Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Death By Your Countrymen

This post has permanantly moved to this address: Death By Your Countrymen

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"United we stand, divided we fall." - Aesop

This quote is so true, and so old, yet human beings still have yet to take heed. Sometimes, the opponent can stand back, arms folded and watch a people corrode from within. Without solidarity there can be no victory for the whole. That goes for any cause.

Power. Peace. Men get these mixed up all the time and focus on the wrong one. Which one does Hamas really want? From what's going on, I can't tell. Their actions weaken the argument that they are "freedom fighters" as opposed to run of the mill terrorists.

Anonymous said...

I believe Hamas and many extremist groups in the Middle East are the product of Israel's long and oppressing occupation of the Palestinians. The United States, especially the administration of President George Bush is also to blame. Although Mr Bush has repeatedly praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a "man of peace" and a "man of courage", he has never taken further steps to push Israel to make peace with him.

The Palestinians have voted for Hamas out of desparation and not out of conviction of their political and economic agenda. Surely, they are paying a heavy price for what appears to be a bad choice. But Israel's leaders appear content with that since they would not have to negotiate with a party that preaches the Jewish state's destruction.

It is convenient for these hardline leaders since they don't have to pull out from Palestinian territories and allow millions of displaced Palestinians to return to their homes that they have been evicted from since Israel's creation in 1948.

Many intellectuals in the Arab world believe that the root of all problems lie in the lack of a humane and dignified settlement for the Palestinian problem. Secretary of State Condaliza Rice is hearing this reality over and over again during her current tour of the Middle East.

Will she, or Mr Bush, listen to the voice of reason that has been repeated even by Washington's most loyal allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East?

Serg said...

What people, parties, and movements from around the world always seem to forget is public opinion.
As Reem pointed out, in the west the main view of the arabs is of a bunch of beligerant men, who don´t want peace. Some days ago, I heard, from the mouth of my father in law, a countryman with not much political culture (as the vast majority of the public) saying "These arabs, they are always fighting against eachother, or against us, for anything." Obviously, the poor man doesn´t even know what he is talking about, but his vote counts the same as ours.
In Palestina nobody seems to realize how handy it is to have a good image and repution. How important it is to move the feelings of the public opinion of the western world to have the UN REALLY doing something to calm the situation and stablish a durable and fair status quo.
You only have to look at the tragedies of Rwanda and Sudan to see what happens when the world doesn´t give a damn.
On the other hand, you can see how the UN has intevened when the public has asked for it, just think about Milosevic for example.

If you gain the hearts of the west grandmoms, you´ve won everything.