Comments - Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Azz200

Hassan

Hassan — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

“Victory creates hatred. Defeat creates suffering. The wise ones desire neither victory nor defeat... Anger creates anger... He who kills will be killed. He who wins will be defeated... Revenge can only be overcome by abandoning revenge... The wise seek neither victory nor defeat.” - Buddha

Gabor

Gabor — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I am Jewish (by birth, not religion) and have spoken to several of my Jewish friends recently about this whole ordeal, and all of them eagerly support the Israeli’s actions and attacks. I seem to be the only one that, whilst not going against the decisions Israel is making, to be offering a counter point to the incidents of the past week. Hamas needs to be stopped, they -have- shot rocket after rocket into Israel for years, aiming for civilians while hiding their weaponry in mosques and schools, making things that much more difficult. Israel has also made poor decisions though, injuring and killing many civilians without much care, as well as utter stupid restrictions on journalists.

This is bad all around and will seemingly only get worse as time passes.

Azzam

Azzam — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

well....then why Israel is targeting innocents and civilians?? don’t tell me they didn’t mean to or they’re not careful....they mean to hit civilians...yesterday...they hit a UN school...does the UN work for Hamas or what?????? the Israeli army did hit hundreds of houses which are away from the battle field and there were no fighters of Hamas around...tell me why is that???most of their targets are civilians...can’t you see or you’re blind people??

Michael Davison

Michael Davison — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Azzam, the Associated Press has run this statement:

”Two residents of the area near UN school that was shelled by the IDF on Tuesday said that they had seen a small group of terrorists firing mortar rounds from a street close to the school. The two spoke with The Associated Press by telephone on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.”

If this is true, then the UN representative was lying and Hamas is responsible for these deaths under international law.

Before condemning, shouldn’t we know the truth and be sure who to condemn?

Azzam

Azzam — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Should we belive this???????is it a legal testify??I doubt that. However, lets assume that this statement is correct, some palestinian fighters did through rockets from that place and killed no Israelis or may be they hit some of them so this is a good reason to hit and shell a school where there are hundreds of civilians and kill 40 of them and wounded 130....does it look ok to you as human??? do you follow the news? palestinian rockets have killed less than 10 Israelis while Israeli attacks killed nearly 700 (215 are children and 65 are women) and wounded 3000 palestinians..so for each Israeli there is 100 or more palestinians. Finally, can you tell me why the UN representitive would lie? does he work for Hamas or for the UN?? and here we have to mention something from the history..in 1996 Israel did attack a UN shelter in Lebanon and killed about 100 whom were civilians children and women..during that time Israel claimed that they were mistaken...so are they this time??

Michael Davison

Michael Davison — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

It’s easy to let emotions rule logic, but is it right?

What I said is that there is a need to know the truth before condemning. I hold to that.

I ask you if you justify the idea of Hamas gunmen using Palestinian women and children as human shields? This is considered a war crime under international law, so think carefully before you respond.

Whether the UN representative works for the UN or Hamas is open to debate, considering some of UNWRA’s actions and comments to date. He may have been speaking the truth as he knew it, or not. It would be hard to know how he could be so positive, since he was not even in Gaza during the incident. The point is, there are conflicting testimonies that indicate someone is lying. Since AP has never been friendly to Israel, their discovery of these witnesses seems genuine. The question deserves further investigation before conclusions and accusations are thrown back and forth.

Lastly, as I remember, it was claimed that Hizballah used the fence line of the UN emplacement for a rocket firing position. If this is true, then you can reach your own conclusions. International law does not tell any country it can not return fire when human shields are used, only that it must try to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible.

Remember, international law is not a suicide pact for any country, and to assume it is would be a costly error for all sides.

Since Hamas has fired off well over 7,000 rockets over a period of three years, don’t you wonder how they can be so inept as to have killed only a handful of Israelis? Is this the ”resistance” you put your trust in to defeat Israel?

I will say this to you: if this is the best Hamas is capable of, then they were criminally stupid to provoke Israel into responding, and it is not Hamas that is paying the price for their stupidity. I feel no joy at the death of anyone, be they Arab or Jew, Palestinian or Israeli, only sadness that a bunch of demented gangsters can bring us to this.

Azzam

Azzam — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

it is not emotional at all. I’ve been hearing human rights watch, ICRC, and UN..and again I work for the UN and I know how is the situation clearly away from emtions...now all these agencies which I mentioned said that what Israel is doing is a war crime...so do you consider them as pro Hamas or what. Back to your point of using children and women as shield...this is just silly joke that Israel uses always..I’ve witnessed many incursions and invasions of the Israeli army for the past 9 years..I’ve seen them myself putting children and women on their tanks during that...another thing, does Hamas through rockets for joy??why don’t you get into reasons??PA and arabs have been negotaiting Israel for tens of year and Palestinians recived hundreds of promises to get their state and it never come true..finally lets assume that Hamas is just a bad thing according to Israel in Gaza..fine..what about West Bank...Israeli forces are there, PA forces are doing their best to help Israelis..no rockets, no Hamas in there. However, situation is as bad as Gaza..nearly 700 roadblockes, 12,000 prisoners 20% of them are women and children, the wall, tens of Israeli incursion every week...so with or without rockets situation is the same...if you want them to stop throughing rockets then ask Israel t end up its illegel occupation of Gaza and West Bank and then I will kill anyone who would even think of throughing rockets or even bollets

Michael Davison

Michael Davison — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Sir:

Please don’t try to insult anyone’s intelligence with the claim that Hamas uses no human shields. When your own MP, Fathi Hammad, proudly announces the fact on television (http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1710.htm) for the world to see, ”deniability” is not an option.

