Prominent Jewish-American professor says Gaza rockets were ’symbolic resistance’ to Israeli siege.
LONDON – Prominent Jewish-American Professor Norman Finkelstein accused Israel of perpetrating “war crimes” in Gaza through its ongoing siege of the Strip and its war at the turn of the year.
His accusation came within an international conference titled, “UNRWA and Future of Palestinian Refugees”, organized in London Wednesday.
Finkelstein said the causes and effects of the war on Gaza are now coming to light, both in the Goldstone Report and in the recent arrest warrant issued by the UK for Tzipi Livni, who stated that she was “proud of everything she had done in Gaza”.
Briefly assessing the history to the siege, Finkelstein noted that the ceasefire that was agreed between Israel and Hamas June 2008 was broken by Israel, not Hamas: whilst Hamas stopped its rocket attacks, Israel did not lift its illegal blockade on Gaza and launched a night raid on Gaza, whilst the eyes of the worlds were watching 4th November 2008 US elections.
Six Hamas resistance fighters were killed, provoking Hamas to respond, which it did by resuming rocket attacks. Finkelstein emphasised that this is not violence so much as “symbolic resistance”.
He quoted one Palestinian who referred to the rocket attacks as “modest home made rockets are a cry of protest to the world”.
Finkelstein commented that if we are going to condemn Hamas for these rocket attacks, we must suggest how else they should resist the pressure placed on them by persistent Israeli attacks, subjugation and persistent blockades that drain the small area of land.
If we cannot provide an alternative, we cannot criticise, he argued.
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