaruh Iran makin membesar di kawasan.. jelas ini bukan mimpi orang arab..
sejarah jelas memperlihatkan bahwa ARAB dan PERSIA itu bukan TEMAN..
jadi klo gw ngelihat konflik ini ga hanya Israel dan Palestine, tetapi sebenarnya Iran (suriah juga nampaknya) ada disana, dan AS tentunya juga,, maka itu bnyk kalangan yang bilang ni konflik agama gw ga setuju bgt,, jelas ini permainan politik, ini adalah clash of interest,,
sekarang yang menjadi pertanyaan juga, sebenarnya orang-orang arab tu kalo ditanya bener2 pengen ga si PALSETINE ini berdiri??menurut lu gmn bek??
gua kurang yakin klo mereka mau,, makanya negara ni ga berdiri-berdiri..kalo semua yang punya power mau bertindak, PALESTINE udah lama berdiri..
dan jangan lupa prinsip dasar ISLAM radikal (gua juga islam tapi ga radikal,hehe) adalah “JANGAN PERNAH BERDAMAI DENGAN YAHUDI, KARNA YAHUDI ADALAH MUSUH ISLAM” ya benra si,,tapi….ya gitulah susah juga nerapinnya..haha
dan sekarang menurut gw HAMAS juga tetap mesti bertanggung jawab (selain Israel pastinya sangat mesti), gara2 dy nembakin rudal dluan ke Israel, 500 orang lebih dead,2000 lebih terluka,
klo gw bayangin si lucu, misalkan aja,, kejadian sebenarnya tu gara2 ada anggota HAMAS yang masih amatir dan dia sedang nyobain belajar nembakin rudal, terus ga sengaja rudalnya ngeluncur karna dia salah melakukan sesuatu,
dan gara - gara itu 500 orang saudaranya meninggal hanya dalam seminggu..SO Poor..hahaha
thanks..
reza
8 Jan 09 at 12:24 pm
@Andika
I’m a bit surprised with this article. You seem defend Zionism and blame Hamas. I’ve read this article many times to avoid misunderstanding…but sorry, still not happy enough
Okay…forget the way how I think, how I feel and the way you think and feel…I’ve just read an article from Jew Oxford Prof. Avi Shlaim on this site http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine
I like it a lot. If you wanna blame someone….blame Fatah not Hamas
yonna
8 Jan 09 at 2:52 pm
@Fahd
Hi too! Gw juga udah baca puisi yg ada di blogmu. Sangat Fahd-isme. Good one Fahd! U never lost your charm! Btw, kabarin kalo lagi di Bandung!
@Wafa
Agree!! Both sides deserve peace and support!!
@Itok
Sejarah tetap diperlukan, agar kita tidak melakukan kesalahan yang sama yang kita lakukan di masa lalu…
@Ben
Tulis lagi Ben…
@Irene
Yes I do get your points here. True that Hamas won by a landslide in the last election, but again, they are too arrogant to sit with their counterparts, and their approaches are mainly violent.
Hamas at that time won by more than 70% of votes in the election, while the recent poll conducted by Al-Jazeera shows that almost 60% of Palestine peoples are not in favor for military approach against Israel. That is before the air-raid begun. I don’t know whether it has changed or not.
Israel’s ignorance of the blockade was also a point I mentioned in my writings, that can’t also be justified. And on that stupid wall, well, that is ridiculous way of creating peace, I must agree with you.
@Reza
Politik Timu Tengah memaang sangat kompleks, dan dukungan terhadap Hamas-Fatah-Israel pun terbungkus rapi oleh berbagai alasan kemanusian, walaupun di dalamnya terdapat berbagai national interest negara-negara TImur Tengah lainnya, Arab, US dan Eropa.
Teori tentang keterlibatan politik negara Arab vs Iran cukup menarik juga untuk dikaji. Coba dikaji lebih dalam mungkin?
Dan skenario HAMAS amatir…humm….kayanya kalo kejadiannya gitu, ironis banget deh…
@Yonna
I’ve read the article you linked here. A well-structured one and full of information. Thx for that!
