Don't Miss These Brilliant Essays on Gaza

By Jan Frel, AlterNet. Posted January 15, 2009.

Stephen Zunes has written three comprehensive articles for AlterNet covering America's role in tampering in Palestinian politics to support a hard-right agenda for Israel, Democrats' utter complicity supporting Bush's policies that made the latest assault on Gaza possible, and most recently, an account of how Democratic congressional leaders are advancing a radical view of international law that would allow powerful countries to get away with war crimes.

Suzanne Maneh recounts for New America Media the story of a 78-year-old Palestinian expat, who wanted to remain anonymous, who was forced to flee Palestine 60 years ago. And Laila Al-Arian shares in "My Grandpa Lives in Gaza" what it's like to have a relative living in a war zone.

War Nerd Gary Brecher, at eXiledonline, has written two important essays looking at the current culture of warfare in light of the Gaza attacks, explaining why militarily superior countries don't just wipe their enemies off the map like they used to, before 1945:

We live in the hangover after a wild night, the first half of the 20th century. That was a binge to end all binges, an era of great, total, merciless warfare. Everybody thinks of the Western Front in the First World War when they think of total war, but there were plenty of other fronts just as merciless, just as brutal, like the Russian civil war or the Greek-Turkish war in western Anatolia, which was even nastier, if that's possible, than the Russian fighting. No quarter asked or given on either side. [Brecher's second essay explains why the assault on Gaza in 2009 won't be a repeat of Lebanon in 2006]

Former President Jimmy Carter wrote an op-ed sharing his view on the necessary path to peace through negotiations. And Ira Chernus in Foreign Policy in Focus shares what is almost a secret history of a peace that could have been with Yasser Arafat, if Israel had gone ahead and allowed it: "All of the suffering in Gaza -- indeed, all of the suffering endured by Palestinians under Israeli occupation for the last eight years -- could have been avoided if Israel negotiated a peace agreement with Yasser Arafat when it had the chance, in 2001."

See more stories tagged with: israel, jimmy carter, gaza, bill moyers, naomi klein, chris hedges, laila al-arian, gary brecher, uri avnery, stephen zunes, suzanne maneh

Jan Frel is AlterNet's senior editor.

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