Support Palestinian guerrillas.

Clint in Wichita -

The favour of your attendence is requested in aPit thread.

I wish to offer you a warm welcome to the SDMB. Very warm. Particularly warm.

Regards,
Shodan

One of the better editorials I’ve read about the Middle East is in this week’s US News- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/021216/opinion/16edit.htm

Some relevant quotes (I hope I stayed under the recommended limit of quoting a source)

It is clear that the present Palestinian approach isn’t working. Stop the terrorism and get back to the table. Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela all changed the world with non-violence. Why not give that a try?

Unfortunately you seem woefully unaware of the actual situation in Palestine, at least the same number of Palestine child (as compared to delibrately targetted Israeli child deaths) deaths are the result of delibrate targetting by a criminal element within the IDF, furthermore the Israeli government is complicit in this as, despite promises to human rights groups, it does not investigate or prosecute the individuals involved. A large percentage of the Palestinian children killed are stone-throwers and protesters, in these situations children are fired at and killed, this policy again is entirely illegal as the stone throwers do not pose a threat to the soldiers lifes and peaceful protesters pose even less of a threat. It was recently revealed on Israeli radio that there is a standing order to shoot children who throw stones at armoured personnel carriers too which is completely immoral.

**Deaths like these (i.e children killed in demolitions)are the result of criminal neglience by the IDF because 1. quite often they don’t actually check the houses to see if there is anyone in there and 2. such demolitions are illegal and contravene several parts of the Geneva convention and in no way can be morally justified.

The second death you descibe is almost unheard of and I have never heard of that particular situation happening and considering I have read a break down of all the deaths (avaidable at B’tselem) since the start of the intifada, it leads me to beliedve you are misinformed or just lying. However simlair situations do occur but they are extremely isolated and they find their moral equivalency with the Jewish settlers who stand by roads in order to kill Arabs as they go by or Settlers who go to where the Arabs are collecting there olive harvest and shoot them for the crime of living in the ‘ancient Jewish homeland’. **

**The settlers have to leave, I’m sorry but the policy of moving these people to the OT is morally repugnant and extremely provactive. I’m sorry to use the Nazi analogy as usually such things have no place in discussions like these but this situation is analogous: Would you allow the German settlers, who settled in Poland during the second world war under the policy of Lebensraum to remain or have any property rights after the end of the conflict? No you would not. The settlers presence in the OT is an anathema and an obstacle to peace, and there is no way that anything less than there complete removal from the OT would be needed for peace.

The Palestinian demand for the West Bank and Gaza are alot less than 100%, in the orginal 1948 UN partition they were given 78% of the former mandate,but they lost this due to the actions of Israel and the surrounding Arab countries. You have to realize recognising Israel is a huge compromise to them, as 50 years they were the vast majority in the area only to forced out by Jewish settlers.

IDF policy is nothing less than state-terrorism, Israel has no right to have occupied the Gaza and West Bank for so long and they must recognize it is the occupation that is fuelling the curent wave of terrorism. The Human Rights Watch report on suicide bombers found that, beacuse of his policies, Ariel Sharon held partial responsibilty for the attacks.

The Palestinian situation is even less certain than the Israeli situation: 60% of their children are suffering from malnutrition as the result of the occupation, they know that if they venture outside after curfew there is agood chance they will be summarily executed by the IDF, they are forced to live in ghettos in their own countries, etc., etc.

Until Israel ends the occupation, though I feel sympathy at a personal level for the victims of Palestinian terrorism, I do not feel a collective sympathy for Israel as it is as a result of their actions that it happens.**

If there was no occupation the level of terrorism would rapidly decrease and eventually die away. Israel has no right to be in Gaza and the WB, so it can expect resistance until it stops oppressing the people there and withdraws. If it is unwilling to offer a fair settlement, it is hard to believe it truly wants peace. The settlments and oppression are designed to provoke the Palestinians so that Israel can justify its contiuned occupation as it has territoral designs on the area.

