Robert Fisk on the Goldstone Report on Gaza

I wrote an earlier piece on the Report of the UN sponsored Goldstone Inquiry, a fact finding mission led by the Jewish South African Supreme Court Judge Richard Goldstone, into the war in Gaza early in 2009. The Report found that Israel, as well as Hamas and Palestinian armed groups had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Robert Fisk's piece on the Goldstone Inquiry in the Guardian is well worth reading. Fisk writes:

"The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem found that 1,387 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza war, more than 770 of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed, four by their own troops, three of the others Israeli Arabs. Goldstone bitterly condemned Hamas for firing at civilians – from civilians areas of Gaza – but Chapter 11 of his report, for example, found that Israel shelled a house in which Palestinian civilians had been forced to gather, intentionally bombed a hospital with white phosphorous shells, shot civilians who were waving white flags and refused to allow wounded to be evacuated.

But no, Israel – as unwilling to accept criticism as Hamas – which, typically and cynically, washed its own dirty hands of the report, even though it murdered at least 40 suspected Palestinian collaborators while killing only six of its military enemies – wouldn’t face up to Goldstone’s conclusions, wouldn’t accept that the casualties of this monstrous war were disproportionate. Israel’s response wasn’t disproportionate. It never was.

This nonsense is unworthy of a grown-up nation. For not long before the Gaza war, Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli army northern commander, defined his doctrine very carefully. “We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction… This isn’t a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorised.” No wonder the world watches, amazed, at Israel’s response to Goldstone’s conclusions. And the United States – which, of course, once defined Hiroshima as “a military base” – was either silent or took Israel’s side"

On the Tikkun website Michael Lerner has this interview with Richard Goldstone.

"Tikkun olan"- social justice and repair of the world

Tikkun is an interesting American publication and website dedicated to the Jewish notion of "tikkun olan"- social justice and the repair of the world. It defines itself as a voice for "spiritual progressives", a voice that challenges established orthodoxies in all spheres of thought and spheres of politics.

Founded and edited by American Rabi and political activist and writer Michael Lerner it publishes interesting pieces- from an American perspective admittedly- on a range of issues including social theory, social poloicy and social change, contemporary politics, ecology, pyschology, American life and Israel/Palestine.

I have been a long time reader and follower of Michael Lerner's work since I read Surplus Powerlessness: The Pyschodynamics of Everyday Life, one of his early books in the 1980s, in which he explored the failure of us all to actualize possibilities because of the deep personal and collective belief that nothing can change. In the book Learner makes the case for the significance of deep compassion as the basis of any strategy for change.

Whilst I don't always agree with Lerner's point of view and those who write for Tikkun, I always find it an interesting and challenging source of ideas.

In the Editoral for the latest edition of the magazine Lerner dissects Obamas abandonment and betrayal of the vision on which he was elected.