On my writings, I’m not defending anyone, all I’m trying to do is to give fair proportion of analysis on the issue. There is no use of blaming anyone, as I wrote on my last sentence, because there are too many to blame. If you’d like to put some more parties to blame, we can point our finger to Arabs who don’t do anything to help Palestine, blame Hamas-Fatah for not able to unite for ages, or many other reason. I also mentioned on Israel’s disproportionate response toward Hamas’ rockets.
My point here is that, violence will not solve any problem at all. If you want peace, prepare for peace. Don’t use the ’si vis pacem para bellum’ anymore. And this is not just for the Israelis. This should be implemented for all parties, including the Palestinians.
Glad to have you back here, Yonna!
Andika
8 Jan 09 at 4:16 pm
@Andika
thanks a lot for your quick response. sorry for being too frank about you and your writing
i don’t know….but it’s hard not to blame anyone on this matter, though still it is such a baloney thing.
yes…i blame the Arabs too. I’ve heard about the UE’s fallacious decision to opose Hamas (or the whole Palestine) i thought it was a hearsay only, but by reading Mr. Shlaim’s explanation I once again shocked and sad. it’s hard not to be emotional and sensitive when talking about Gaza war
Peace resolution?! Yeah everybody’s favorite including me. I agree with you on that one. Btw, what is ‘civis pacem para bellum’ meaning? I only know ‘nulla poena sine praevia lege’ or ‘ne bis in idem’
yonna
8 Jan 09 at 5:01 pm
hey dik…
You know how anti radical Islam I am right? But this time, and after reading several reading materials (including ifamericansknew.org, and read the about us section just so u know who it belongs to) I must put the blame on Israel. They started with an incursion on nov 4th, and that provoked Hamas to launch their ‘culun’ rockets into Israeli territory. My ‘crazy’ conspiracy theory is that the global recession and decrease in oil price has hurt Israeli economy and they know if they start something that will turn into a conflict, the prices will go up.
Arab muslims are like prostitutes (watch Charlie wilson’s war), they say they hate jews and israel but when it comes to money, they can suddenly become friends of the jews.
You can see by their silence amidst this slaughtering of palestinians (and btw, there are palestinian muslims and christians) but us ignorant indonesians (bless our hearts) choose to make such a big fuss about this while nobody is making a fuss on the earthquake victims in papua and the slaughter of black muslims in darfur (why? cos the murderers are our arab muslim idols?) very strange, methinks..
rima fauzi
8 Jan 09 at 5:32 pm
@yonna
No, your critics is appreciated very much! All these things are too complicated to be swallowed all at once. And ’si vis pacem para bellum’ is a saying often used by the realist thinker that means ‘if one wants peace, prepare for war’. I don’t know your latin means! what is it?
@rima fauzi
Hi mba rima! Well..I think if your conspiracy theory proved to be true, how evil they are..(not to say that they are not evil before :D). I watched Charlie Wilson’s War and I have the same perception on Arabs as you! They are pathetically impotent on this issue!
Andika
8 Jan 09 at 5:50 pm
@Andika
hehe…it’s quite secure to argue with you then…worth to try someday
that nulla poena thingy…the complete one is ‘Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali’ means ‘No crime, no punishment without a previous penal law’ (thanks to wikipedia)
second…’ne bis in idem’ means ‘no legal action can be instituted twice for the same cause of action’ or in short ‘Double Jeopardy’ (just like 90’s movie title).
sometimes i don’t understand why old dead language is still exist in academic purposes. yeah maybe it’s because the language maybe had died but not the theory/knowledge.
Hahaha impotent? But not literally lah…most of Arab husbands have more than four wives (kawin-cerai)
@Mbak Rima
if you nod your head on this matter, well…we all agree that Israeli Zionist are deserved our curse
yonna
8 Jan 09 at 6:11 pm
i applaud you for not taking sides, andika.
after all if we point fingers, then what? it’s useless.
but i find it hard to be neutral when on a train headed for collision.
Irene
8 Jan 09 at 8:47 pm
@Yonna
Yeah, they’re not impotent in that one thing u mentioned there. So that are law terms? Mind if I assumed that you have law education as your background? And yes, its totally safe to disagree with me.. 
I also surprised with mba Rima’s stand point on this issue! Hwaha!
@Irene
Well, its not that I don’t want to take sides, I mean, it must be comforting to have side to defend on, but both sides seems to worsening the situation by their own way! So rather ‘a train headed for collision’, I think it is more of a ‘two trains, full-throttled headed for collision’, and I don’t want to be on board with one of them. Both sides are pretending (or choose) to be blind and unable to see what is waiting ahead of them.
