Gaza is our Guernica

Joseph E. Fasciani

Here is a photograph of the painting with a statement from Picasso, followed by the present carnage at Gaza [Reuters Jan 12, 2009, url:http://www.reuters. com/article/ newsOne/idUSTRE5 053R720090112]:

�What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre in every chamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a boxer, just his muscles? Far, far from it: at the same time he is also a political being constantly aware of the heartbreak- ing, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war.� Pablo Picasso

�In 1937 Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, a mural, as the centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion of the World�s Fair in Paris . It is a bitter irony that Guernica, the most lasting monument of the exposition, is the Twentieth century's most enduring symbol of the horrors of war and the inhumane use of technology. It is a portent for the terrors of the next decade. The painting is based on the events of April 27, 1937, when the German air force, in support of the Fascist forces led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, carried out a bombing raid on the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain .

�At that time such a massive bombing campaign was unprecedented. The hamlet was pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three hours. The non-combatant townspeople including women and children were indiscriminately cut-down as they fled their crumbling buildings. The town of Guernica burned for three days leaving sixteen hundred civilians killed or wounded in its smoldering remains.

�The Fascist planners of the bombing campaign knew that Guernica had no strategic value as a military target, but it was a cultural and religious center for Basque identity. The devastation was intended to terrorize the population and break the spirit of the Basque resistance. In effect it was intended to "shock and awe" the Basques into submission. The bombing of Guernica was a sensation in the world press. The Times of London called it the arch-symbol of Fascist barbarity.�

From http://employees. oneonta.edu/ farberas/ arth/ARTH200/ guernica. html, one in a series from the website devoted to Responses to War created by David Hart of the University of Adelaide .

That the above description could be applied to the present horrors in Gaza with virtually no differences is condemnation enough for Israel to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Let us substitute Gaza for Guernica and Palestinian for Basque and see the eerie parallels:

�The Fascist planners of the bombing campaign knew that Gaza had no strategic value as a military target, but it was a cultural and religious center for Palestinian identity. The devastation was intended to terrorize the population and break the spirit of the Palestinian resistance. In effect it was intended to "shock and awe" the Palestinians into submission.�

That this massacre is made by the same people who scream "Holocaust!" about themselves is of course the supreme irony, and --from a Christian point of view-- the greatest self-incrimination and sin. Sin. Well, there's a word!

Our idea of sin derives from the Greek word harmartia, which means to 'miss the mark," something we cannot fault those precision Israeli bombers for. They locate and hit schools, hospitals, children's shelters, and UN aid stations. Any and all humanitarian relief points are now suitable targets.

An Israeli friend of mine told me this was a common joke there twenty years ago:
"Why does Israel need expensive spy satellites?"
"So we can spot Palestinian kids picking up stones to throw at our tanks!"

For me, at nearly 66, it brings to mind all the black and white documentaries I watched as a child, often at rallies and memorials we attended with my father's business partners, Sam Windstrauch and Sam Silberstein, two real Jews who had no interest in Zionism, nor did Albert Einstein, no matter how often he was asked to support "Israel Bond Drives".

Now the murderers are strangely transposed: the old black and white movies of the Nazis destroying Guernica or taking the Warsaw ghetto have morphed into full-colour TV journalists documenting Israel's "Defense" Forces [IDF] taking Gaza, exactly as was done sixty years ago.

The formerly abused become present abuser and use the same tactics: enclose the victims, cut off food, water, and fuel; bomb and shell one and all, set them fleeing in vain. Then move in and use all the newest weapons to maximize their deaths at minimal IDF losses. To date, it seems that goal is a kill ration of 100:1 or better, if possible.

As we step into the Ninth Circle of Hell, please note the IDF�s weapons and tanks are the best that money can buy and the USA supply, in fact, pays for with the billions of dollars of "foreign aid" it generously gives to Israel every year. If the US gave its own citizens as much as it gives to Israel , each man, woman, and child would receive more than US$ 33,000.00 a year. Let me know when you got your cheque, as I have yet to get mine.

"Is it an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity? [Holocaust] I think not."

Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and international law authority at Princeton University, 2009

This much is certain: all these killers are true to their leaders, such as Bush, who told us that "I listened to the voices...and acted. I am the Decider." Some leader! Some decisions!

Can anyone see Christ in anything that comes out from Bush, or from any ZIonazi spokesperson? �For it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but what proceeds from his mouth!� warned Jeshua, 2000 years ago. Nothing�s changed.

In the US of A and Canada , self-righteous �Christian� evangelicals aligned with Zionazis defame Him for a fictitious "security" which cannot ever be, for there can never be peace without justice.

In truth, they are not Christians. They, along with the Zionazis, are the new murderous Pharisees of our era, if we have eyes that truly see, and unstopped ears to hear the screams of agony in Gaza , the Guernica of our time.

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