on defeat and a phoenix

newspapers are declaring that Olmert says Israel is nearing its "objectives". none of these papers have clarified for us what exactly these purported "goals" are, other than the redundant, indefatigable line of "crushing Hamas capability". for us, sitting at home reading news obsessively, watching images of children dying, homes being crushed, and peace slipping further and further out of sight...this goal of crushing hamas, well, it seems a smokescreen for some greater, hidden aim. an aim which is now hidden behind the smoke of white phosphorous munitions.

the people of Gaza know the aim. every bomb that explodes cries out "we want to get rid of you" "your lives are worthless to us". they know the aim is to crush Gaza, not Hamas--two very seperate entities, although the Western press would not have you think so with its unfounded allegations Hamas fighters infiltrating every pore of Gazan society-- a paltry excuse and justification for Israel's indiscriminant attacks.

Rashid Khalidi spelled out Israel's hidden agenda in quoting the 2002 IDF chief of staff..."The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.”

and so the bombs resonate deep into the recesses of childrens memories...into palestinians' consciousness...but not that they are a defeated people. that they are an unvalued people. a hated people. that is what resonates in my consciousness, with every person in Gaza that Israel succeeds in getting rid of.

but not defeat.

never defeat.

Israel has never acheived this goal of convincing Palestinians that they are a defeated people, for all the billions and trillions of dollars worth of arms they have employed against them. for all the thousands of houses demolished. for the thousands of young boys illegally detained in israeli jails. for those same boys who are tortured. for the 1.5 million Gazans they have been starving. for the hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns razed and destroyed in the creation of Israel in 1948. never, never have Palestinians believed they are defeated.

because a people who have nothing, have nothing to lose. the fight will continue. this i know. this i see every time i go to a protest and see generations of Palestinians marching together. solid. strong. dedicated. from the 70 year old grandmother in her embroidered dress, to the 5 year old boy draped in a palestinian flag-- struggling to carry a sign his same height.

so if this is Israel's aim, they might want to revise it...because this is an unachievable goal. but Israel knows no way other than might. It will continue to bombard, and Palestine will continue to rebuild...for Palestine, and especially Gaza in its ashen hell, has proven time and time again that it is a phoenix which will rise from the rubble of Israel's destruction.