Throwing oil on the fire
Despite not being a big TV watcher, anyone who has seen or read about "Ross Kemp on Gangs" and the recent visit to Liverpool, set against the backdrop of the murder of Rhys Jones, will understand the power that a gang can exercise over it's members.
The sense of belonging seems particularly strong, with two gangs attending the same school, but living on different sides of a road, yet being unable to identify with each other.
The irrational, murderous hatred of each other is rooted in a deliberate attempt to misunderstand the 'enemy'.
Tragic, and we can all see where it leads - to bloodshed, deepening rifts, and despair from the rest of the community.
Everyone has the right to defend themselves, and be free from the threat of violence and to live their lives peacefully, but in exercising that right you must be careful not to overstep the mark.
In my view, Israel has totally lost sight of any sense of proportionality in its actions, and the inevitable response from Lebanon - it doesn't matter if it is Hebzollah or Palestinians - threatens to drag the entire region further into conflict.
I launch a precision strike against military targets; you launch an unprovoked attack on innocent civilians.
The last time the world saw a small country invaded by a militaristic neighbour with ambitions on regional domination, there was a united response to remove Saddam from Kuwait. If it is acceptable for Israel to invade Gaza, would it be acceptable for Iranian forces to pursue 'terrorists' into Iraqi territory? And if not, why not?
Israel is acting like the street bully. Kicking the doors down on the neighbours, wrecking their houses, and smiting their lands with anything big and heavy. Like all bullies, it needs to be shown that there is another way, and that requires the UN - with the full backing of all members - to intervene and stop the civilian deaths.
That is, stop the civilian deaths on both sides by cajoling Hamas to accept the responsibilities of office and prevent the attacks being launched.
And that all requires an even handed, but strong, hand from the international community to show both sides how to co-operate for all their benefits.
I use the word Ghetto with restraint, but if the people of Gaza are unable to have a working economy due to the actions of Israel and the wider world, is it any surprise that they react like the schoolboys in the Liverpool estates by lashing out. They have nothing to lose; and when you have nothing to lose then you have everything to gain.
The conflict might never be solved, but if we ignore the worst excesses and allow the hatred to continue and be exacerbated by the actions of one or other side, then it will never get better. But it will continue to get worse.
The sense of belonging seems particularly strong, with two gangs attending the same school, but living on different sides of a road, yet being unable to identify with each other.
The irrational, murderous hatred of each other is rooted in a deliberate attempt to misunderstand the 'enemy'.
Tragic, and we can all see where it leads - to bloodshed, deepening rifts, and despair from the rest of the community.
Everyone has the right to defend themselves, and be free from the threat of violence and to live their lives peacefully, but in exercising that right you must be careful not to overstep the mark.
In my view, Israel has totally lost sight of any sense of proportionality in its actions, and the inevitable response from Lebanon - it doesn't matter if it is Hebzollah or Palestinians - threatens to drag the entire region further into conflict.
I launch a precision strike against military targets; you launch an unprovoked attack on innocent civilians.
The last time the world saw a small country invaded by a militaristic neighbour with ambitions on regional domination, there was a united response to remove Saddam from Kuwait. If it is acceptable for Israel to invade Gaza, would it be acceptable for Iranian forces to pursue 'terrorists' into Iraqi territory? And if not, why not?
Israel is acting like the street bully. Kicking the doors down on the neighbours, wrecking their houses, and smiting their lands with anything big and heavy. Like all bullies, it needs to be shown that there is another way, and that requires the UN - with the full backing of all members - to intervene and stop the civilian deaths.
That is, stop the civilian deaths on both sides by cajoling Hamas to accept the responsibilities of office and prevent the attacks being launched.
And that all requires an even handed, but strong, hand from the international community to show both sides how to co-operate for all their benefits.
I use the word Ghetto with restraint, but if the people of Gaza are unable to have a working economy due to the actions of Israel and the wider world, is it any surprise that they react like the schoolboys in the Liverpool estates by lashing out. They have nothing to lose; and when you have nothing to lose then you have everything to gain.
The conflict might never be solved, but if we ignore the worst excesses and allow the hatred to continue and be exacerbated by the actions of one or other side, then it will never get better. But it will continue to get worse.
5 comments:
Interesting documentary on Israels
behaviour.
http://www.911missinglinks.com/
interesting... hate e-mail!
The reason that the US blindly supports Israel in what are clear to anyone with any objectivity here are WAR CRIMES in Gaza is the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who "donated" $43,365,498 to the US Congress between 1978-2004 to promote pro-Israeli policies. Israel gets about $6 Billion in aid from the US every year. Please take time to watch this documentary "Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land" –
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565
to get an idea of how much this organisation and other pro-Israeli lobby groups dictate American foreign policy. The majority of contributions in this documentary are from Jewish people by the way.