As I have said before the offer was grossly unfair (it was nothing approaching 97%), though it was the largest one so far saying it should of been accepted is what is known as a ‘false compromise fallacy’. The PA made huge concessions, it virtually gave up the right of return for the millions of refugees, it gave up any claim to land that 50 yeras earlier where given to it by the UN

Before 1948, Jewish settlers had control of just 8% of the land in the mandate (this includes Arab land leased to Jews), also there is no such thing as a right of conquest and the UN has recognized that land obtained in war is inadmissable.

Just to repeat, what I said in the pit in case there is any misunderstanding:

When?

Actually, I would like a cite about all of these assertions. I have looked everywhere for the radio revelation, but I guess google, yahoo, and alta isn’t omiscient. Molotov cocktails, stones, protests. How is that equivilant to a child being targeted and blown away just because they are sleeping or walking down the street? I condemn all killing of children from any side. But you cannot , with a straight face, say one is the same as the other.

Hmm. If the house is booby trapped, how can they check the house? And where is it illegal to demolish a house holding a wanted combatant when forcible entry is otherwise suicide? That was the claims of the IDf, and although I was not there, unless there is proof that they were lying then I connot assert that they were unless I was biase.

Well I guess B’tselem isn’t omniscient either. Maybe you should broaden your information resources rather than having all of your eggs in one basket so to speak. Just an example. And the situations are not isolated. How many Israeli children where holding rocks or mock threatening the Palistinians before they died. When a “martyr” kills an oblivious child, that child is a target. Still dont see any difference?

Im sorry you used the nazi anaology too. Germany was defeated by force and surrendered all rights to any “occupation” or any gains from the war. Israel has not. I never said Israel has a right to be there. But compared to nazis they have more. And again, you are comparing occupation to deliberate targetting and execution of civilians. As you said, the OT have been occupied for 50 years. It is noy urgent that they leave immediately. It is, however, urgent that a cease-fire be there before any other action is taken.

I have a few questions then.

  1. Would the Palistinian children fear curfews if a pro-active cease fire was initiated by thier leaders. (meaning; open investigations of terrorist attacks and a non-revolving door arrests of terrorist suspects.)

  2. Would the IDF destroy the infrastructure if they did not have to go into the territories to hunt down “martyrs” and their cohorts, who is harbored by the majority of the Palistinians and their leaders?

  3. Do you think it is preferable for the situation to stay as is over an agreement that does not grant complete unnocupation of the territories?

Yes.

Yes.

If the cost of Israeli expansion into the occupied territories is decreased, the occupation will continue to expand.

Chumpsky, why do you think Israel oppresses Palestinians? Are they just a mean and barbaric society? Palestinians are surrounded by sympathizers. How come nobody helps them?

They want the land.

Israel has a very powerful protector.

Nitpick: Says the Taliban. Most credible estimates run between 600 and 2,000 civilians total. That includes men, women, and children.

Chumpsky, Israel already has the land.

What are they waiting for? Why don’t they just take it and be done with it? And if they just want land, why did they return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt?

I don’t mean ‘why don’t they help Palestinians bomb Israel’, I mean why don’t they help Palestinians build a functional society?

I say exactly that, elements of the IDF are just as bad as Hamas and the al-Aqsa Matyrs Brigade. Are you delibrately trying to waste my time by asking for a cite? There is a huge wealth of information that can be accessed by googling. Go to any human rights site and you will find this information. How can you rightly argue your corner when you know so little about the conflict?

On the criminal element within the IDF and the Israeli refusal to investigate that element:

I]Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch * [http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/02/israel0214.htm

Israeli policy towards protesters:

http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/10/isr-pa1017.htm

Examples of Palestinian minors casulaties for the last month (not including Palestinian minor confirmed combatants):

continued in next post…

Sorry all the deaths come from B’Tselem, detailed lists in the statistics section:http://www.btselem.org/

