{"id":1434552,"date":"2024-01-09T06:51:55","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T06:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/?p=310215"},"modified":"2024-01-09T06:51:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T06:51:55","slug":"two-visions-of-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/01\/09\/two-visions-of-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Visions of Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n
\"\"

Photograph Source: Tasnim News Agency – CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

It is now becoming increasingly evident that Gaza has become a quagmire, one from which Israel will find it difficult to extricate itself. At stake is what to do with Gaza once the hostilities cease, and even if the Israeli military are victorious over Hamas, the essential question will remain, what to do with Gaza?<\/p>\n

It is no secret that there is no unanimity on how to proceed once the war ends. US and Arab officials fear that Israel is ignoring the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, where initial military victories were followed by years of violent militancy and unrest. The massive killings of Palestinians will probably create new generation of fighters willing to die against a much more powerful enemy.<\/p>\n

In an effort to eliminate Hamas, Northern Gaza has been ravaged and an environmental disaster has been quickly unfolding. A poem by Aharon Shabtai, an Israeli poet, may offer a vision of the future for that devastated land. In The Trees Are Weeping, translated from the Hebrew by Peter Cole, Shabtai writes,<\/p>\n

The trees are weeping<\/em><\/p>\n

in the Land of Israel<\/em><\/p>\n

Rome\u2019s soldiers are razing<\/em><\/p>\n

acre after acre;<\/em><\/p>\n

there is no compassion<\/em><\/p>\n

for the land\u2019s raiment \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n

its seven species.<\/em><\/p>\n

The trees will all<\/em><\/p>\n

be sold to a broker;<\/em><\/p>\n

they won\u2019t be made<\/em><\/p>\n

into crosses<\/em><\/p>\n

for Jesus and Barabbas.<\/em><\/p>\n

And on these parcels of land<\/em><\/p>\n

concessions will be granted<\/em><\/p>\n

to Burger King<\/em><\/p>\n

and Kentucky Fried Chicken.<\/em><\/p>\n

The immense destruction is increasing hatred and makes one wonder if it will ever be overcome. The poem Revenge, by the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali may provide an answer (A biography of Muhammad Ali by the writer Adina Hoffman, My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet\u2019s Life in the Palestinian Century, a biography of Muhammad Ali by the writer Adina Hoffman, won the 2010 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize.)<\/p>\n

Revenge<\/em><\/p>\n

At times \u2026 I wish<\/em>
\nI could meet in a duel<\/em>
\nthe man who killed my father<\/em>
\nand razed our home,<\/em>
\nexpelling me<\/em>
\ninto<\/em>
\na narrow country.<\/em>
\nAnd if he killed me,<\/em>
\nI\u2019d rest at last,<\/em>
\nand if I were ready\u2014<\/em>
\nI would take my revenge!<\/em><\/p>\n

But if it came to light,<\/em>
\nwhen my rival appeared,<\/em>
\nthat he had a mother<\/em>
\nwaiting for him,<\/em>
\nor a father who\u2019d put<\/em>
\nhis right hand over<\/em>
\nthe heart\u2019s place in his chest<\/em>
\nwhenever his son was late<\/em>
\neven by just a quarter-hour<\/em>
\nfor a meeting they\u2019d set\u2014<\/em>
\nthen I would not kill him,<\/em>
\neven if I could.<\/em><\/p>\n

Likewise \u2026 I<\/em>
\nwould not murder him<\/em>
\nif it were soon made clear<\/em>
\nthat he had a brother or sisters<\/em>
\nwho loved him and constantly longed to see him.<\/em>
\nOr if he had a wife to greet him<\/em>
\nand children who<\/em>
\ncouldn\u2019t bear his absence<\/em>
\nand whom his gifts would thrill.<\/em>
\nOr if he had<\/em>
\nfriends or companions,<\/em>
\nneighbors he knew<\/em>
\nor allies from prison<\/em>
\nor a hospital room,<\/em>
\nor classmates from his school\u2026<\/em>
\nasking about him<\/em>
\nand sending him regards.<\/em><\/p>\n

But if he turned<\/em>
\nout to be on his own\u2014<\/em>
\ncut off like a branch from a tree\u2014<\/em>
\nwithout a mother or father,<\/em>
\nwith neither a brother nor sister,<\/em>
\nwifeless, without a child,<\/em>
\nand without kin or neighbors or friends,<\/em>
\ncolleagues or companions,<\/em>
\nthen I\u2019d add not a thing to his pain<\/em>
\nwithin that aloneness\u2014<\/em>
\nnot the torment of death,<\/em>
\nand not the sorrow of passing away.<\/em>
\nInstead I\u2019d be content<\/em>
\nto ignore him when I passed him by<\/em>
\non the street\u2014as I<\/em>
\nconvinced myself<\/em>
\nthat paying him no attention<\/em>
\nin itself was a kind of revenge.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Two Visions of Gaza<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on CounterPunch.org<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is now becoming increasingly evident that Gaza has become a quagmire, one from which Israel will find it difficult to extricate itself. At stake is what to do with Gaza once the hostilities cease, and even if the Israeli military are victorious over Hamas, the essential question will remain, what to do with Gaza? More<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Two Visions of Gaza<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1434552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1434553,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434552\/revisions\/1434553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1434552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1434552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1434552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}