German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said the blame for renewed violence in the Middle East can be pinned on Hamas. Others, though, say Israel's response with mass air strikes has been disproportionate....In a statement released on Monday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "I am deeply concerned by continuing missile strikes from Gaza on Israel and by Israel's response."French President Nicolas Sarkozy was even more critical of Israel, calling the air raid campaign against the Gaza Strip "disproportionate force." Sarkozy spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by telephone on Sunday and also condemned "the provocations which have led to this situation."Javier Solana, chief of foreign policy for the European Union, said "the EU has repeatedly condemned rocket attacks against Israel," before adding "the current Israeli strikes are inflicting an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said the blame for renewed violence in the Middle East can be pinned on Hamas. Others, though, say Israel's response with mass air strikes has been disproportionate.
...In a statement released on Monday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "I am deeply concerned by continuing missile strikes from Gaza on Israel and by Israel's response."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was even more critical of Israel, calling the air raid campaign against the Gaza Strip "disproportionate force." Sarkozy spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by telephone on Sunday and also condemned "the provocations which have led to this situation."
Javier Solana, chief of foreign policy for the European Union, said "the EU has repeatedly condemned rocket attacks against Israel," before adding "the current Israeli strikes are inflicting an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians."
Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored - Robert Fisk, Commentators - The Independent
We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more - providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs - who, as we all know, only understand force. Ever since 1948, we've been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis - just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist "death wagon" will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be "liberated". And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise "restraint" - as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas's home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.
We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more - providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs - who, as we all know, only understand force.
Ever since 1948, we've been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis - just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist "death wagon" will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be "liberated". And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise "restraint" - as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas's home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.
And does the docile compliance of Fatah in the West Bank stop the violence against the plestinians, stop the land grabs, stop the IDF shooting children dead ? No. We have the perverse situation where the colonisers make the law that resistance is illegal whilst also making all acts of oppression just. And the world nods its head and agrees.
Lie after lie after lie. There is nothing the palestinians can do to appease the israelis. Their very existence is provocation enough. Let none believe there is a behaviour from the palestinians that would allow justice to breath, it is not in their gift.
When the israelis say "hamas and their like" you can hear the same murderous contempt that fuelled the word "untermenschen". When israelis talk of war to the "bitter end", I hope they are not convinced there is a final solution to the palestinian problem.
Israel is certainly damaging itself, but this is self-harm by proxy.
But finally I am less disgusted by Israel's behaviour than I am by the gleeful collusion of our own political elites. How can they see this and call it anything other than an atrocity ? keep to the Fen Causeway