Israeli radio reveals IDF policy towards stone throwers:

article alsoavaidable at:http://www.palestinecampaign.org/archives.asp?xid=1014

B’Tselem’s report on the IDF’s “trigger happy policy”:

http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/Trigger_Happy_2002.asp

Examples of criminal elements within the IDF delibrately targetting children:

http://www.amnesty.ie/news/2002/iot1.shtml

from:http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/israel/isrlo00-02.htm#P76_8213
B’Tselem describes IDF tactics as ‘terrorism’:http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/2002/020723.asp

and on and on…

These are just the tip of the iceberg, I could of easily posted alot more than this and if you want specific clarifications or information I’m more than willing to give it to you as I have contacts in Israel and Palestine, now on to the rest of your post:

Me biase? I can’t even spell the word :rolleyes:

If you already know the house is booby-trapped, why would you check it?:rolleyes:. You have your wires crossed, when the IDF demolishes houses of militants it is generally after they are have killed or captured the militant (demolishing houses as punishment is also illegal). Of course if they wanted to check a house was booby trapped they could just do this:"the soldiers entered the mosque with their guns resting on the shoulders of Palestinian civilians who were forced to march in front of the soldiers as “human shields.” " (also from B’Tselem)
The houses demolished are civilian property, which again is illegal, and it is often not because they are booby trapped for example in some instances the IDF drive their bulldozers down narrow streets to make room for tanks. There are many internationals, Palestinian civilians and Israeli peaceniks on the ground to observe this. Also many members of the IDF also give testimony to this fact.

Ok, B’Tselem is an Israeli human rights organisation, the reason I use them is that most statistics on casualities are based on their findings as they are regarded as the most accurate. I do use a huge variety of sites and alot of my information comes from Israeli and international contacts who have visited Palestine.

I’m not sure what the link was, but 1. it is broken, 2. it links to google :confused:

So you think that Palestinian children who ‘mock’ Israeli soldiers deserve to die? There is no Palestinian army occupying Israel so the two situations cannot be compared, however as I said before the instances of non-involved Palestinian children being delibrately targetted is at least the same as Israeli children being delibrately targetted.

Though they do kill children, I have never heard of a suicide bomber delibrately targetting children. The reason why they target buses is that some many off-duty Israeli soldiers use buses. Of course this is still despicable, but it is no more despicable as firing on a crowd of civilians indiscrimately.

So no I do not see the difference, unless you are some how saying that a life of a “raghead” :rolleyes: is not worth the same as an Israeli.

I used WW2 analogy as it is the most analogous situation and you appear to be saying that if Germany won WW2 it would be totally moral for them to keep their settlments in Eastern Europe. They infact have less of a right to be there than the Germans did in Eastern Europe, because alot of the land that Germany settled was land taken from them a Versailles or quite often already contained a large ethnic German population (by the way, do not take this to mean I support Lebensraum). Before 1967 none of the settlers lived in Palestine.

It is urgent that the settlers leave immediately, their very presence totally destroys the Palestinian economic infrastructure, as it forces the Palestinians to live in small guarded enclaves meaning that a journey that would take half an hour can now easily take up to 9 hours due to the fact that every time an Israeli settler needs to use a road, the IDF close it to all Palestinian traffic.

Yes a ceasefire is urgent, but it takes two to tango and Israel has made no moves for a ceasefire.

questions amswered in next post…

Well, I will wait in expectation of your next ost, but until then…

If asking for a cite is a waste of your time then don’t bother making assertions if you are too lazy to back it up.

What fucking fighting where the Israeli children not participating in when they where blown away? They were not “accidentally” killed. They were targeted and executed with no other reason than that they were Israeli. You show me a cite where it is even hinted at that any fucking IDF targeted a child specifically, only because they where Palistinian. You can make inuendoes and guesses all you want. I am fucking telling you that the suicide bombers targeted those children, for that reason. And fucking brag about it. This is my arguement. Not that the IDF never kills a child deliberately or accidentally. But that they are Killed without any other explanation, wheather half truth or lies, accept of who they fucking are.

  1. Yasser Arafat has at several times tried to implement ceasefires but the IDF has not stopped military operations in Palestine. Any ceasefire action must be multilateral. Israel has refused to investigate or prosecute any of it’s citizens accused of war-crimes (Which includes Ariel Sharon), the PA cannot be responsible for the security of a country that is occupying them.

