I had this really good entry all thought out, with lots of examples and points and arguments. But all that has seeped out of my brain due to end-of-Semester stress.

See yesterday Army (most of them Air Force) officers traveled around schools all over the country in a joint project with the ministry of education. This project is part of the 60 years to Israel commemorations, celebrations and what not.
At one of the school in which some of these officers came to speak, a demo by New Profile in which they constructed a huge papier mache brain and proceeded to squirt at with soapy water. I thought it was really smart and funny.

I told about it to my brother and mother and was really blown away by their negative responses.
My brother said they were being stupid and my mother asked if the demonstrators don't ask themselves what they can do for Israel.

Ahem.

See, the officers were there to talk about values and meaning of Israeli citizenship and what it means to be a Jewish nation in Israel - according to what I read about the project wasn't about convincing hight school kids that it's better to serve that to evade (which has been, according to the media which is trying to ensue a moral panic, imo, on the rise for the past two years).
I personally think it's wrong for the army to be a presence in schools other to give an overview of the positions available in the IDF and for that to be in after school hours so that it doesn't take over academic times - but that's really optimistic.

I don't believe for a minute that all they spoke about yesterday were "the values of Israeli citizenship" - Army service since the conception of this country has been a formative part of Jewish Israeli Identity (Druze and Bedouin can volunteer for the draft, but it is not mandatory). I'm pretty convinced that they spoke about the fact that to be good citizens they should serve their country through the IDF, that in the IDF they will learn what it means to be a moral, ethical and good Israeli citizen.

I think it's been a long time since the IDF has participated in a War that was solely for the protection of its citizens. All the operations across the borders have been offensive since the 80's and all withdrawals have been unilateral, meaning no agreement was discussed with those whose territory we were leaving. Almost all the operations done on the civilian population in the West Bank (and once Gaza) are defended by saying it's in the name of security are excuses to control said population by fear and humiliation. The soldiers (boys and some girls of 18 and 19, commanded by 20-somethings) are scared and they have guns and they've been taught to hate that little girl in a hijab, or that teenage boy with hate for them in return.
Do I even need to mention the immorality of the collective punishment on Gaza?

A small aside about Gaza: I can talk about the fact that Hamas fires Qassams at innocent people in the West Negev and Sderot, but seeing as the government that is funding this oh so educational project gives less than a shit about those people being fired upon, the less said the better.

I was asked why I don't have sympathy for those soldiers who have to do those horrible things in the name of security. I do. I have a lot of sympathy towards them and the fact that they are serving in an Army that requires them to do such unethical things and that they are educated to view those who are not like them as less-than-human.
Those soldiers traumatize and in turn are traumatized as well.
I wrote about this phenomena not too long ago.
Those soldiers, my soldiers, are ordered to invade other peoples homes in the name of security. They sometimes take food and other electrical supplies from those homes.
Some of them remain silent about what they once they are discharged.
Some of them break through this silence.

I don't believe that the Army does what it is supposed to do and it is because of this that I criticize it, that I feel a reform within its system and the way we, as Israelis, view the function of the military in our lives.
The gun is never a sacred instrument... in Hebrew it is equivalent to male genitalia.
Maybe I'll give a feminist reading of the role of the IDF, it's been done before, but now I've said what I felt had to be said about how I feel about the Army entering schools and talking about civic "values" and "duties".

I didn't write about this yesterday because I was all about ME, which is sometimes what this LJ is for.

This is "old News" by now, but Sderot and Kibbutzim of the Western Negev were bombarded yesterday with over 50 Qassam Rockets.
50 Qassam Rockets.
At least one person died and several other have been critically injured, maimed and traumatized.
The retaliation and in these cases it always a retaliation, was the usual IDF and IAF maneuvers.

What I find most interesting is that in the International News sites, the retaliation was written about first, giving the obvious impression that that the Qassam rockets were launched in retaliation to the military action done by Israel.

Such. Utter. Bullshit.

I'm a big talker and I'm all for talking with Hamas, but when the complete and utter disregard they show towards their own people by launching rockets that are designed to hurt my people, because my people have the Big Guns and on TeVi, Big Guns look much worse than little rockets despite the damage wrought by both.

The ones who suffer the most are the civilians on both sides of the border. It doesn't matter if they're Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim, Bedouin or Christian.

Hamas' goal isn't to liberate Palestine, it never was, it is to recreate the Caliphate and bring the Umma together and then go out on a Holy War against the West.
And like most of these kinds of groups (al-Qaeda, the Taliban, etc.) they were created in order to fight the real enemies... the Communist or Marxist Identified groups - or in the case of the Taliban the Soviets themselves.

Old News? Ancient History?

Maybe, but it's certainly a way to see the interconnectedness of it all.
Until the USA decides that it no longer supports Nations that give money to Hamas and Hizbulla (and it's not just Iran, far from it) and that "spreading Democracy" is not the way to go, but co-operation and actual fucking communication; you can bet that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will continue.

I don't think I need to inform or tell people what has been going on in Gaza for the past... what? Week? Maybe a little more.

It is terrible what Israel is doing to the people of Gaza, I think Israel has made blunders and big mistakes in handling the situation of the Quassam rockets onto Sderot (which is what brought about the siege).
What's worse is that Hamas, while being the government of Gaza, don't know how to govern, taking absolutely no responsibility of their own people and trying to get the attention of the world by laying the entire blame on Israel.

No one is in the okay here except the citizens of Gaza, Sderot and the kibbutzim of the West Negev.

Now that the border with Egypt is broken through it's high time for Egypt to get involved in Humanitarian aid, which they should have have done long before now, but like the rest of the Arab and Muslim nations surrounding this little stretch of land, they don't care and as long as there's someone fighting the "Zionist Entity" which can't be linked back to this or that specific state all the better.

The only countries that integrated the Palestinians refugees into their own population (and even that took a while) were Jordan and Kuwait, the rest (Lebanon, Egypt and Syria) pretty much kept them as they're now living in Gaza and the Occupied territories, little hovels and refugee camps. And the money Fatah and Hamas got for well meaning states, countries and foundations have been either taken to line the upper echelons pockets or to continue the funding of the guerrilla warfare they are so good at.

Israel, as a current Occupying force in the West Bank and a former Occupying force in Gaza (though Gaza is still dependent on Israel's resources) has a responsibility towards the mess they left behind, because it is the mess we created and abandoned in the hopes that something would happen, good or bad, but disconnected from us.
Certain MK's want this disconnect to happen sooner than later, so the cut off from our resources... what the fuck are they supposed to build in that shit-hole when they have no infrastructure to build on.

Meanwhile Egypt is going to keep the borders open and MP Olmert states he won't let a Humanitarian crisis develop... that is, beyond what's already happened, obviously.
I'm sure the Islamic Brotherhood is doing some "light persuading" in the higher bureaucratic offices of President Mubarak.
I have no doubt that as soon as Mubarak has finished "playing nice" to the world the Gazans will be shoved back into the shit-hole they call home.

A little food for thought; Amira Haas writes that the border breaching has been planned for months.
Dude.