The East Jerusalemite construction worker's rampage through Jerusalem this morning is hardly the first time bulldozers have been used as weapons in the region. One testimony of an Israeli military bulldozer driver shows how a bulldozer was used to create a "stadium" in Jenin refugee camp.
It is the first time a Palestinian-manned bulldozer has been used to attack Israelis. Normally, Israel used the bulldozers to destroy Palestinians homes, clear Palestinian agriculture and disperse crowds (see left). So frequent are such attacks that civilian committees against home demolitions have proliferated. Israel orders armored bulldozers from companies such as Caterpillar. The project he was working on, the Jerusalem light rail line, was itself dispossessing Palestinians and consolidating Israeli control over technically occupied land.
By killing three Israeli civilians, these acts of murder represent an ironic tragedy. While the shedding of no civilian blood is ever justified, how we talk about such acts is important. Rather than framing it as an isolated incident or as one more heedless Palestinian attack, we should really examine why construction equipment has become a tool of death and destruction in Israel-Palestine. For Palestinian, the bulldozer is a symbol of Israeli aggression. One assault with a bulldozer by a Palestinian does not change that. It only reminds us of the urgent need for a just peace.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Bulldozing Peace
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11 comments:
"One assault with a bulldozer by a Palestinian does not change that."
How many assaults with a bulldozer by a Palestinian will it take to change that?
Let's get some numbers going... I'll say... 5 assaults with a bulldozer, and 2 with a donkey. Anyone else?
No, nobody else is with you Firouz.
Nobody cares about you.
Three Pali terror groups have claimed responsibility now - al Aksa Martyrs, PFLP and GFB.
The mass murderer's name is Jabr Duwait.
Firouz,
Well, seeing as Israel has destroyed 18,000 Palestinian homes since 1967, I would say it is considerably more than 5.
We don't need to to quantify it, because as a state fighting mostly refugees, Israel enjoys a pretty huge qualitative advantage in the employment of the mechanics of killing and uprooting.
Will
"I would say it is considerably more than 5."
How many assaults with a bulldozer would you prefer, then, Will?
"as a state fighting mostly refugees, Israel enjoys a pretty huge qualitative advantage in the employment of the mechanics of killing and uprooting."
The Jews must not be very efficient at it, then, since the Palestinian population is growing rapidly. Of course, if the Palestinians had the qualitative advantage in the employment of the mechanics of killing and uprooting, we would see a Jewish Holocaust to rival Hitler's dreams.
The Palestinians have been refugees no longer than the Jews who fled Europe and the Middle East to found the State of Israel. Over a million Jewish refugees just arrived a decade ago from the Soviet Union. The difference is that the Jews built a functioning, vibrant state. The Arabs built a society of hatred and violence, with some individual exceptions.
More info has emerged of the hero who took a gun from a helpless Israeli officer, jumped onto the tractor and fought the Palestinian terrorist driver, eventually shooting him in the head and saving innocent lives.
So far, it's 3 dead, 57 injured...
Another twist...
An off-duty soldier took the gun from an elite policeman at the scene and shot the terrorist dead. In a bizarre coincidence, the soldier, "M" (his name is barred from publication), 18, is the brother-in-law of IDF officer David Shapira, who killed the terrorist in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack.
A family that kills terrorists together, stays together!
Like my wife said, that 18 year old hero is the definition of sexy. I concur. That is real bravery, unlike that Palestinian terrorist coward's act.
Burraq, you're completely right!
Only cowardly terrorists would go on such a crazy rampage in a bulldozer killing innocent people and senslesly demolishing their property. And I commend the bravery of the man who shot the driver. Too bad Israeli bulldozers are armored, or else we'd have a lot more sexy and brave Palestinians too.
Stop shooting at cars passing on the highways from your villages and we won't have to bulldoze your homes.
It is very effective, let me tell you.
I think it is highway 442 from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. There were shooting attacks all the time from the villages next to it, until finally IDF came and said, next time you shoot, we bulldoze.
A few times there were shots, the IDF came and bulldozed all the homes overlooking the highway in that village, and no more shots on this road to this day.
Very effective and cheap, when you consider how many lives have now been saved in terrorist shootings and IDF operations that never had to happen.
Thank you, Will, for this perspective. I had been focused on the awful media coverage and hadn't even though of the bulldozer symbolism (which would not necessarily occur to non-Israelis and non-Palestinians).
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