  2. Wold there be any ‘matyrs’ if it wasn’t for the occupation and IDF tactics?

  3. Have you ever heard the axiom: “An unjust peace, is no peace”? Until a fair peace is offered these militants will always be able to operate, a total withdrawal is in no way an unreasonable demand (all UN peace plans have included it).

The reason why I was annoyed that you asked for cites, is that all the information is well known and readily avaidable and hardly anything new and you asked me for a cite for everything.

The Palestinain children that I mentioned were not particpating in fighting and you have failed to provide any evidence that the Israeli children were targetted (I have however heard of 2-3 cases of direct targetting of Israeli children by Palestian militants).

More cites for delibrate targetting:http://www.iap.org/newsjune12.htm

(from Jerusalem indymedia)

http://www.dci-pal.org/english/dcipress/releases/2000/00180.html

same story from as link above from CNN:http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/01/gaza.boys.death.ap/

There is no point in burying your head in sand and pretend it doesn’t happen, a South African contact of mine has witnessed many simlair instances and I know several members of the Israeli left who too are well aware of the criminal elemnt within the IDF.

Well I had a long rebuttal post with quotes and everything. And cites linked etc; etc;. But I had to run to drop off some vidoes and caught your second post so I gave up.

If you just give me cites from pro-Palistinian resources, who is burying who’s head in the sand? The CNN story was all over the news and we all watched it. It was “unclear” except to the Palistinians who fired the shot who killed the boy. Go figure. IAP is the same organization who claimed that hundreds of refugees where massacred at Jenin and then burried.

B’tselem themsleves claim:

And:

Yet the link I was trying to present before led to ].this story. You know… the one I lied about because your precious B’Tselem didnt have it listed. I would have been skeptical too, since it did happen in the OT’s, wich is their focus. And you said yourself that they are “regarded as the most accurate”.
Not hardly unbiased.

  1. Arafat playing lip service and saying “We condemn that act.”, While still letting terrorists, even from Hamas, out of jails from mock arrests is not a cease-fire. And Sharon was investigated for war crimes. And found personally responsible. And prosecuted. Maybe not how you and I would have liked. But dems da facts.

  2. So the ‘martyrs’ never started thier bombings until afetr the IDF used their “tactics” even before the Camp David meetings came to an end? I seem to remember it differently.

  3. So you totally disregard all calls of the extermination of Isreal as being a requirement of “fair” before the “militants” would cease operations against them? Have you ever heard the axiom: " Any cease-fire is preferable to terrorism"? Me niether, but that is what we are talking about. And not peace. That usually comes after the cease-fire. Remember?

As I said before I was unware of the story (it may well be at B’tselem but there are several thousand deaths listed, so I may well of forgotten it).

Analysis has shown that the boy in question (in the video), because of his position could of only of been killed by delibrate targetting.

  1. Sharon was investigated for the war crimes at sabrand Chantilla but his ‘punishment’ consisted of being excluded from high office for 5 years (?), however he has never been investigated for subsequent acts commited during his premiership( of course unlikely while he is prime minister) and he has failed to investigate the nyriad of accusations made by human rights groups against other Israelis.

  2. Yes but the occupation started long before Camp David.

  3. The only way a ceasefire will occur is by multilateral action, BOTH parties must agree to a ceasefire, saying “we’ll stop shooting when they stop shooting” and escalating the violence will never bring about one. Of course any peace deal will mean that the PA must recognize Israels right to exist.

The truth is the terrorism will never end til the occupation ends, you cannot expect the PA to make all the concessions. You have already recognized Israel has no right to be in the OT, so why doesn’t it get out?

You cannot say that Israeli terrorism is some how better than Palestinian terrorism, despite the fact that the Palestinians have a much smaller population many more Palestinian non-combatants have died than Israeli non-combatants and I refuse to accept your view that they should just lie down and let Israel walk all over them in the interest of peace. I am not a pacifist and while not supporting Palestinian attacks on illegitamate targets I support their attacks on the IDF and Israeli military infrastructure as their cause (ending the Israeli occupation that is)even though they often choose to fight it in an illegitimate way is a just one.