Israel's opportunity in Syria

[Jefferson23]

Akiva Eldar is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Israel Pulse. He was formerly a senior columnist and editorial writer for Haaretz and also served as the Hebrew daily’s US bureau chief and diplomatic correspondent. His most recent book (with Idith Zertal), Lords of the Land, on the Jewish settlements, was on the best-seller list in Israel and has been translated into English, French, German and Arabic.


Several hours before taking off from Washington on March 4, en route to Eilat, where he had his photo taken against the backdrop of the Iranian Klos-C weapons vessel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared with participants of the AIPAC conference his impressions from a visit to an Israeli army field hospital in the Golan Heights. Netanyahu spoke with pride about the devoted treatment by Israeli medical teams of nearly 1,000 wounded Syrians who managed to cross the border.

“That border, which runs a hundred yards east of that field hospital, is the dividing line between decency and depravity, between compassion and cruelty,” Netanyahu said. On the other side of this moral divide, Netanyahu went on, hinting at the weapons shipment, is Iran, which prefers sending rockets, terrorists and missiles instead of humanitarian rescue teams.

The story of the humanitarian aid to the wounded Syrians, as well as the story of the Iranian weapons ship, is far more complex in reality than Netanyahu describes. The weapons, which were probably making their way to the Gaza Strip, are an insignificant chapter in the story of Israel’s occupation of the territories. The full story has to include the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the hardships of its 1.6 million residents, who have to make do with no electricity and three hours of water a day, and the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An end to this conflict depends, among other things, on resolving the problem of the 1948 refugees, including half a million who found refuge in Syria — a refuge which has become a death trap for them over the past three years.

The sacred mission of the military doctors, which Netanyahu described in his speech, and the wonderful attitude of the Nahariya hospital staff to the wounded Syrians, as recounted in a feature story by Inna Lazareva, bring out the bright side of Israel’s approach to the Syrian tragedy. But is it enough that Israel provides medical help to several hundred wounded while a crime against humanity is being committed on its doorstep? Can a government, which insists on being defined as a “Jewish government,” look on from the sidelines at the massacre which has cost the lives of more than 130,000 people, most of them civilians, and turned 2 million others into refugees?

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/syria-israel-refugees-palestinian-camps-gaza-sunnite-axis.html#ixzz2wLOf8N00