The Value of Arab Lives

The New York Post, which can be accurately defined as a 'rag' in the most pejorative sense of the word, is having a field day describing the factional conflict in Gaza and Iraq. Jubilantly crowing about the Arab 'culture of violence and suicide', writers repeatedly speak in terms of 'having given the Arabs a chance' to govern themselves that has been squandered. They then declare it now to be time for civilised nations like the 'U.S.' and 'Israel' to intervene as if the U.S. and Zionist entity had not been involved in the destruction of the Arab Nation from the start!

What makes this sort of journalism dangerous is the fact that most Americans do not care about Iraq or Gaza enough to learn the facts that underline the factional conflicts. What makes it utterly outrageous is knowledge of the negligible value that the so-called 'civilised nations' determined for Arab lives in the first place.

An 'official' American assessment of the value of an Arab life is given in the following exchange.

In 1996, U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright was interviewed by Leslie Stahl on '60 Minutes' on the subject of the U.S. sanctions against Iraq as follows:

Lesley Stahl: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.'

Remember that these deaths were caused solely by the economic sanctions against Iraq BEFORE the U.S. invasion. The death toll since the invasion has been far higher.
A Lancet study in 2006 estimated 654,965 excess deaths related to the war, the bulk of which have been civilians.

As of November 2006, the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighbouring countries. 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month. As of 2007, over 3.9 million Iraqis, have lost their homes and become refugees. This price evidently is well 'worth it' in the general scheme of U.S. foreign policy.

'Legitimate targets' according both to the U.S. and Zionist military include 'dual use facilities'. A 'dual use facility' is defined as any structure that possibly could be used for 'military purposes' ranging from the storage of any inflammable substance to the temporary hiding place of a 'target', thus including every civilian home or place of business squarely within the definition. This is nothing new in war, however. Villages have been torched and razed to the ground by invading forces since the dawn of humanity. 'Civilised nations' evidently consider this practice to be justified even now, although bombs dropped by aircraft have taken the place of the hand-held wooden torch.

The low value placed on the lives of Arab children as well as the rest of the population has been demonstrated again and again in the continuing U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. 'Collateral damage' is the blanket term used to describe massacres of Iraqi civilians by the U.S. military machine. The U.S. Defence Minister stressed the importance of remembering that it was 'nearly impossible to eliminate collateral damage.' He cited weapons systems malfunctions, human error and the 'fog of war' as the culprits. The government surely could not be held accountable in such circumstances.

When it's a matter of killing 'insurgents', the term is 'mopping up' as if Arab patriots were nothing more than filth spilled on the floor of 'democracy'.

The Zionist perspective of the value of Arab lives:

In his eulogy for the American Zionist terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 27 unarmed worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin declared: 'The lives of 1 million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail.'

As usual, the U.S. supported this assessment. On the official site of the JDL in Florida, the following declaration was published:

'How does JDL feel about Dr. Baruch Goldstein?...We feel that Goldstein took a preventative measure against yet another Arab attack. We understand his motivation, his grief and his actions. We are not ashamed to say that Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League. We quote without comment the rabbi who conducted the services at Goldstein's funeral, "A MILLION ARABS ARE NOT WORTH ONE JEWISH FINGERNAIL."

These are the pronouncements of the 'civilised nations' so very superior in their 'values' to the Arab Nation, described as having 'dysfunctional values and antique social structures' that prevent them from governing 'themselves decently'.

Adding injury to insult, one reads views such as the following: 'We gave them a chance in Iraq. Israel 'gave back' the Gaza Strip to let the Palestinians build a model state. Arabs seized those opportunities to butcher each other.'

It is amazing that any one would take a pronoucement of this sort seriously but the abysmal degree of political ignorance combined with the incessant propaganda of the Zionists form an equation that almost guarantees that the circumstances that prevail both in Iraq and Gaza will continue.

