Thursday, April 19, 2007

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PALESTINE - PART 2

Many observers of the conflict between Israel and Palestine see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who heads Fatah as the "good guy" on the Palestinian side and Hamas and Islamic Jihad as the "bad guys". Of course, it's not as simple as that because Abbas is a weak and ineffectual leader and it's this weakness that raises the very real question of with whom does Israel deal if it is to make peace with its Palestinian neighbours.

An example of the President's impotence was a report yesterday from Reuters whereby an aide claimed Abbas had reached an agreement with all "militant groups" operating in the Gaza Strip that they would stop rocket attacks into Israel - DEAL STRUCK TO HALT ATTACKS ON ISRAEL: ABBAS AIDE. The cessation of these rocket attacks is vital to progress the cause of peace which is dependent largely upon the Palestinians honouring commitments made to the international community to end violence against the citizens of Israel.

Apart from being weak, Abbas has a serious credibility problem with his constituency of "militants" because as soon as the announcement was made one group of serial rocketeers from Islamic Jihad, which advocates the Jewish state's destruction, denied that it had agreed to stop firing rockets. Spokesperson Abu Ahmed said that "there is no decision to stop firing. It increases and decreases according to security conditions on ground." He added in his statement that "the Zionist media claims are untrue".

While it's comforting to know that Reuters is now officially part of the "Zionist media" (and this presumably includes any of the schizophrenic British journalists who also happen to work for Reuters but are currently involved in a boycott of the Jewish State), the confusion establishes a couple of things:-

(a) You can't trust statements made by Mahmoud Abbas or his representatives about any negotiations for a cease fire, and

(b) Palestinians continue to fire rockets at Israeli civilians, a fact about which many commentators - not just the British journalists who voted for the boycott - remain in a state of denial.

The same can be said of the conflicting statements from Gaza "militants" who lay claim to having kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston. The other day they boasted that they had already executed him while today they demand $5 million for his release. It's hard to believe much of what comes out of Gaza these days.

One thing you can believe is Hamas' clear intention that it will not withdraw from its platform of destroying Israel and killing Jews. You can talk to these people but in the end you can't really negotiate peace with those whose aim is to slit your throat!

So what do we make make of all this?

There is a level of groupthink coming from those in "denial" about this conflict which reduces any discussion on the ongoing war between the two peoples to ridiculous levels in order ensure that Israel gets the blame for all that happens to these "oppressed Palestinians" despite the intransigence of these so-called "victims". In turn, the Palestinian leadership has no responsibility for its own people, nor for the guests and visitors within their midst - people like Johnston who was only doing his job when abducted. Then there are those in absolute denial - the likes of this idiot, who thinks Israel is behind everything including Johnston's abduction because it had the most to gain from his removal from the scene (presumably because Johnstone is like those other British journos who simply can't remain objective about any story they tell in relation to the conflict).

This is all part of the tragedy of Palestine. Nobody really wants to do anything that can really help the Palestinians out of the mire - especially not those who claim to be friends because the fact is that, in many ways, it's not about them at all. If it were all about victims, you would have bodies like the Human Rights Council sanctioning Sudan for the slaughter in Darfur, British journalists would be boycotting at least a dozen regimes before picking on democratic Israel for defending itself against those who fire rockets at its civilians on a daily basis and reports like that recently published by the United Nations for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs which highlights the fact that Palestinians are killing each other at an ever-increasing rate would never be lost in the blank pages. No, it's not about the Palestinians and that is why nobody really wants to talk about them or what they do very much - it's just the Jews!

HAT TIPS TO: ELDER OF ZIYON

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You make a very good point Wilbur. Who really gives a toss about any victims when one set of alleged victims receives far higher priority than any other? Why don't the people being slaughtered in Darfur (500,000 Darfurians dead in three years of being attacked by Arab militias) have the same protection in the HRC as the Palestinians (3,000 Palestinians dead in six years of Arab militias attacking Israelis)?

There can only be one reason: Jew hatred.