The Tel Aviv bus bombing has reminded us in the cruellest possible way that the Iron Dome anti-missile defence system is not a substitute for real peace. The Netanyahu government has wasted four precious years in which it has spurned President Obama’s efforts, and ignored the pleas of the international community and Abu Mazen (President Mahmoud Abbas) to finally bring an end to the Occupation. Netanyahu prefers settlements over peace, and a Hamas-controlled Gaza over an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. And to add insult to injury he carried out an ostentatious military and assassinated Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari. In January 1996 Shimon Peres’s government assassinated Yahya Ayyash (“The Engineer”) and a wave of suicide attacks swept the country. Netanyahu won the election that year when he rode the wave of nationalism and hatred. His conduct today shows the direction to which he wants to lead us. Rejectionist policies leading to another Intifada,. Today more than ever we need to issue a strong call: Bibi Netanyahu, Shelly Yachimovich, Ehud Barak Go home – citizens’ lives are more worthy.
Da’am Workers Party calls for the immediate cessation of fighting, withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, and thus prove a real intention for peace.
Translated by Sol Salbe
A. Jardine,I agree on mostly but not on this asrsetion :”As to the issue of Hamas vis-a-vis ordinary Palestinians, it’s important to keep in mind the broad support they receive, particularly in elections”.Israel is not innocent in the raise of Hamas to the quasi “single-party” status it has today. It has indeed fed this growth with its aggressive policy, could it be unfortunate, or worth planned. Palestinian People have few other alternatives ! One should not believe elections results (and keep in mind elections there have little in common with occidental ones) are an accurate image of a People’s state of mind. Between militia, an ambiguous police force and the pressure of various international interests and lobbies around, majority of Palestinians keep their true opinions for themselves and follow the stream.Propaganda on either sides are careful in hiding that! Israel true objectives are nonetheless obvious, it has no intentions of freeing Palestinians from Hamas oppression.Hamas propaganda is evil and collectivist ? Of course it is, no discussion here. But being objective requires denunciation the evil collectivist propaganda which is quite obvious on the other side as well !
“Netanyahu established Hamas, gave it life, freed Sheikh Yassin and gave him the optoutrnipy to blossom”.Not having proof doesn’t mean that this is not true. And yes, unfortunately I don’t have any. Israel government is also playing on very high levels of propaganda and disinformation. You can’t have a binary view. It is more complicated.During WWII for eg. nobody (including Germans) knew what was happening in the camps.In 2005, Hamas announced its intention to launch an experimental TV channel, “Al-Aqsa TV”. The station was launched on January 7, 2006, less than three weeks before the Palestinian legislative elections. It has shown television programs, including some children’s television, which deliver anti-semitic messages like the video posted by Peter. Hamas people are not Palestinian, they are corpuscular cells which disseminate terror on people.About my own certitudes : I have several closed friends (and a close family member), all non-interested and neutral in their opinions and positions who have been recently in Palestine and Israel for journalistic or humanitarian purposes. One did penetrate the Gaza strip. I believe them and their testimonials.No one give them the optoutrnipy to speak and to show the real face of Palestine in this binary propaganda. The French government has his own interest conflict. Hamas doesn’t want people to realise about this disgusting oppression nor Israel state about their real objectives. And that is a sad reality.
This formal deonmcut calls for a cease fire without mentioning both parties. I don’t think that’s standard operating procedure anywhere else. There should be a ceasefire and Israel should leave is very one-sided.And I think all Palestinians would reject the idea that they’re all members of Hamas. This is really an issue with Hamas, not the Palestinian people, so again the UN missed the target while potentially putting forth a generalization that isn’t true. And the fact that little if anything came out of the UN (and certainly nothing this strongly worded) specifically aimed at Hamas while they spent 7 years shooting rockets at Sderot and its environs laid the foundation of this inequity. They only call for the cessation of hostilities when Israel shoots back.
, “we would do better to not base our claim to the land of Israel on G-d’s coavnent.” Here we see how …Rabbi Isaac answers his own question, based on a verse in Psalms, “He declared to His people the strength of His works, in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations “: “For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, ‘You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan,’ Israel may reply to them, ‘All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He. He created it and gave it to whom He pleased; when He so desired He gave it to them, and when He so desired He took it from them and gave it to us.”
in any side, in any form of propaganda. And don\’t tell me about the ofciaifl elections… We both know here again.Blinkers go with all cultures and their conditioning, not only with Islam. Spanish Inquisitors, Hitler Youth, Kamikazes, Enola Gay pilots weren\’t Muslim. In Yugoslavia, Muslims suffered more form Christian atrocities than the opposite (if a comparison can ever be made); same deal in 1982 in Sabra et Chatila.Peter, in spite of my respect and friendship for you, I think your posts are voluntarily (and disgustingly) ambiguous in their one-sided legitimation of Israel oppressive politics and its horrors. Contrarily to what Netanyahu suggests, whatever horrors one side is committing (be relieved I am not trying to justify Hamas and other fanatics\’ atrocities), legitimating the other side violent (and state-supported) response in legitimating an endless cycle.I wish to conclude with this very light anecdote. When I lived in New Zealand, one of my neighbour told us (to Pierre and myself) that he doesn\’t like us as we he doesn\’t trust any French ass since what happen to the Rainbow Warrior. Reality is that majority of French people hated what happened. We were deeply ashamed. But yes, we didn\’t show that much unfortunately.Hopefully when this gentleman told me that, I didn\’t thought that Kiwis were closed-minded. And I still don\’t, after they empty our house and finally “threw us” out
Because I am only talking of a bunch of few people here. Not about 4 millions of human beings.
There is, by the “old” (20th century) canevont, a state for the “Palestinians” without Jewish towns, cities, burgs, dorfs, kibbutes, et al. It is called Jordan, unfortunately, the artifice of Jordan’s standing and its government, as alluded in comments above, excised from Judea, finds the Philistines and Palestinians revolting (sic, pun intended) and expelled them after they tried to overthrow the King. To consider that Palestine was the artifice of a fageler Roman emperor whose “top” died in Israel and in a tantrum, so that he didn’t have to see the name on the map, embarked on his own pogrom and final solution… obviously by the hand of G*d, he failed and I suspect Obama shall be as successful in obliterating Israel
To be fair, they only mention Israel’s army once, in asnkig them to withdraw from Gaza. They stress, the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It would seem obvious to me that the ceasefire is on the part of both sides, as that is what a ceasefire generally means.Also, they call for efforts to be put in place for Israel and Palestine to live in peace. They condemn, ALL violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorist[m?]. That would seem to be directed not towards Israel but only towards those who have used hostilities directed towards civilians. If that describes Israel, that is who it applies to. If that describes Hamas, that is who it applies to.I think some are looking for inequity where none exists.