Andika
8 Jan 09 at 9:46 pm
@ mbak yonna..
saya kurang setuju mba jika kita lebih menyalahkan fatah disini..
ini jelas kesalahan hamas menurut saya..yg melakukan tindakan peluncuruan roket kepada israel..sebenarnya kalo kita lihat kebelakang,, setau gw HAMAS tu prinsipnya sangat radikal, dan tidak mengajkui eksistensi ISRAEL..sedangkan Fatah mengakui israel dan ikut dalam perjanjian oslo..dan menurut saya HAMAS sangat bertanggung jawab dalam jatuhnya korban disini..
rakyat palestina memilih HAMAS dalam pemilu menurut gw bukan untuk terus berjuang dengan jalan kekerasan,,
gua ga ngebelain israel si,, tapi emang HAMAS ni bandel abis mba..makanya negara2 arab tu mana ada yang mau dukung dia..apa yang dilakukan dia uda beda ama mimpinya YASSER arafat dulu…hehehehe..menurut saya si mba…gmn menurut mba??
@ bebek
hmm dikaji lebih dalam??
hahahha..ya gitu la…makanya klo ada yg bilang konflik ini konflik agama , parah bgt tu orang.. jelas menurut gw konflik Israel-Palestina tu adalah “CLASH of Interests”,
disini ada interestnya AS,ISRAEL,IRAN&SURIAH dan yang pasti adalah negara2 arab dibawah komando mesir dan Saudi..gua sengaja gabungin suriah dan iran karna menurut gw, suriah adalah satu2nya negara arab yang telah ditinggal oleh teman2nya…makanya dia rada ke Iran..
klo kita bisa liat, waktu KTT liga arab di damaskus 2008 kemaren, negara2 arab tu pada ga ngirim utusan yang layak untuk dikirim..bahkan lebanon memboikot utkk ga hadir..justru yang ga diduga, suriah mengundang Iran, dan Iran mengirim seorang MENLU kesana..padahal Iran kan bukan negara Arab..hahahha..
jadi jelas di dalam tubuh arab tu da pecah, dan perpecahannya tu berdampak ke sebuah BANGSA tanpa NEGARA ini alias Palestina menurut gw–> ya jadinya itu Clash of Interests..
bisa2 ni konflik jadi seperti tulisannya mas adri yang Great Game yang ada di ASIA TENGAH..nah ni GREAT GAME di Timur tengah..hahaha..
menurut anda gmn pak bebek ?apakah ini sebatas Israel dan palestine?
reza
8 Jan 09 at 9:52 pm
no..i will certainly not rewrite my previous comment which didn’t make it here due to a shitty internet connection. too much time was taken to write that comment.
but i will write another opinion regarding this never-ending and useless conflict.
you know what? i have just realized that i have been following this dreaded conflict since my first year of high school, which means it’s been almost six and half years. and still no solution. oh well.
anyway, everyone speaks of truce and peace, we all want that don’t we? but what we forgot on how to obtain that peace? what is the underlying problem of this conflict? who has the power to do so?
yes i know you are an avid supporter of the UN(which can be seen from your ambition in becoming the secretary general) but frankly bek, when it comes to solving this problem, which to me has become a yearly thing, i could not agree more when a colleague of mine stated that the UN is surely impotent.
truce and cease fire will only halt momentarily of this problem, what needs to be done is to find a final solution for this matter. this where the UN/UNSC is hoped to be of good use. In other words, ideally speaking, states must put aside their interests(if any) and impose sanctions towards the conflicting parties. sanctions concerning the territorial expansionism of Israel and the 24/7 rockets of Hamas.
a simple yet hard solution.
but this is what needs to be done. so who am i pointing fingers at? the United Nations and it’s double standard member(s)? yes indeed.
now, how about if we focus out attention towards national problems such as the earthquake in Papua or perhaps the incident at Trowulan and their idiotic PIM?
Indonesians(mostly those sick fundamentalists) seems to be more interested in matters that aren’t really significant towards Indonesia. oh well..
