a little while …

November 5, 2008 should have been the day the world paid attention. On November 5, 2008, Israel did three things that suggest motive unwavering in its intent for the carnage of the past week: 1) they actively ENDED the cease fire with Hamas by killing 6 hamas (gun)men in the gaza strip, 2) they sealed the northern gaza border and prohibited goods and all but the most essential of supplies from entering the open-air prison, and 3) they prohibited journalists from entering the gaza strip.

Running through the myriad english headlines on not just mainstream sites, but community blogs and online communities dominated by predominantly north american users, the rhetoric rarely stretches beyond the “both sides are culpable” fare. (A post like Marissa’s being a rare exception). Any other conflict in the world and the balance shifts; the rhetoric allows blame to be lop-sided. Not this though. Never this.
As a palestinian, I’m not so sure I want to know why.

Despite all the suggestions that Israel is responding to terrorism, to a dismantling of the security its citizens are entitled to, or about Hamas “recognizing” the state of Israel; the truth is the Israeli leadership is and has been cognizant about its tasks going forward regarding Gaza ever since it “unilaterally disengaged” from the occupied territory in August 2005. Ever since Hamas solidified its domination over the pliant Fatah supporters in the Gaza strip in May 2007, an Israeli ground invasion has been an inevitability – preparations for which have culminated in today’s incursion. An incursion which, like the US operations in Fallujah and Samara in 2004 and 2006, respectively, will by design NOT be covered by journalists. To paint this as a forced action on the part of an otherwise peace-loving Israel to protect humanity in the face of barbarism would be a desecration of the 400+ people killed in Gaza in the past week.

As Jonathan Cook lucidly points out, Israeli policy since the early 90’s Oslo process has never been about regime change or about brokering a lasting peace with Palestinians. And, as this ground invasion begins, the dismantling of Hamas, a task long understood by senior Israeli officials to be impossible, is clearly not the goal. The intent is to align Hamas, as it once did with Arafat and the PLO, with the goals of the occupation at large, to pummel its underground infrastructure – the tunnels which serve as arteries supplying the Hamas leadership with the blood it needs to maintain its popularity in Gaza streets – to capitulate its resolve, to once and for all, force Hamas to abandon the goals which have made the Islamic front the democratically elected choice of leadership among a majority of Palestinians.

As deluded as the corporate media may be in pointing at the even handedness shared by Hamas and the Israeli Occupation Forces in this conflict, they are right to point out that Hamas controls their own destiny. Abandon the struggle now and the plan Israel enacted on November 5, 2008 will succeed.

i’ve been having huge problems with the ‘news’ lately. the other day i was watching tv at 11pm, which is the standard hour for the news on canadian tv, global, cbc, citytv and ctv being the major networks that get airplay. anyway, i don’t usually watch any of them as i’m a big fan of channel surfing first through all the sports channels (sportsnet, tsn and the score) then through all the pop culture channels (muchmusic, muchmoremusic, cartoon, comedy, mtv), but i decided to settle on citytv. i sat through a half an hour, the initial ten minutes of which was devoted to showing how a slice of salami (simulating human flesh, of course?) froze in sub-zero temperatures followed by how a bottle of water similarly froze, and the remaining twenty minutes, highlighted various worldly events, such as a dog falling through ice in colorado being alloted as much airtime as an earthquake in sumatra that killed hundreds of people. i promise you there is no exaggeration here: water freezing in -15C weather and a golden retriever falling through ice … this was the news.

here’s another example of news in print:
the exercise craze that crippled a generation
again, a news article on the topic of “health” guided by the flimsiest of anecdotal evidence trying to pass off as an actual report. what i wonder is whether this poor excuse for news is a result of the blogging phenomenon and the inherent lessening of journalistic standards or whether it’s always existed and has only become more obvious now that non-professionals are doing it too.

i commented – to myself of course – that the grammys would be a lot better if instead of having current artists sing their top current hits, they should have these people sing really good old songs (and i don’t mean carrie underwood and that fat dude who looks like his name should be calvin the singing classic country ballads) like when christina aguilera sang the james brown tune which probably qualified as the highlight of the night even though it wasn’t that good but relative to the rest of the garbage (the young chris brown doing backflips and crumping and ninja-like footwork being a definite exception, it wasn’t garbage) it was pretty good.
anyway, this song by the The Arcade Fire sounds like it was some really good old hit that people sing along to on road trips or when they reminisce about a time they never experienced but totally feel they could have but is actually not. it’s a new song. and it’s good.
it’s so good, i’m linking it twice:
the arcade fire – keep the car running
all 3 of you better listen to this song.
10-4.

(10 second later UPDATE!!!L!:!LL: i actually didn’t comment to myself, i commented to my cousin)