Ed O’Loughlin’s "analysis" in today's Melbourne Age is most illuminating. It tells us little that we don’t already know about the current situation in the Palestinian territories but it does tell us a lot about where he stands in respect of the conflict in this region.
Most readers know there is very little sympathy for Israel but O'Loughlin's look at the new Hamas ascendency and Fatah’s attempts to counter the fundamentalist movement is problematic. A reading of US-Backed Abbas risks being tagged 'Quisling' tells us that as far as O’Loughlin is concerned, Palestinians today are faced with two choices.
You either fall in behind Hamas – an organization which openly declares its intention to destroy Israel and to ethnically cleanse the region of Jews (Hamas Charter – Article 7) or alternatively, if you want to negotiate with Israel you are labelled a "Quisling".
Whichever way you look at it, it's pure Hamas propaganda. It's all about the wielding of power by the different Palestinian armed groups and not about reconciliation between the Palestinians and the Israelis. There is, of course, no room in this analysis for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
7 comments:
To be fair to the Fairfax Press, the Age's sister paper here in Sydney, the SMH has an op ed from the CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies on the sisterhood of Marrickville council with the Muslim Brotherhood. It contains facts about which most Fairfax readers know nothing because there's nobody there to report on them since O'Loughlin doesn't show Hamas' warts and prefers to "makes nice" with the terrorists.
The article should therefore shock SMH readers out of their socks when they discover, inter alia, that Bethlehem is no longer a Christian city but a Hamas stronghold. Since the PA took over in 1995 the Christian population is slowly being ethnically cleansed from the area. There have been many reports of intimidation and persecution of the Christian population in the form of murders, beatings and land grabs. Several Christian families have written to the Vatican, European governments, church leaders and PA Mahmoud Abbas about their plight which stems from the fact that 10 of the 15 seats on Bethlehem Council are controlled by Hamas and allied parties. Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks world Islamist domination and does not accept that people of other faiths have equal rights with Muslims. Both the military wing of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are proscribed as terrorist organisations by the Australian Government. The proposed council decision will involve the council in committing criminal offence for Australians for supporting a terrorist group. The Mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarseh, who is due to lead a delegation to Marrickville in August under the terms of the proposed relationship, is on record as opposing the two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine would live side by side. In other words, he seeks Israel's destruction.
I'm glad I'm not a resident of Marrickville.
(Sorry I have quoted extensively from the article but I can't provide a link)
Ruth
Here's a link to a recent SMH article.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Councils-Bethlehem-link-angers-Jews/2007/06/13/1181414356945.html
That article quotes Councillor Sam Iskandar who says the city had been chosen as a symbol of "love, peace and harmony".
It seems that there's not much love shown by the city to its rapidly dwindling Christian constituents who are leaving en masse.
No doubt someone will blame Israel for this even though Israel is the only Middle East state that is recording increases to its Christian population.
Ruth,
It wasn't an op ed but rather a lengthy letter you were referrring to - http://www.smh.com.au/letters/index.html
I couldn't imagine the Age publishing such a lengthy letter for Israel though it has done so with a number of anti-Israel letter writers. I couldn't even imagine the Age publishing such a letter without an accompanying letter of rebuttal from the other side.
The SMH also had an op ed from a Guardian writer that made sense compared to the inane bullshit that Ed serves up.
And here's a much more informed analysis from The Australian's editorial- http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21921502-7583,00.html
The Horror of Hamas
ANYBODY who thinks Israel is the worst enemy of the Palestinian people trapped in the cauldron that is Gaza should think again. Because since the Israelis evacuated Gaza in 2005 ordinary people have been trapped by a political firefight between the two main factions in Palestinian politics, Fatah and Hamas. And last week the two sides started shooting for real as they fought for the spoils of squalor in the impoverished Gaza. With the defeat of Fatah forces there, the world now faces the alarming prospect of Gaza and the West Bank, the other territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority, being ruled by two gangs of gunmen at war with each other. Hamas, which publicly demands the end of Israel, can claim that the core of the conflict is the willingness of Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, to talk to Israel. But it is also an argument over power and patronage.
O'Loughlin has suddenly woken up to the fact that the carnage being committed by Hamas and Fatah is not the work of a troop of goody two shoes boy scouts after all.
Ed must be feeling really unwell because he used the T word today -
"THE 'sleeve' has long been an unlovely fact of life at the Erez crossing, a kilometre-long cement corridor designed to keep terrorists clear of the Israeli-Gaza border gate."http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hamas-opens-fire-at-israelis-fugitives/2007/06/19/1182019116060.html
I'm cracking open a bottle of blue label to celebrate this important and world shattering discovery.
Crackpot letter writer Shane McCartin has made it to the letters section of the Age with that tired old furphy about Gaza being a prison and all of the troubles inside it are the result of Israel's policies. The Age had no problem with repeating this evil lie.
The T word is used again in the Age, albeit in a quotation from Mahmoud Abbas -http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/egypt-blames-iran-for-fuelling-gaza-violence/2007/06/21/1182019283720.html
The article by Alain Navarro quotes the great Fatah leader as follows;-
Mr Abbas described the Hamas militant group now controlling Gaza as "murderous terrorists" intent on creating an "empire of darkness and injustice".
"There is no dialogue to be initiated with those murderers," he said.
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