Todd Dennis:Does the world support violence as a response in Gaza?

As the death toll continues to rise, currently put at over 700 dead Palestinians and ten Israelis (seven IDF members), during Israel’s offensive in Gaza we are only left with stories contending that Israel has a right to defend itself and that Gaza provoked the attacks by violating the ceasefire agreement. As Steve pointed out earlier in the week, Israel has even produced graphs which mislead people about the number of attacks launched from Gaza into Israel, even removing the older and easier to understand graph. However as in most conflicts we are led to believe that there is only one side of two that you can be on, support Israel and its right to defend itself or support Gaza and Hamas’ right to attack Israel and use violence against the invading forces. Little is heard about the peace movement whether it be in Israel, Palestine or in the U.S. Many groups exist and they have been calling for a cease fire and a resumption of the peace talks to end the ongoing crisis. So just who are these groups and what are they saying?

Courage to Refuse (CTR) was founded in 2002 during the Second Intifada by members of the IDF Reserve who refuse to serve in the occupied territories but will serve in Israel and support efforts to defend Israel. For the first time CTR has called on Israeli military members to refuse to take part in the artillery shooting and the air strikes targeting Gaza’s civilian neighborhoods. They make this call because of the illegal and immoral killing of civilians that is occurring. For more information on Courage to Refuse check out their website here.

Combatants for Peace was formed jointly by Palestinians and Israelis, who have taken an active part in the cycle of violence; Israelis as soldiers in the Israeli army (IDF) and Palestinians as part of the violent struggle for Palestinian freedom. Combatants for Peace member Chen Alon recently appeared on the Erev Hadash program on Israeli Channel 1 TV, on January 6, 2009, during the 10th day of the battles in Gaza. Unfortunately the video doesn’t have subtitles.

Gush Shalom was formed in 1993 as an independent peace organization independent of political parties. They participated in a demonstration of some ten thousand protesters from all over Israel marched in Tel-Aviv in a massive demonstration against the war. All four lanes of Ibn Gvirol St., one of the city's main throughfares, were packed full of demonstrators who marched the two kilometres from the Rabin Square to the Cinemateque, chanting and waving banners all the way. However you probably have not heard of this demonstration since it was not covered in the media. The only outlet I could find with coverage was a copy of Gush Shalom’s story on the protests in Worker’s Liberty from the UK.

Veterans for Peace was formed in 1985 and who goal is the abolishment of war. They released a statement saying they do not take the side of any government, but rather take the side of all people in the region who are victims of the most recent outbreak of violence raging between Palestine and Israel.

With these and many other organizations (UFPJ, Stop the War Coalition (UK), International Action Center, …) are calling for an end to the violence in Gaza why are we only told that most Israeli’s support the attacks? In a BBC article, the pro-war voices are double those who are opposed to the attacks but you would have to read the story and not just the headline, “Israelis back Gaza action - for now” to learn that. CNN has a story on the IDF launching a youtube and twitter account calling it a portrayal of the IDF's “humane action and operational success in operation ‘Cast Lead’.” These videos of course will not show the courageous acts of those resisting the ground war such as Huwaida Arraf, of International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who in this video tries to get IDF soldiers to stop firing on civilians. ISM has created a petition of Israelis who call for an end to the violence which is critical of Israeli press for promoting the war like the other media outlets above have and not allowing the voices of those critical to the war to be heard.

The recent violence in Gaza and Israel reminds us that violence is indeed a descending spiral and it only leads to the very thing it seeks to destroy. Taking sides leads us down this spiral and the complex situation cannot be solved but by casting off the hatred, with Israeli and Palestinians rehumanizing their purported enemy, so that a peaceful and long term solution can occur. Just as Combatants for Peace have done, violence by both sides must be rejected so that a just solution can be created.

Todd Dennis is an Outreach Staff member at the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.