Last week was a talk show on national Dutch television.
The Israelian invasion of Gaza was discussed.
And the high amount of civilian victims that are the result of the Israelian bombing.
Now standing at over 900 Palestinians.
One of the members of the discussion panel was a well-known journalist called Jort Kelder.
Another the former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Hans van den Broek.
Mr. van den Broek gave a well-balanced opinion of the actual situation in Gaza.
And was very critical of the excessive use of violence of the Israelian army.
However, Mr. Kelder defended Israel no matter what.
He even went as far as to say that the civilian victims in Gaza were the result of women and children putting themselves deliberately on the roofs of houses hoping to be killed by the Israelian bombs.
So that it could be claimed later that the Israelian army was killing civilians.
There are people who defend Israel without any hesitation, limits or restrictions.
People who will never criticize the policies of the Israelian Government and the actions of the Israelian Army.
Who will never want to discuss the war crimes committed by the Israelian Government and Israelian Army.
Who will never condemn the policies of Apartheid applied in Israel.
There are three groups of people who have this ultimate favourable attitude towards Israel.
The first group consists of Jewish people.
Wherever they live.
They are in total solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Israel and support them no matter what.
The second group are people who are traumatized by feelings of guilt for what has been happening to the Jewish people in Europe during the Second World War.
They still feel so embarrassed about the massacring of 6 million innocent Jewish persons that they feel unable to be critical towards Israel even today.
The third group are fundamental Christians.
Who believe that the land once owned by the Arab Palestinians, belongs historically to the Jewish people.
These fundamental Christians will do anything to keep Arabs out of what they call the Holy Land.
And therefore support through thick and thin the policies of the Israelian Government and close their eyes for the war crimes and neglecting of international law by the Israelian Army.
These three groups are numerous, powerful and influential.
And vocal too.
Any person being critical about Israel or the existence of that country is immediately attacked.
Easily accused of anti-semitism.
However, these people supporting Israel 100 % are part of the problem that exists as of 1949.
Because of their uncompromising point of view, they are responsible for the escalation, as we have seen going on for years and years.
The fact is that Israel is a country that is artificial.
It was created in 1949 by among others the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
The people that were already living there, for hundreds of years, were forced to leave.
Over 500 villages and towns were destroyed.
Hundreds of thousands of Arab Palestinians were chased from their lands.
Forced into refugee camps elsewhere.
Where they are even today.
Homeless.
Obviously these people want to go back to where they used to live before 1949.
Obviously they want back the land and the houses that were violently taken away from them.
How are those demands addressed?
Not whatsoever.
The Palestinians are supposed to simply stay in their refugee camps and evaporate into oblivion.
Is it therefore surprising that Palestinians become violent?
May we ask who in fact then is responsible for their violence?
Who is instigating it?
History has been teaching us that violence never brings an adequate solution.
Israel has repeatedly performed military invasions like now is happening in Gaza.
Never bringing a solution of the problems one inch closer.
Only an attitude of humanism, that many people in Israel have who therefore oppose the actions of their Government, can bring peace to the region.
And humanism means that Arab Palestinians have the same rights as Israelian people.
Humanism means that Arab Palestinians must not live in refugee camps under miserable and hopeless conditions.
Humanism means that Arab Palestinians must be allowed to return to their own land and obtain their own properties again.
The current unconditional Israel supporters must accept this humanism.
If they do not become more reasonable, open and human to the victims of Israel, they are responsible for the conflict to go on.
We will see now from possible comments to this posting, how many readers of this blog belong to the three groups of no matter what Israel supporters.
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5 comments:
Do you think the fervent and loyal blog readers can look forward to reading tomorrow about the other groups who automatically and always blame Israel for all the problems of the middle east? These groups going so far as to always ignore the brutal terrorists among the Palestinians who lob rockets and send their children strapped with bombs to murder innocent Israelis. Where was the outrage for the last several years when Israel held back any response, while incurring daily rocket fire.
Let us see how the blog author reacts if his friend Vladimir Putin allows terrorists to start firing rockets into Poland. Will the bog author expect his homeland to stand by and watch its innocent civilians be terrorized from rockets with no response.
A land dispute gets settled at the negotiating table, not by firing rockets and bombing cafes. Until the Palestinians learn that, they wont get our sympathy or the homeland they say they want.
Israel has no right to exist. they are a terrorist nation trained and supported by another terrorist nation The U.S.A
Rojo
Anonymous has a tunnel vision. On one end is Israel. And on the other end as well.
But his opinion has no value anyhow. It is the hollow screaming of a coward. Publishing strong words but remaining anonymous.
Sarah Bird, Boston.
Michael, your remark that Israel is an artificial country is so amazingly lacking in deep thought, or analysis that it is embarrassing. Other artificial countries are Pakistan, Bangledesh, Iraq, Jordan, etc. Shall we declare them illegitimate also? More people where displaced by the creation of Pakistan than Israel. Should the Hindus who fled the new Pakistan state be allowed right of return? You state that Palestians were driven out by Israelies. If that is true, then what of the 10's of thousands of Palestinians who remained in Israel, and live to this day a much better, much freerer life than those who "were driven out"? Why did some Palestinians stay....how were they able to stay if Israel was driving them out? Was Israel so ineffective in their ethnic cleansing that they missed 154,900 Palestinians in 1948? As of 2003 over 1,000,000 Palestinians lived in Israel. Why did Jordan, Egypt and Syria refuse to accept any of the refugees, but instead forced them into the refugee camps they still live in to this day?
More shouting from someone in the tunnel.
Twisting the facts and avoiding devastating realities.
Over 5 million Palestinians are forced to live outside what they consider their homeland.
Today only 700.000 Palestinians are allowed to live in Israel.
And how are those Palestinians living in Israel?
Read this report from The Association for Civil Rights in Israel:
Rights of Arab Citizens of Israel:
Though Arabs citizens are a national indigenous minority entitled to full equality, they have been subjected to systemic and institutional discrimination in all aspects of life since the establishment of the State.
· Whereas Arabs in Israel account for 20% of the population, the area of jurisdiction of all Arab authorities consists of only 2.5% of the area of Israel.
· Social and institutional barriers have prevented Arab citizens from acquiring land or leasing it in more than 80% of the country.
· Mixed towns: 90,000 Arab citizens of the State live in mixed towns - Ramle, Lod, Acco, Haifa, and Yaffo. Vast discrepancies in infrastructure, maintenance, and services between Arab and Jewish neighborhoods in the same town is abundantly clear; sometimes there are even walls separating the Arab and Jewish populations
Sarah Bird, Boston
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