The pressure group Give Israel Your United Support state the objectives clearly on their website that "Today's conflicts are won by public opinion. Now is the time to be active and voice Israel's side to the world. Together we can make a difference." With nearly 40,000 members who are alerted to any anti-Israeli coverage in the media so they can harass these outlets who dare criticise, it is easy to see why few journalists stick their heads above the parapet. Alon Pinkas, Consul General for Israel in New York reiterated this saying that “We are currently in a conflict with the Palestinians…. and engaging in a successful PR campaign is part of winning the conflict.” Not only is Israel illegally occupying Palestinian land in contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 242, it is ideologically occupying the American media through its fierce lobbying. This isn’t about “security”, this whole issue is pandering to our ignorance and indifference to what is really happening in the Occupied Territories i.e. the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population to create an ethnically pure Zionist state.
Don't believe me that the media is biased? Well go to this link; http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
And then to this one;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7735051.stm
which although doesn't mention the six Palestinians killed on the 4 November military incursion in Gaza does say that 16 were killed in the previous two weeks, which begs the question why is the BBC not mentioning that it was actually Israel that broke the ceasefire? Does "ceasefire" only mean when Israeli aren't being killed and is the BBC only a mouthpiece for justifying UK foreign policy. Ask Andrew Gilligan or check out the Glasgow University Media Group report “Bad News From Israel” that showed a clear pro-Israeli bias in reporting this issue.
This latest crisis did not start on the 27 December, although it would be hard to think otherwise if your only access to information was the BBC. There is little mention of the fact that the Palestinians have been illegally occupied for 41 YEARS now; that there are over 450,000 illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank controlling 40% of the area; that there has been an illegal immoral blockade on Gaza for over 18 months, which was referred to by Ariel Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglas as “putting the Palestinians on a diet.”
Israel provokes, provokes, and provokes until there is a violent response from the Palestinians, that the compliant media report as if it were an isolated incident and that the Palestinians can't be negotiated with. The fact is that the Palestinians simply won’t accept Gaza as an open prison and the West Bank as a Bantustan. Would you? Remember Israel was a big supporter of the Apartheid South Africa regime. As was our government; the ANC were “terrorists” and Nelson Mandela should be hung. One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter, ask Tzipi Livni, whose father was a member of the militant Zionist organisation Irgun, who bombed the King David Hotel in 22 July 1946 killing 91 people.
Also ask yourself this question, how can the Palestinians or anyone else for that matter, recognise the state of Israel when it doesn't recognise its own borders? Every time I look another illegal settlement has been built. The Bible says to turn the other cheek; the problem is that if you do that with Israel, it will build a house when you are looking the other way!
Wonder why our government are hardly pushing themselves to stop the slaughter in Gaza? May be something to do with Labour Friends of Israel….there is also a Tory branch. These politicians, who are schmoozed on sponsored trips to Israel in return for maintaining a pro-Israel stance, have blood on their hands. They are “pouring oil on the fire” on the anti-west feeling increasing exponentially to this injustice. If our government really want a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis maybe they should demand that Israel comply with international law for once instead of complying with its policy of starving and bombing the Palestinians into accepting a submissive government that will meekly cede to all Israel’s demands. This isn’t about “security”, it’s about legitimising the illegal acquisition of Palestinian land. You can bomb the Palestinians into pieces but not into peace.
I would finally like to add that one of the reasons I got involved in human rights was seeing Claude Lanzmann’s Holocaust documentary “Shoah” as a teenager and being horrified at what I saw and vowing then to stand up for the rights of oppressed people. I would rather have perished with the Jewish people than have the stain of the Holocaust on my conscience. Ask yourself can you have the stain of ethnic cleansing on yours? I have been to the Occupied Territories and witnessed first hand the appalling conditions the Palestinians are being subjected to and totally agree with Archbishop Desmond Tutu sentiments that “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Responsibility or denial, only you can decide, but every time we ignore these atrocities a little bit of our humanity dies along with it. So it may be worth contacting your MP if you have concerns about this issue. You can also boycott Israeli goods, mostly fruit including dried fruit, and vegetables and herbs, which can be detected from barcodes beginning with the digits 729;
http://www.bigcampaign.org/
Amnesty International also have a petition here; http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=551
as do Avaaz here;
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_end_the_siege/
Anon 2:18 pm
you really are..... thick.
yes, the Gruniad (sic) is a very reliable source
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