LOST AND UNFOUND
The only thing more useless than an opportunity not seized is an obvious lesson not learned. The Biden administration’s “plan” to deliver aid to Gaza without putting boots on the ground has managed both at the same time.
A temporary bridge that will take up to 60 days to build and offers nothing beyond making it possible (maybe) to get food aid onto the beach, is little better than a feel-good measure.
“Boots on the beach”, however, would be an indisputably positive response to the exponentially growing suffering of the people of Gaza.
The very thought may be an anathema to many politicians, but a physical presence in the middle of a humanitarian crisis is a win-win. The best example I’ve ever seen was when Kurds fled into Turkey and Iran in 1991 to escape Saddam Hussein’s revenge, after the George H.W. Bush administration cowered back from stopping him.
As part of “Operation Provide Comfort”, a UN-mandated effort to establish a “safe haven “ for the Kurds in northern Iraq, six hulking U.S. Army Green Berets showed up on a muddy Turkish mountainside tableau of misery called Ishikverin. Thousands of refugees were stranded there, just below the snowline.
As are the Israelis in Gaza, the Turks were doing their best to keep conditions wretched and humanitarian assistance minimal.
Within twenty-four hours of their arrival, the American soldiers were transforming a hell-hole into a place where people had hope they might survive long enough to go home. Translators were recruited, work teams organized according to skill sets. Latrines were dug, rubbish cleared up, order established in what had been a chaotic line at a mobile clinic run by Doctors Without Borders.
The Green Berets told us they’d made it clear that any Turkish soldiers who beat or shot refugees (which we’d seen and reported them doing) “would get the same back”.
SET THE RULES
“Force protection” being a U.S. military mantra, both the Israelis and Hamas would need to be told in similar clear and unequivocal terms that interference with U.S. troops and aid workers involved in food distribution for Gaza would not be tolerated, with appropriate Rules of Engagement, both political and military, to back it up.
And Israel has given de facto clearance already.
Leaving aside whatever Israel’s legal obligations are in Gaza, the West has repeatedly shown it is willing to take the Israeli government at its word even when it’s obvious they are being economical with the truth, to put it mildly.
At the beginning of the conflict Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted that after the conflict, Israel would “no longer have responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip”.
Ergo, the U.S. and any of its partners and allies facilitating aid distribution could arguably be seen as merely helping Israel achieve one of its stated aims. That is, of course, simplistic.
But how much has nit-picking legal nuances achieved?
HISTORY SHOWS…
The lesson unlearned is from the Marine’s role in the multinational force in Beirut in 1983.
They were hunkered down, guns pointed out, in the trashed international airport. Contact with the local population they were there to benefit was limited and wary.
A small contingent of Italian troops took on the job of protecting the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatilla, scene of a massacre by a Lebanese Chrisitan militia allied with Israel.
Camera crew Sami Awad and Hassan Harake and I were at a checkpoint where two Italian soldiers were posted to ensure no weapons entered the camp when, for no apparent reason, Christian militiamen started taking pot shots at it with an anti-aircraft gun. We all ducked for cover behind a sand berm. Rounds slammed into and whizzed over it.
But when a car drove up, one of the Italians jumped out, searched it and confiscated a pistol. (So much for the joke about Italian tanks having one forward and three reverse gears.)
I’ve often tried to imagine how different the Middle East, and America’s relations with it, would be today if it had been U.S. Marines ensuring the safety of Palestinian refugees. It’s an image even the most rabid Islamic fundamentalist movement, preaching hatred of “evil America”, would have a hard time dispelling.
Distributing aid on the ground sends an equally vivid message that Hamas is not the people of Gaza’s best friend.
Leaving aside the humanitarian impact, isn’t that lesson enough for putting U.S. boots on a Gaza beach to supervise and protect say, Marine hovercraft, known as LCACs (Landing Craft, Air Cushion) roaring ashore filled to their 60 tonne carrying capacity with food aid?
The optics alone would go some way to atoning for continuing to supply arms to Israel without real constraints on their use in civilian areas.
Unfortunately for some two million civilians trapped in Gaza, and the image of America, the more likely prospect is that rather than embracing “Star Trek” Commander Picard’s catchline, “Make it so”, those who could do so fit the great American writer Mark Twain’s wry self-assessment: “I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.”
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5 thoughts on “LOST AND UNFOUND”
As sensible as your suggestion is I suspect that the US current initiatives are really designed to avoid (as much as possible in a no win situation) losing Muslim and Jewish votes in the upcoming election than actually providing aid and security to those who desperately need it. Sadly doing the right thing is not as compelling as doing the best thing when it comes to maintaining your hold on power.
Sadly, I think you’re right
Very insightful article Pizz. And Julian you are spot on … sadly.
Upon hearing that the mother and father who gave their unstable 15 year old son a gun for Christmas have been found guilty of manslaugher after he murdered fellow students in the States, it makes me wonder if that micro example could not apply to the macro.
No shortage of blood. No shortage of hands.
Thanks for the great insight from Pizzey’s Perch. It was more than the usual one dimensional opinion pieces we usually read. Liked your personal experience incorporated in the comment.
Thanks Rich