ISRAEL AS A STATE
by Ali Bulac

Feb 10 2009
Turkey

When we try to ponder Israel and its acts, we take as a reference
the common forms of about 200 states that are members of the United
Nations. In other words, we make the casual mistake of imagining
Israel as one of the members of the UN. But this is wrong. Indeed,
Israel is a different state.

The first criticism justifiably voiced about Israel is the
occupation-motivated character of this newly established state. It
is the first and only state established under a UN decision, but it
has never complied with any of the decisions made by the UN about
itself when it invaded new territories and expanded its borders,
and when it expanded its occupation of the Palestinian territories
from 56 percent to 78 percent, and when its military and political
strategy was to completely invade the Palestinian territories.

Moreover, Israel sees itself bound neither by any decision of the UN
or its Security Council nor by any international treaty or agreement.

For this reason, it can ruthlessly invade territories and kill people
unrelentingly after confiscating their properties, olive and orange
tree gardens, houses, and wealth.

Let us review the toll of its violent massacre of 1.5 million Gazans
who are living in a tiny piece of land of 360,000 square kilometers
during the three weeks between Dec. 27 and Jan. 18:

Israel killed 1,360 people, 437 of whom were children, 300 of
whom were women and 113 of whom were elderly. It shelled mosques,
hospitals, schools, the police academy, ambulances and UN buildings,
where children were staying. It used phosphorus and cluster bombs,
and it is said to have tried new weapons.

Obviously, all of these things are war crimes. As you might remember,
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said in 2008: "As Qassam
attacks intensify and the rockets’ reach broadens, they are inviting a
shoah, because we will do our best to protect ourselves." In Hebrew,
"shoah" means genocide. Like the Armenians’ Medz Yegern (Great
Disaster), the Holocaust is called "shoah" in Hebrew.

In the terminology of Israeli officials, invading and massacring
civilians falls under the "right of self defense," and resisting
invaders is "terror." This is the defensive argument of the Israeli
officials about the latest Gazan massacre: Hamas is to be blamed for
the deaths of these children because Hamas resists us.

By securing the armor of anti-Semitism, Israel does not allow anyone to
criticize its policies and actions. But the main theme of the criticism
against it is that although about 60 years have passed since it was
established, Israel refrains from being like any other state among
the world’s states. Israel cannot be like any other state for the
following reasons:

(1) Israel is the only state whose establishment cannot be completed
and whose definite borders have not been established since its
emergence as a polity. No one knows for sure where its borders start
and end. What the Promised Land refers to between the Nile and the
Euphrates is ambiguous. It may be argued that his is a long-term ideal
for a homeland. Nevertheless, new Jewish settlers arrive every day
in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the Israeli occupation continues,
and its borders are expanding.

(2) We do not have definite and clear figures about the population
of Israel. It is said that it is 6 million, including 1.5 million
Arabs. However, the number of Jews really living in Israel or those
who are also citizens of other countries is not known.

(3) Israel avoids disclosing its defense expenditures like other
states do. The black hole in the budget is this expenditure item. The
figures about the weapons and ammunition granted to it by the US and
other Western countries are not known.

(4) Israel’s income figures are not disclosed. The amount of money
granted to Israel by Jews living in other countries is not known.