The Palestinians have the right to defend themselves just as surely as the Israelis do. They are human too. It's amazing how that never gets thru in the American media.
If violence is wrong it's wrong for everyone. Eliminationist fantasies aside, the Palestinians aren't going anywhere. If an argument requires denying the humanity of your opponent, it's a shit argument.
In the same way that apartheid South Africa was forced to change, eventually Israel will as well. The occupation and settlements can't continue unending. The only question is how many innocents will die before change occurs.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_p...e_occupied.htmlLeave it to you to start with the liberal moral relativism and post an article from Slate. The Palestinians have a right to protect themselves? From what? Israel wasn't attacking them. Hamas, who the Palestinians actually
elected to be part of their government some years ago and allow to remain among them, has been firing rockets into Israel. From where? Gaza. The same place that Israel forced their own people out of not long ago in a gesture of peace. But "peace for land" always turns into peace for rockets with the Palestinians. And Hamas, like the cowards they are, hide behind their own people, hoping they will be killed in retaliatory strikes so they can then parade their bodies in front of TV cameras. And the international media falls for all of it. Israel is constantly trying to keep the peace. They are fine living with peaceful Palestinians. It's Hamas and it's Palestinian supporters (backed by Iran) who will settle for nothing less than Israel's complete destruction.
Obviously you don't understand what military occupation means. Not surprising. I'll try to use small words.
The Israelis eject Palestinians from their homes or steal their land so that Jews can have them.
The Israelis routinely shoot, beat and arrest Palestinians who protest this.
The Israelis arrest and torture children.
Israeli settlers armed to the teeth go on routine rampages destroying Palestinian farms, property and shooting or beating unarmed Palestinians. Cowards. The Israeli Army ignores this.
The Israelis destroy Palestinian homes as a form of collective punishment for alleged crime. This is NEVER done to the families of Jewish alleged criminals.
The Israelis shoot fishermen who venture more than 3 nautical miles from Gaza.
These (and many more) are the things that the Palestinians are resisting. Of course you don't care because you don't see Palestinians as human but facts are facts.
This is not a liberal/conservative paradigm. I have no idea of the political bent of the Slate author but I know that this man is a right-wing conservative.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2014/07/17/israel-kills-for-the-fun-of-it/Actually when Hamas was elected Fatah tried to overthrow it and lost. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (Fatah) have now just recently formed a unity government. One of Israel's responses was to imprison/kill Hamas elected officials.
As I've written before Israel has increased the number of settlements during the so-called peace process to the point where it is laughable to talk about a two-state solution. They have done this despite the PA acceding to virtually every Israeli demand. There is, absent massive pressure, no longer room for a two-state solution.
You write as if the Palestinians are destroying Israeli homes, forcing the Israelis into ever smaller refugee areas or using live rounds against protesters. This is not the case. The occupation and creeping annexation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza are criminal actions.
Israel doesn't get to pick the leaders of the Palestinians any more than the French got to decide who led the Algerians or the Americans chose those of the Lakota Sioux. From a Palestinian perspective one could just as easily say that we refuse to negotiate with an Israeli government that includes groups like Shas or Yisrael Beitenu.
The only solution long term is a unitary state with equal rights for all. If South Africa can accomplish it, Israel certainly can.
Israel may not get to choose the leaders of the Palestinians but there can be repercussions for the Palestinians choosing terrorists to lead them. And Israel is forced to play hardball with the Palestinians, keeping them under tight control, because time and again the Palestinians have proven themselves to be unworthy of anything more. Every time Israel gives something, they get bit in the ass for it. The Palestinians are completely dysfunctional and incapable of running their own state. Leave it to a liberal hack like you to get this whole thing totally back-assward. You're what I was talking about in my first post.
Leave it to you who was described as a monstrosity and a racist by
board management no less(!) to wish to personalize the debate but whatever. The idea that the Palestinians are incapable of running their own state is exactly what every occupier or colonist has always said about the people they're ruling over. It's never true. It's just tired apologia and rationalization. Your answer is indicative of the sort of person you are. I on the other hand believe that all humans are equal and deserve human rights. "There is no difference between Arab blood and Jewish blood. Murder is murder". That's a true statement but someone with your mentality wouldn't be able to grok it. The only long term solution is to end the occupation.