Ben Laksana
8 Jan 09 at 11:22 pm
i just reread my comment, please mind my awfully constructed english, i was holding my piss while writing it…
hahaha
Ben Laksana
8 Jan 09 at 11:49 pm
@Andika
of course you are allowed and welcome to assume me like that…I used to a law student and now a law student again *sigh* hehe.
it’s good to receive this surprise from mbak Rima, isn’t it?!
@Reza
halo Reza.
permasalahan Gaza skarang emang pelik dan rumit yach?! Saya nyalahin Fatah karena mereka bisa dibilang sempat jadi anteknya Israel Zionis karena mereka tidak serius mempertahankan kedaulatan Palestina. saya nyalahin dan nyeselin sikap Fatah yang itu, saya nganggep Fatah termasuk biang kerok pengepungan Gaza sekarang, salah satu sumber masalah…makanya saya bersyukur dan senang sewaktu Fatah bersatu dengan Hamas melawan Israel sekarang. ayo lah kompak gitu kan enak…dari kemaren2 kek?! dan saya masih marah dan bete ma negara2 Arab, Mesir yang tunduk dan takut ma Amrik. Huuuuhhh sebel banget…tarik aja tuh semua uang mereka dari bank2 Amrik biar Amrik tau rasa. gini lah kalo loyal ma duit! Grrrr….
Saya sempet penasaran ma reaksi Kristen Palestina mengenai hal ini. Trus saya maen2 ke blog Iman Brotoseno dan BINGO! ada artikel dari sudut Kristen Palestina. Luar biasa bagus tuh artikelnya…Pak Iman gitu loch?! Very worth to read. Kalo Islam-Kristen dunia bersatu melawan Zionist Israel (dalam artian melawan tanpa kekerasan gituh) pasti masalah ini cepet selese….heeeh just wishing everyday…tapi kalo ga membaik lama2 bisa pesimis deh
yonna
9 Jan 09 at 9:16 am
@mba yonaa..
halo juga mba..hehe..
hmm kenapa mesir dan saudi ga ikutan,, kalo saya menilainya gini mba..konflik kali ini kan ceritanya HAMAS tu yang duluan nembakin, nah kita kan tau mesir dan Saudi tu ga dukung HAMAS, mereka dukung Fatah..jadi ya mau gimana,, (emang bener kata mba karna mereka juga takut ma amrik) tapi ada satu lagi yang kita lupakan mba..HAMAS tu dukungan IRAN..Nah kalo mesir dan saudi bntu tu HAMAS, secara ga langsung dia membantu Iran, dan pengaruh iran makin gede de disana..kan Iran tu ancaman juga bagi Arab..hehe..jadi ya gitu ini perebutan antara mereka yang memiliki power di kawasan..kalau saya melihatnya gitu mba..hehehe..(walaupun mungkin ada niat dari Israel sekalian gitu ngebantai, jadi sekali mendayung dua tiga pula terlampaui..hahaha..)
hmm..wah Islam dan kristen bersatu??hmm..ya mungkin,, tapi jadinya konflik agama dong ini,,oh ya saya disini bukan mihak Israel ya mba..hahaha..saya benci juga Israel sebenarnya..apalagi ketika pada tahun 2000 si Ariel Sharon menginjakkan kakinya di Masjidil Aqsa..wahh..tu orang bener2 gila abis..hahhaa..
pengen liat Israel 2012 masih ada ga ya..hahhaa…
reza
9 Jan 09 at 7:53 pm
@Reza
itulah kalo gak kompak. padahal kita semua punya musuh yang sama…kenapa sih gak mau ngalah dikit bersatu melawan Zionist?! kalo mereka dilawan kan mudah2an taun 2012, Palestina tetap eksis dan berdaulat. Israel tetep ada tapi gak ada kaum Zionist lagi. Duuh mengkhayal lagi nih.
Thanks
yonna
9 Jan 09 at 8:54 pm
This is a really nasty situation for everone involved and personally I don’t see an end to the cycle of violence simply because in this way everyones hate needs are met. Hamas can take free points in the Arab world (at their constituents expense) for standing up to Israel and the Israelis can say “we are just defending ourselves”.
