Israel captured 2 Gaza civilians on June 24

Facts Ignored: Israel's Kidnapping of 2 Gaza Civilians on June 24
daily kos

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"Facts" in this dispute are never unbiased and rarely undisputed. However, one glaring fact, never reported in this country and now forgotten in the current crisis between Israel and Hezbollah, was the precursor to all of this: the kidnapping of two Gaza residents by the IDF on June 24.

The kidnapping of two IDF soldiers by Hamas on June 25 was a reaction to this. As per usual, Israel's participation in the genesis of this crisis -- like the occupation itself -- is, in the course of so much tit for tat, forgotten. I link the articles below.

What is crucial about the Israeli incursion into Gaza on June 24 was the first raid by the IDF in Gaza since the pull-out. See Haaretz, "IDF carries out first arrest in Gaza Strip since pullout" (an article by Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff which, unfortunately, seems to have been removed from their site).

This was clearly a significant provocation. Several sources reported this event, though to my knowledge this has not been mentioned in the current coverage in the US. A summary of the June 24 arrest:

For the first time since withdrawing from Gaza last September, IDF forces carried out a raid inside the territory early yesterday, arresting two Palestinians they said were Hamas militants.

"The two, who are currently being questioned at a location inside Israel, were believed to be involved in the final stages of planning a major terrorist operation inside Israel," an IDF spokeswoman said.

Gaza resident Ali Muamar said the soldiers arrested his two sons - Osama, a doctor who had arrived in Gaza last month from Sudan, and Mustafa, a student of Islamic law.

A spokesman for Hamas, which won control of the Palestinian government in January, denied the men detained were connected to the group.

Both Reuters and the BBC reported this as well, as did Al Jazeera and The Jerusalem Post.

Hezbollah also took this as an opportunity to challenge the Israeli leadership. According to the BBC:

Some have argued that Hezbollah wanted to test new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is an unknown quantity as far as military crises go.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah has said that the soldiers were captured to pressure Israel to release the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in its jails.

If this is true it only makes sense of the now-forgotten June 24 raid by the IDF, and their taking of two more such prisoners.

The point of all subsequent coverage in the US-- every word printed by the New York Times is the obvious starting place -- is a re-hash of the standard line: it is Israel that is left again defending itself against incursions from without -- the kidnapping by Hamas on June 25, and the attacks by Hezbollah. It is no apology for Hamas or Hezbollah to point out that this just is not so.

www.DailyKos.com by sparacando--Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 12:39:36 AM EDT