Discussion about Gaza

Dear friends

At the risk of starting something major I would like to share my troubled thoughts.

I am aware of all the various arguments about whether the Gaza Offensive was justified or not but as a human being, a Jew and as a doctor I am deeply troubled more than ever before:

* Was it reasonable to bombard a densely populated strip of land continually for three weeks considering the enormous loss of life, injury, damage, cost and indescribable fear caused?
* Did the IDF use munitions…especially phosphorous…in an unreasonable [and I do not care about “compliance with international law” I care about “reasonable or humane”] manner?

I am not taking a stand in any direction but would like to know the answers to these questions.

Various people and organisations – eg UN, Red Cross , Amnesty International, newspapers, various world leaders and of course both sides in the immediate conflict – have made strong statements [many are entirely contradictory] however it seems based more on opinion, bias, guesswork and lack of good real information.

Are others troubled?
Does anyone have access to real, objective, unbiased information?

David Hoadley
New Zealand

I think that from both from a general Humanistic and particular Jewish perspective none of us feel good about civilian casualties in a military conflict.

David brought up several points that in the framework of the IMA-WF I find quite disturbing.

My reply is fashioned on the basis of positions that lie at core of my stance as a Jew and Zionist.

General Positions
1) Zionism is an international movement that initially supported the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in the land of Israel and continues primarily as support for the modern state of Israel.
2) On the other hand Hamas is a Palestinian political and social organization it represents the Palestinian wing of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Hamas’s charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
3) I think that given these two descriptors the underlying assumption is that as members of the IMA-WF our perspective should always be slanted towards the former and not the latter. It does not mean that one should not be skeptical or critical of the actions of the Israeli government from whatever political hue it is formed. However, we are a pro-Israel organization at least in respects of its right to exist and we can not contemplate finding common ground with position (2).

My Personal Position
1) A ‘de facto’ state of war existed between Israel and the surrounding Arab states in May-June 1967 with the closing of the Tiran Straits. This led to the 6-day war with Israel occupying not on the Sinai and Golan, as well as much of the West Bank. This was an aggressive war against Israel and so Israel is under no moral obligation to return these territories.
2) However, Israel’s neighbors have stated that it is a pre-requisite to return these lands in order to achieve peace. Israel demanded full recognition and an ending of the state of war. This Israel did with Egypt, and Jordan. However, a treaty still has not been worked out with Syria.
3) This leaves the West Bank and Gaza. This is the home of another nation the Palestinians. My personal belief (which may be at variance with many on this email) is that this is a separate Arab nation with legitimate national aspirations. Their plights because of their presence in the Land of Israel are the crux of the struggle. If the same recognition-territorial withdrawal process could be achieved with them, then peace could be achieved. My view is utopian in nature and could be the subject of debate in another forum.
4) The problem is that the Palestinians are politically and culturally fractured. On the one hand we have the PA led by Abbas in the West Bank, who at least give lip service to the two state solution, and on the other hand we have Hamas in Gaza who seek the destruction of the Jewish State, and the Islamization of Palestine. This is simply not a political enemy but a radical organization tied to the Muslim Brotherhood who is the philosophical antecedent to Al- Qaeda.

Specific Answers to your Questions
1) Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005. It withdrew every Israeli soldier and all 8000 Israeli civilians from the Gaza Strip. However, Israel has been forced to act in defense of its citizens, who have been and continue to be deliberately attacked by the Hamas terrorist organization.
2) Hamas then carried out a coup against the PA.
3) As you know Hamas executed numerous suicide bombings against Israel, the first of them in April, 1993. Hamas ceased the attacks in 2005 and renounced them in April 2006. Hamas also has been responsible for anti-Israel rocket attacks, IED attacks, kidnapping and shootings, but reduced most of those operations in 2005 and 2006. Hamas rocket attacks against Israel have continued, although they decreased during a 5-month long ceasefire that ended at their calling in late 2008.
4) In this conflict Hamas makes no effort to comply with international law, Israel is committed to limiting itself to a lawful response. This means that, while Hamas uses civilians both as a shield and a target, Israel seeks to limit injury to civilians on both sides.

* International law recognizes that civilian deaths and injuries may occur in lawful military operations. For an operation to be lawful it must be directed at a “legitimate military objective” and be “proportionate”.
* Under the Geneva Conventions, as well as customary international law, if a military objective, such as a missile launcher or weapons stockpile, is placed in the heart of a civilian area, it does not cease being a lawful military objective. The primary responsibility for civilian causalities arising from the ’shielding’ lies with the party that deliberately placed civilians at risk.
* International law also requires that any military operation be ‘proportionate’ in the sense that expected collateral damage to civilians and civilian objects must not be excessive in relation to the military advantage anticipated. This is a complex and difficult calculation and international law relies on the best determination of the commander in the field in the heat of the conflict to weigh all relevant considerations, including the security of his own forces.
* Israel has adopted these principles of the law of armed conflict, in its military training, its operational planning and in practice. Frequently, proposed operations are cancelled because the risk of injury to civilians might not be proportional to the military goals of the operation.
5) Since the beginning of the Israeli operation in Gaza:

* 59,280 tons of humanitarian supplies have been transferred to Gaza
* 2,281 trucks as well as 3,604,250 liters of fuel.
* 3000 units of blood and 20 ambulances were donated.
* 681 dual nationals were evacuated from Gaza
* 68 people were evacuated to Israel for medical treatment.
6) On Sunday, 18 January, a forward emergency treatment center was opened at the Erez crossing into Gaza in the presence of Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog and Minister of Health Yacov Ben Yizri. The center’s goal is to treat uninvolved civilians from Gaza.

“The indispensability of the clinic has proved itself even before it opened its doors to the Palestinian public, when a man and a sick woman were treated by MDA paramedics. From MDA’s point of view, every patient – no matter where he lives or what is his religion – is entitled to receive the best and most professional care,” said MDA Director General Eli Bin.

7) Phosphorus bombs WERE NOT used by the IDF. Phosphorus was used to illuminate the sky which is a lawful use of this weaponry. Phosphorus shells are legal to use as a battlefield obscurant. It is regretful that civilians were harmed. However, it was the use of civilians as human shields that led to these tragic events.

I don’t think we should be opening a blog here about the Gaza operation I think we should collectively make sure that we support the State of Israel in general and its medical profession specifically in this very dangerous period.

I hope to meet with many of you personally in Israel in April.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Lewis M.D.
President of IMA-WF-USA
Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Assistant Dean for International Graduate Medical Education, University Miami, Miller School of Medicine Program Director, Anesthesiology, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL ________________________________

More:

http://www.ima.org.il/wf/dynamic/web/