"An Image That Cannot Be Forgotten"

by Imraan Siddiqi - upbhavan@aim.com

Source: http://upbjournal.blogspot.com/

July 31, 2006: We must never forget what happened on July 30th, 2006. What happened in Qana, at the hands of Israeli warplanes, is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions. Out of the sixty confirmed dead, thirty seven are children. A heartbreaking attack such as this should be an indelible image for the world to remember. As we are seeing recent events unfold however, it is increasingly apparent that the world is becoming much too comfortable with large scale civilian Arab and Muslim deaths.

The act alone of killing 60 innocent civilians is a war-crime. But when the act is performed by Israel, international law apparently does not apply. Although the entire world is expressing outrage at this atrocity, America still refuses to murmur a harsh word about its closest ally. Rather, we have the President, Secretary of State and the U.N. Ambassador tap-dancing around the issue, chanting the same mantra of waiting to "negotiate a sustainable peace." While the bodies are still being pulled from the rubble, Israel is also doing its best at white-washing the incident. Although claiming it was a mistake, the IDF refuses to back down, blaming Hezbollah for fighting in close quarters to civilians. The question to Israel, is this: After destroying all roads in and out of a town, how do you expect anyone to escape your barrage of death from the sky? Where are the civilians supposed to run, when all bridges and infrastructure have been bombed out by your F-16’s? The fact is that Israel knows very well that they are containing civilians within the same quarters in both Lebanon and Gaza, and are willing to take out innocents without a second thought. This has been the card that Israel has used whenever their bombing campaigns go awry. The best thing to do when you screw things up is to project the blame onto your enemy. One of their most famous episodes of this tactic occurred when American Rachel Corrie was run over and killed by an IDF bulldozer. Rather than blaming the soldier that was behind the wheel for killing the civilian, the army claimed that the militant Palestinians coerced Corrie to jump in front of the machine. Sadly, the world falls for this bait every time.

If we need any further proof that American and Israeli foreign policy are running dangerously close together, just take a look at what happened when more children were killed in a targeted U.S. strike in Iraq on Sunday. When questioned about the killing of innocent children, a U.S. official said "terrorists continue to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in danger by their actions and presence." After reading comments like that, it seems as though the Israeli and American governments are both using the same PR firm. Both countries have shown that they take great comfort at inflicting heavy collateral damage upon their enemies.

Another question we must ask is: “Who decides the definition of terror, nowadays?” Does it matter whether the terrorist uses a vest filled with explosives or an F-16 to kill its target? Just because the bomber is using a $100 Million warplane doesn’t give any moral superiority over any other individual who is labeled as a terrorist. What happened on July 30th is the equivalent of a suicide-bombing at a daycare center. Thirty seven children are no longer alive. These children never got a chance to realize their dreams. Never were able to finish school, get married and have children of their own. With a single push of a button, a generation was lost forever.

It’s easy for the world to forget about days like July 30th, because it happens so often in the Middle East. How we forget the family of seven, who were massacred by Israel at a Gaza beach. Or what about the family of eleven, and the subsequent family of nine who were wiped out at the beginning of the bombings in Beirut? There is not enough room in the newspapers, or airtime on television to remind us of all these brutal deaths. They make headlines in the U.S. one day, and are out of the public’s collective memory far too soon. Sadly, when it comes to the death of Arabs and Muslims, it seems as though the price of their blood is too cheap.

Looking back at this tragedy, there will be no monuments to remember the fallen children of Qana. There will be no days of memorial or candlelight vigils, as there would have been if the killings happened in the West. The truth is that this was just another day, in a string of unfortunate days in the Middle East. This isn’t a story with a happy ending, rather one in which the killer gets away each and every time. At the current rate of events, there will likely be more death and destruction directed toward innocent women and children. The public’s eyes will slowly drift away from this tragedy and onto the next. We should all remember that futures were lost, complete bloodlines were destroyed, and innocence was taken on July 30th, 2006. That is why we must never forget the events that took place on this day.