The Arab government in Iraq BEFORE the U.S. and its allies imposed economic sanctions for over 13 years was a progressive and stable one. In terms of science, medicine, education, standard of living and rights for women, the government of Iraq could not be faulted.

The idea that the U.S. 'gave them a chance in Iraq' by destroying the entire infrastructure of the country first economically, then by military invasion, is absolutely outrageous.

As for the ludicrous statement that the Zionists 'gave back the Gaza strip to let the Palestinians build a model state', it is tragic that the degree of political ignorance in the States would allow any one to take this sort of nonsense seriously.

The generous act of 'giving back' the Gaza strip consists of the demolition of a few isolated illegal Zionist settlements that never should have been built in the first place. Illegal settlements in the West Bank have not only been sustained throughout but have been enlarged. Throughout the so-called Palestinian control of Gaza, the Zionists have continued to bomb and invade the area. Although many may not recognise the fact that the Zionist Occupation of the entire homeland of the Palestinian people is illicit, even the U.N. continues to maintain the illegality of the military Occupation of the lands seized in 1967. That territory includes not only Gaza, but the West Bank AND Jerusalem.

'Giving back' Gaza was a matter of the Zionists pulling down a few tiny settlements in Gaza while continuing to occupy the West Bank and Jerusalem and never ceasing to use military force in Gaza as well as throughout Palestine (and Lebanon when the mood takes them.) Of course, the Zionists have a god-given right to pre-emptively strike against any one or anything they may perceive to pose a possible threat to their interests at any point in time.

The only reason I quote the New York Post is that it represents an attitude that is far more widespread than the readership of that specific rag.

One therefore should take a moment to reflect upon the chances of the Palestinian people to create 'a model state' amidst the bombings by the Zionists, military incursions by the I.D.F. as well as economic and political interference and pressure by the U.S. and its European allies.

Notwithstanding attempts by foreign media to portray it otherwise, the P.L.O always has been a democratic organisation, with members from every political movement with very diverse ideological backgrounds and aims. The Palestinian Authority actually is less democratic in nature only because it was created pursuant to the Oslo Accords, making the Zionists a partner in its creation without any true autonomy. As such, it cannot represent a 'democratic ideal'. (I do not subscribe to the propaganda that insists 'democracy' to be the ultimate form of government in any case.) In point of fact, it is not a 'government' in the true sense of the world, as the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination was not met by the creation of a mere 'Authority' existing under the ultimate jurisdiction of the foreign Zionist entity. The P.L.O. remains the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

The organisation of the P.A. is based on the same model as that of the United States, with three separate branches, consisting of Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. Unfortunately, as the Zionists have not relinquished their Occupation and control of Palestine, the Judiciary has not been formalised. The President of the P.A. is supposed to be elected directly by the people, although historically, neither the U.S. nor the Zionists have recognised any result that did not correspond with their policy requirements. It is the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) that constitutes the parliament and the appointment of the Prime Minister by the President as well as any officials appointed by the Prime Minister must be approved by the Council.

The composition of the PLC is as follows: half of the 132 seats are filled pursuant to direct elections in 16 localities in which all political parties participate. (More than 15 different political parties and alliances were on the ballot in the 2006 elections.) The other half are elected in proportion to party votes from a national pool of candidates.


In 2006, Hamas won control of the Palestinian Authority in the most recent election but, rather than accepting the 'democratic process' they so loudly extolled as the ideal, the U.S. and Europe withheld aid from the Palestinian people as a result.

The U.S. has provided arms and training for groups with the ambition to overthrow the government of Hamas and indeed urged Mahmoud Abbas to stage a coup against Hamas. Abbas now unilaterally has 'dismissed' the elected Hamas government and has seized control.

Meanwhile, under the spurious 'independence' of Gaza from Zionist control, taxes and customs duties owed to the Palestinians are collected by Israeli officials. The Zionist refusal to transfer tax receipts, coupled with the cessation of foreign aid, has brought a failing economy to the point of utter desperation. So much for U.S./Zionist claims that they created a situation in which Palestinian aspirations could flourish!

