I have previously written a list of things which relate positively to the Israeli side of the present ongoing but centuries old war between the Ishmael and the Isaac descendants of Abraham – that is between the Jews and the Arabs. Initially we need to differentiate between the words “Philistines” and “Palestinians”, because there is overwhelming evidence that the Philistines lived for some centuries BC in what is now called Gaza.

The Land – Many remember the story of the Israeli David fighting Goliath, the champion of the Philistines. The Bible record states that there were another four giants of the same family as Goliath, and they all had the chance to fight against David and Israel and were defeated. There was no boundary marked on a map, but the areas controlled by both sides varied according to who was winning the skirmishes. As I can understand from secular reading the people called ‘Philistines’ exist no more. The first Palestinians were in fact Jews. The Romans were ruling over the lands where the Jews lived. Because of the troublesome nature of their subjugated people, ‘the Jews’, and with the thought of rubbing the Jewish noses in a hated concept, the Romans called a large area both to the East and the West of the Jordan river ‘Syrian Palestine’. The population at that time was overwhelmingly Jewish. The term covered what had been known by the inhabitants as Judea and Samaria i.e. Southern and Northern Israel. The trouble with the name and population has ‘grumbled along’ for centuries.

Muhammed is said to have had his first contact with the Angel Jibril in a cave called Hira, located on the mountain Jabal An-Nour near Mecca in 610 AD (CE), and from that ‘revelation’ Islam was born – the cave was in Saudi Arabia near Mecca. Jerusalem was conquered by Muslims about 635 AD and has been under the control of various power groups ever since. After WWI the Balfour declaration created the state of Palestine for a national home for the Jewish people! This was approved by the League of Nations in 1922.

The Zionist movement began in 1897 because Theodur Herzl believed the Jews needed a homeland – and the Zionist movement became very strong after WWII. At the time that Palestine was created as a home for the Jewish people, the population was part Arab, part Jew. Thus, this is a complex situation with Jewish heritage going back from Abraham’s time through Roman times, but with strong Arabic (often Islamic) control from 635 to WWI.

When did the present war begin? The Arab/Jewish antagonism has continued since 635AD as both a religious and cultural war. Could this be described as an unfinished war with many battles on the way? I think it helpful to look at it that way and to see the present situation as a battle. Both sides must accept their responsibilities in the ongoing war. But this battle was undoubtedly begun by a brutal terrorist act of Hamas. Am I surprised that Israel wants a decisive victory? Are hostages, including infants, the sick and the elderly legally held in modern warfare? Are civilians able to be used as shields for the army in modern warfare? Are armies allowed to shelter behind educational and health facilities to make attacking the enemy illegal? Has Hamas undoubtedly done all these illegal things? Is an opposition nation ever expected to feed the enemy civilians?

War	Civilian deaths	Army deaths
WWI	9.7 million	10 million
WWII	44 million	15 million
NATO in Yugoslavia	4	1          (ratio)
First Chechen war	40,000	4000
Second Chenchen war	13000	3000

It seems very reasonable to aim at zero civilian casualties. But one’s tongue must be in the cheek to say you believe that possible. It is very difficult to get accurate figures when one side is trying to prove that they are being treated poorly and the other side is trying to make themselves out as heroes!

By these figures The Rwanda figures of 800,000 civilian deaths from a population of 5-6 million is fairly obviously genocide, as were, one suspects, the Chechen wars. The Israeli – Hamas (Palestinian) conflict is obviously an extreme urban based war with underground tunnels at multiple levels. Hamas undoubtedly, as proven by the verbal and photo presented evidence, is using several illegal methods of shielding their terrorists. With Hamas figures, a total of 30,000 are dead, and, with Israeli figures 12,000 of those are Hamas soldier deaths. Both sides publicly question the figures presented by the opposition. If accepted they give a ration of 3/1.2 civilian to army. Certainly, that isn’t genocide, and I don’t believe the figures are totally honest.

How much help do the Hamas get? Hamas gets many instruments of war sent in ‘free’ by Iran. Some of the surrounding nations are paid to be actively involved (eg Hezbollah in Lebanon) and are stocked up, armament-wise, by the same nation which uses Hamas as an extended arm of their anti-Jewish hatred. UN aid to Gaza adds up to many billions. Has any of this AID money been used by Hamas in preparing for war?

The Battle cry ‘The river to the sea’, conceptually embedded in Hamas’ constitution, is absolutely disgusting. It is a statement of genocidal intent!

The non-Hamas-aligned Palestinians have my heartfelt sympathy. They are living in an environment of hatred; they have been educated to hate and destroy; they are being used as tools by an evil terrorist regime. I find it surprising that there are any Gazans not aligned with Hamas as I read the educational material taught in UNWA controlled schools. In polls taken inside Gaza, Hamas is well supported and thus in fact it is uncertain how many Gazans are not siding with Hamas.

The Israelis don’t need me (I’m a retired surgeon) to go there, although they may need soldiers from elsewhere. If I was 40 years younger, and if I could persuade Hamas to have a hospital apart from their war extensions inside the hospital, I would go to Gaza to offer my help. My required situation would be relatively easily provided, with an army field hospital and I cannot see any reason why the UN or the USA couldn’t supply it. Surely MSF would be happy to supply other staff unless they are committed to Hamas.

Dominic Cartier