I will not make excuses for the Israeli government’s failure to keep its promises, but I also ask that you admit that the PA, PLO and Hamas have not been acting in the interests of the average Palestinian, either.

Blame for failure needs to be shared, just as credit for future successes will have to be shared (if any). Throwing accusations from one side to the other is counter-productive, but so are one-sided negotiations and demands for conditions that are known to be unacceptable in advance.

Sometimes it seems to us here that Mr. Abbas’ PLO is trying to make a solution impossible, while the Hamas ”all or nothing” position could only be appropriate when dealing with a totally defeated enemy, not when negotiating.

I have no intention of ”lecturing” anyone, but our viewpoints are different, and our perception of needs is also different. Somehow, negotiators from both sides will have to learn to understand that and try to reach a viable compromise that at least most of us on both sides can live with. Under any circumstances there are bound to be those on both sides who will be dissatisfied with any agreeement that might be reached in the future.

My only comment on the UN and its organizations is that instead of helping the Palestinians, it has become one of the major factors in perpetuating the status of the Palestinians as refugees for more than 60 years now. I truly believe that any really ”just and lasting agreement” will eventually be reached in spite of the UN, not because of it, and not with its help.

Azzam

Azzam — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know why are you ignoring some parts of my article and replies...this is not helping at all..ending such conflict is very simple..just end up Israeli occupation and that’s it...you’re attacking Hamas as some group of terrirsts..you’re forgeting that we, the palestinians elected them freely and since that time..everyone is punishing us and trying to convince us that what we did was wrong..and here I’ve to mention that no one has the right to question our choice because then we will question for example the american choice of choosing an idiot like Bush and the choice of Israelis of choosing a butcher like Sharon..any way, I can’t see any comment from your side on the facts which I mentioned about West Bank..you also ignored the other agencies statements and stick to UN..Today I watch on the TV how did Israeli soldiers shot ICRC members with uniform and ambulance with flag (is it clear enough?)..I’ve heard the ICRC spokesman saying that what Israel did was a war crime..moreover, Israeli army has a very dirty record..I mentioned the 1996 incidence (and you didn’t comment), another incidence, Israeli army did kill Egyptian prisoners during 1967 war and 1973 war..finally, I mentioned to you that there are hundreds of victims and houses whom were very far away from battle field and rockets throwing zones as well and yet they were hit...one final thing, we’ve tried negotiating for years and we found that Israel is just negotiating for negotiation and not for getting a solution...we fight for our freedom and Israel is fighting to stay as an occupation force..

Michael Davison

Michael Davison — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Azzam, you have a lot of anger and a great desire to be heard, but
apparently little desire to hear the other side. This is not the way
to reach understanding. I will try to respond to each point, although
maybe not in the order you give them here.

If you wish to talk about democratically electing Hamas, let me remind
you that Germans democratically elected Adolf Hitler, too, and look at
the mess HE made. The single fact of democratic elections does not
justify a government; has that democratically-elected government acted
democratically since its election? This is not for me to decide, but
for the Palestinian voters. Under democracy, if the government
elected does not satisfy the electorate, they wind up out of power at
the next election. Will this happen if Palestinians decide that Hamas
has not acted in their best interests?

You will find I hold no brief for the departing US president and I
never even considered voting for Sharon in my lifetime. The issues
between him and me stem from 1973 and are personal and private.

The ICRC has a rich history of anti-Semitism dating from far before
the establishment of Israel. Many of their official reports belittle
the Holocaust in toto (not just Jewish deaths, but those of most of
the European populations conquered by the Nazis), often reducing the
numbers to only a few per cent of the historical figures generally
accepted. A quick example of this bias would be the ICRC report on
Deir Yassin, made by an ICRC official who was never in Deir Yassin and
spoke only with Arab newspaper people. As far as I am concerned, if
there is any relation to Jews or Israel, the ICRC is not a reliable
source for anything.

The ”1996 incident” (I assume you’re referring to Kafr Qana in
Lebanon) is still shrouded with question marks and conflicting
testimonies. There is nothing to be gained by a renewed ”You claim/We
claim” debate, since it has been hashed over so many times that
nothing new can be added. The tendency of Hizballah to use civilian
homes and populations as cover has been documented well enough to
leave this question hanging for the next 100 years.

The claims of Israel killing prisoners of war has never been proven
one way or another, either. From my own personal experience as a
veteran of both the wars you mention, I can state with certainty,
under oath, that I have never witnessed or heard of any instance of
deliberately murdering any Arab PoW from any source within the IDF.
Such an act would be contrary to the training and indoctrination we
received in the IDF, as well as contravening the laws of Land Warfare
and the Geneva Convention. I won’t say it could not have happened,
because I was not ”everywhere” and crimes do happen in wartime, but I
have never heard any Israeli soldier who claimed to have seen such an
act.

I have much the same opinion of the Palestinian side of negotiations,
both when they were handled by Mr. Arafat and by Mr. Abbas. Why did
Yasser Arafat walk out of Camp David in 2000 without even making a
counter-offer to Ehud Barak? Is this your opinion of how negotiations
should be handled? Arafat walked out without a backward glance to
initiate the second intifada (and please don’t try to tell me it was
the ”spontaneous result” of Sharon visiting the Temple Mount. Even
Arafat himself admitted that was only the trigger, and that everything
was in place for the intifada before he even left for Camp David. He
also admitted thast if it hadn’t bee Sharon on the Temple Mount, it
would have been some other incident.).

What freedom are you fighting for? The only one we can see on this
side of the line is ”the fight to have the freedom to continue the
fight”. Both Hamas and the PLO have written charters dedicated to
that fact. Has this changed?