There can no peace because there is no two parties at the negotiating table that is interested in a lasting peace. Read Hamas’s charter or constitution if you will. Articles 7,11,12 - heck read all of it. Irrespective of what they say in the press these are their stated positions on Palestine, Jews in General, and the status of christians in the proposed Islamic state of palestine. Where in this charter is there a basis for negotiation with Israel? - won’t be easy thats for sure. The palestinians need to present a united front that accepts Israel as a nation before any negotiation is even possible. Any agreement by the PA will not be accepted by Hamas and Hamas is not in a position to dictate terms to Israel which it has been trying to do.
As for other Arab states getting involved well its just hard to see how thats going to work. Egypt and Jordan have had several wars with Israel, ostensibly ons Palestines behalf, and paid a heavy price. In gratitude the PLO tried to take over Jordan which resulted in them getting kicked out to Lebanon. Hamas does not get along with Egypt due to their connections with the Moslem Brotherhood which calls for the overthrow of Mubaraks Egypt and its replacement with (another) Islamic state. The Saudis can’t do much - They would have to go through Jordan to reach Israel. I would like so see how that would work since the Hashemites who rule Jordan used to rule the Hejaz before the Saudis invaded it back in 1924. Lebanon can’t do much since its debatable as to who actually runs the place between hezbollah or the government. Syrians have their own problems with their MB so they wouldn’t be much help. In short the Palestinians are somewhat abandoned by their Arab neighbors and will have to come to terms sooner or later with the Israelis. In light of this how are continued rocket attacks and the resultant eye-for-eyelash retaliations can be seen as a extremely cynical means to propagate the hate and prorogue(delay) the peace?
pj
10 Jan 09 at 4:50 pm
Any peace negotiations should include both Hamas and Israel. It means that internal political conflict in Palestine must be resolved first, there have to be truce between Hamas and Fatah, then they could come to negotiations with Israel under one name.
bung tobing
12 Jan 09 at 2:21 pm
@ Reza
Wow..you definitely into this issue. I agree with several points you mentioned here, its not entirely a clash of religion, its more of a political conflicts (sovereignty to be precise), and they add up religion to make it even fiercier. The conflict is definitely not just about Israel and Palestine.
@ Ben
…one more thing…please don’t comment on my blog while you holds your piss………..!!
Ben, on this matter, I agree with you that UN is impotent. But that doesn’t mean that UN should be dismissed. And that is the main reason why I decided to make this as my thesis
@ pj
A nasty situation indeed. It is hard to be optimistic while we look at this endless cycle of hatred and violence.
Hamas’ approach of violence is I think one of the major obstacles for the Palestine to have a lasting peace with the Israelis. And I also agree with your stance on how the Palestinians should unify themselves first before they ask for a sovereign status.
Arabs are….well…I don’t know how to refer them. Its just that they are so divided and we can’t rely the heavy burden of creating a lasting peace in Middle East to those Arab states.
@ bung tobing
True that the ideal peace brokering is to invite conflicting parties into one negotiation table. But who will be neutral enough to be the sponsors of this negotiation? No way that Israel and Hamas can sit side-by-side and initiate their own meeting. France might be neutral enough, but then they have to deal with their ally, US, that perceives Hamas as terrorist group, and that status of Hamas will certainly draws a bold line that Hamas’ can’t cross if they’re about to get into any conference room.
But I agree on your last point, Hamas and Fatah must find their own deal before they face the whole world. Its a shame that a shattered Palestine still have to deals with an internal clash of their major political groups.
Andika
19 Jan 09 at 8:11 pm
menurut pemberitaan media2 pro palestina, hamas menembakin rocket-rocketnya dari wilayah padat penduduk,
itu berarti bahwa hamas telah menjadikan rakyat yang tidak bersalah menjadi bunker-bunker perlindungan mereka, wajarlah jika rakyat yang tidak berdosa menjadi korban kekejian perang.itu sebabnya sebagian negara arab hanya separoh hati dalam membantu hamas, karena hamas sendiri tidak pernah memikirkan akan keselamatan rakyat palestina. rakyat yang menjadi korban tidak sepenuhnya menjadi tanggung jawab israel, tetapi hamas juga ikut bertanggung jawab.mereka (hamas) rela mengorbankan wanita dan anak-anak hanya sekedar untuk mencari simpati dunia.
manar
26 Jan 09 at 11:40 am
Good article, objective, new angle…Good luck!
Hendarmin Ranadireksa
1 Apr 09 at 4:10 pm