"Israel's Assassination Policy"

[Flying_Pig]

The Trigger for the Latest Suicide Bombings?
By STEVE NIVA

Palestinian suicide bombings are vicious and grave abuses, clearly war crimes under international law for intentionally killing civilians. They have also been a strategic disaster for Palestinian national aspirations. They have driven the Israeli public to embrace the Israeli far right's expansionist agenda and have severely damaged the Palestinian cause in the court of world opinion. Nevertheless, it is nearly impossible to avoid concluding that the current Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has either deliberately provoked a number of them or at least undertaken actions that would clearly risk them. Either way, it is complicit in the deaths of scores of Israeli citizens.

For how else can one explain the Israeli decision to assassinate senior military and political leaders from militant Palestinian groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad during the past three months when it is well documented that such actions frequently result in a suicide bombing, usually within a week?

In four of the past five suicide bombings, the timing of the bombing, the fact that group whose senior militant was assassinated carried out the attack, and the explicit claim of revenge for the assassination in all of these cases leave little room for doubt about cause and effect.

More: http://www.counterpunch.org/niva08272003.html

[Darranar]

1. Isn't that clear?

n/t

[Flying_Pig]

2. For some....

Not for others.

[damnraddem]

3. It fits with Sharon's strategy since he sparked the Intifada.

He wants the bombings to continue, because that keeps him in power. Early on in his administratin, he stated that there would be no negotiations so long as bombings continued: a promise to bombers that their efforts would be successful in derailing talks. He has repeatedly provoked bombings, just as the bombers have repeatedly provoked Israeli responses. Sharon and Hamas/Hezbollah fit together like hand and glove -- and I don't mean like in the O.J. Trial.

[Resistance]

7. I think there is more to it

Sharon isn't just doing this for power. He thinks that God gave Jews the land, and it is not for anyone else. Don't forget this religious psychopath aspect.

[tinnypriv]

9. Barak sparked the Intifada

Not Sharon. He helped.

[drdon326]

4. Israel's Assassination Policy ??

I love it. Its high damn time israel takes the fight to

these cowardly heads of hamas et al who send children to

their death .... on both sides.

[StandWatie]

5. I suppose anyone taking a plug at Gush Eminum rabbi's

who were exorting the faithful that it is "mitzvah to destroy Amalek" would be a "terrorist" though, right?

[The Magistrate]

8. Not To Me, Sir

Once the Sage wrote: "What others have taught, I teach also: a violent man shall die a violent death!"

[StandWatie]

11. violent religious nuts taking a dirt nap..

doesn't exactly make me want to break into a fit of weeping either :shrug:

[QuietStorm]

6. Not a new policy regardless of its morality

not new in Israel not new internationally.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=8383&mesg_id=8485&page=

[The Magistrate]

10. A Rare Pleasure

To see a "Counter-Punch" lead acknowledging that the attacks directed at Israeli civilians by Hamas, et al, are undisputable crimes of war. It is, of course, only a distraction and set up for the charming bit of inanity at the bottom of the paragraph, announcing that they are really the fault of the Israeli government, in the author's view "complicit in the deaths of scores of Israeli citizens." The responisibilty for these acts lies solely with the persons who decide to carry them out, and do so. No one else.

[sushi]

12. Anyone disagree with the following?

1) The majority of the Palestinians and Israelis REALLY want peace because they're SICK AND TIRED of it all.

2) The Palestinian extremists REALLY desire all of Israel but they know they can't have it, so they just practice suicide bombing.

3) The Israeli regime, which includes the party of the settlers, doesn't REALLY want a peace agreement according to Bush's Roadmap, because it would have to dismantle settlements, and do other things it doesn't really want to do.

I'm starting to think there will NEVER be peace there.

[Darranar]

16. I agree...

Peace will be hard in the coming, and might never happen.

[NickDanger]

18. Eventually the Palis will get a nuke, Israel will respond after Tel Aviv

is annihilated, with a massive nuclear bombing of Arab capitals and military assets. Israel will drive the Palistinians out of whatever the Israelis determine is Eretz Israel. The world, breathing nuclear fallout, will be pissed, but Europe can't risk war with a nuclear equipped Israel; the U.S. won't do anything, and thus we will eventually have peace--albeit with quite a few people in the Mideast and a rising level of cancer, globally.

Now there's a roadmap you can take to the bank.

[bemildred]

25. That isn't really how nuclear weapons affect things.

The more likely scenario, once nukes come into play, is
that nuclear powers cannot afford not to use them, since
they have little warning time and they could be wiped out.
This is especially the case where the theatre is continental
(not global) and ballistic missiles are the only means of
delivery.

Israel would most likely be flattened early on in any such
exchange, regardless of who started it.

The primary utility of nukes in sub-catastrophic conditions
if for purposes of blackmail and taking as hostage the
populations of ones opponents.

[The Magistrate]

26. Well Said, My Friend

Viewed coldly, "deterrence" is little beyond systematized and mutual hostage-taking. It does seem to work, though....

[bemildred]

27. I have toyed with the idea

that giving everyone a few nukes would lead to stability,
sort of like the "everybody owning a gun means less crime"
argument. One can construct arguments either way easily
enough. It does seem telling to me that nuclear powers have
avoided getting into it with each other, ever, although there
have been some close calls. I suspect to really work there
must be no chance of pre-emptive success. You have to be SURE
you are going to get clobbered back. That is the principle of
MAD, which seems to be out of favor nowadays.

OTOH the price of a "breakdown" in the system is very high, and
lions for example, which are very well armed, have a high death
rate from other lions. But I suppose that is not the same thing
as wiping out the lion species, and not the same thing as humans.

In any case, I suspect we will see the matter tested out
in the real World as time goes on.

[The Magistrate]

28. India v. Pakistan Remains My Own Grim Guess, Sir

[bemildred]

29. Yes, such theories always founder on the assumption

that governments will behave rationally. When one gets to
the point where one is thinking that a few million dead is
"worth it", all bets on the outcome are off.

[The Magistrate]

19. Your No. 12 Above, Ma'am

Is not a bad summary.

[LogicTrueFalse]

13. Very few people weep for assinated terrorists

Let's not start now.

[bemildred]

14. Just curious.

What does "assinated" mean?
I have pictures of donkeys and rectums in my
head, but I can't make it work. I suppose
rectal-cranial insertion is possible ...

[LogicTrueFalse]

15. Curiosity killed the cat

Satisfaction brought him back.

[Cassandra]

22. I find it a rather charming typo

that has turned up before. It does give some interesting mental images, doesn't it?

[bemildred]

24. Suggests a hurried thought process.

It is charming, in it's way.
The question is who is being "assinated" by whom?
:-)

[Kbowe]

17. Simple solution: Give Palestinians sophisticated air power and

surveillence technology to carry out target assassinations as does Israel and that will eliminate the need for suicide bombers!

[The Magistrate]

20. It Will Not Alter The Intention Of Killing Enemy Civilians, Sir

[NickDanger]

21. But then the Palis will be able to kill them with as much panache as the

Israelis. And style does matter.

[The Magistrate]

23. If You Think So, Sir