In Iraq, the 'democratic' values that purportedly comprised the aim of the foreign invasion, from the very start excluded any possibility of true independence or freedom. While urging elections upon the Iraqis, the U.S. and its allies categorically declared that certain forms of government would be unacceptable. 'Democratic election' evidently should be translated as an election in which only candidates approved by the U.S. are allowed to enter.

Both in Iraq and in Gaza, living conditions resemble those found in the worst refugee camps. Electricity and water are in short supply. Food is at a premium. Foreign military attack never has ceased.

As far as Hamas and its capacity to create a 'model state' or even to participate in the creation of ANY real Palestinian State is concerned, that possibility never was tested. The world never gave Hamas a chance. Abbas, the puppet leader who earned the U.S./Zionist stamp of approval, rather than working with Hamas, allowed himself to become even less of a true representative of the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations. It should be said here that Abbas and his cronies do not even represent Fatah. They represent a corrupt, foreign-influenced element of Fatah.

The factional conflicts that plague both Iraq and Gaza are a minor issue compared to the ongoing devastation caused by American/Zionist policies. When foreign invasion and occupation destroys the foundation of Arab civilisation and then proceeds to strangle the hope of any true independence, what is left but desperation?

Noam Chomsky on Lebanon and Gaza:

Factional struggles minimise Zionist crimes

Factional clashes in Palestine, whatever their justification, ultimately serve to minimise the Zionists' role in its continuing Occupation of the homeland. The international media is filled with reports of the clashes between elements of Hamas and Fatah, while the Zionist plan to rob Palestinians of more land in the West Bank in its construction of its infamous Wall is virtually ignored.

Recently, the Zionist government has made a proposal to move its 'separation barrier' deeper into the West Bank, leaving about 20,000 Palestinians on the Zionist side of the Wall and incorporating two more illegal Jewish settlements. Notwithstanding the fact that every inch of Palestine occupied by the Zionist entity is illegally occupied, its 'Wall' makes the lives of ordinary Palestinians impossible. The Wall often serves to separate Palestinians from their land, their jobs and their families and is a more pernicious and permanent obstacle than the ever-present Zionist 'chequepoints' that prevent the ordinary Palestinians from one location to another.

When complete, the massive complex of concrete walls, barbed wire and electronic sensors will be about 680km long. The Wall has been declared illegal under international law, yet the Zionists as usual ignore all considerations apart from their own interests.

The Wall serves as another excuse for demolishing Palestinians homes. In the past year, over 400 Palestinian homes have been demolished because of spurious building permit issues or because they were 'too close to the Wall'.

This continuing erosion of the Palestinian presence in Palestine itself goes on unabated but international media chooses to focus on the internal Palestinian struggles between factions.

The Zionists rejoice to see Palestinians kill Palestinians and are particularly delighted when leaders of either faction are killed. In the circumstances, would it not be far better to concentrate all Palestinian energies on the destruction of the Zionist entity and only after this is achieved, sort out internal political issues?

Of course, that would require that BOTH sides be uncompromising in a determination never to accept the existence of the Zionist entity, nor to be persuaded by foreign bribes or threats of intimidation on the part of the U.S. or any one else.

This internal power struggle is destroying the lives of ordinary Palestinians while allowing the Zionists to freely pursue their goals. While Palestinian confronts Palestinian, the Zionists continue to demolish more homes and appropriate more land and their actions either are ignored or considered less newsworthy than any conflict between elements in Fatah and Hamas. Obviously, media coverage is designed for the most part to advance Zionist goals as well, and any internal Palestinian conflicts will be greatly publicised.

Palestinians, like the Iraqi people, find themselves in an impossible situation. What is the solution? I submit that Unity in Resistance against the foreign Occupiers is the only answer here. Get rid of the foreign Occupation first. Only then will there be ANY viable future for any political group or political agenda for the Arab Nation.