But restricting our focus like this obscures the central fact of this decades-old conflict - millions of Palestinians, in Gaza and the West Bank, have lived under Israeli military occupation for more than 40 years. (The removal of a few Israeli settlements from Gaza in 2005 resulted in tighter, not looser, Israeli military control over the territory.)
...
However, the evidence suggests another factor may be the real obstacle:
Israel doesn't want to give up the land it's been occupying. Certainly,
Israel has moved in the opposite direction, allowing Jewish settlers to
take over large swaths of Palestinian land.There are now more than 250,000 heavily-armed Jewish settlers living
in the West Bank where a future Palestinian state is slated to be. They
have made it clear they intend to stay.Indeed, for the past 40 years, there have been two sets of
developments going on simultaneously in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict - one under the glare of public attention and one largely off
camera.In the spotlight, there have been peace negotiations, interrupted by
bouts of violence. Meanwhile, well out of sight, is the inexorable
takeover of Palestinian land by Israeli settlements, effectively
removing the possibility of a peace deal.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Canada needs to look at the big picture
Canada has role to play in Mideast | rabble.ca <read me.
Continuing War Crimes in Gaza
10 Israeli soldiers choose jail over Gaza
Maan News Agency < read me
"If violence must be used, it should be used minimally, and that isn't what’s happening," he added. "Killing innocent civilians cannot be justified. Nothing justifies this kind of killing. It’s devilish."
Israel - Undemocratic. Bans Arab parties.
RedBedHead: Israel Bans Arab Parties, Supports Ethnic Cleansing
Perhaps it shouldn’t be any surprise given the present wholesale slaughter but then Israel likes to tell the world, particularly Europe and North America that they’re the only democratic country in a region ruled by despots and hereditary monarchs.
It makes it all the more interesting then that Israel’s Central Electoral Committee has just banned Arab parties. Mixed parties, like the Communist Party, are OK. Jewish parties are OK. But those Arabs – well, they’re traitors, aren’t they?
“Parliament spokesman Giora Pordes said the election committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the motion, accusing the country's Arab parties of incitement, supporting terrorist groups and refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist.”
The motion was put forward by a far-right party. That it won support amongst Israel’s mainstream parties shows just how far Israel’s colonialism has caused the nation’s political consciousness to degenerate towards ethnic authoritarianism.
But then, the plan from the beginning has always been to “spirit the penniless Arab population” across the border and out of Israel, as Zionism’s founder Theodor Herzl put it. And that’s still the attitude today.
...
... the number of people living under Israeli rule at the present is only
slightly more than 50% Jewish. Fortunately for the “democratic, Jewish”
state the majority of Palestinians under their rule have no vote, no
civil rights and don’t even have independent control of their tax
collection.
Not very democratic.
However, in Gaza there is a
thriving democracy. In 2006, under the watch of international monitors
and the basis of one-person, one-vote, the population of the Gaza Strip
elected Hamas as the majority party in their Legislative Assembly.
Perhaps that example of democracy at work is part of what Israel wants to eliminate.
Shame on Canada. Let us bow our heads in shame.
Canada Reaching Up to Touch Botton: Vote Against Human Rights | Excited Delirium
In a new shameless low amongst what I was hoping would be the last of shameless lows with the Harpercrite regime, Canada has voted against a resolution to condemn the massive violations of human rights by Israel in Gaza.
Gaza, Israel, and the Verdict of History
Montreal Simon: Gaza, Israel, and the Verdict of History
Even as it continues to pound Gaza with shells and bombs, and more than 900 are now dead, including 400 women and children. And it prepares to launch an allout assault on Gaza's crowded cities.
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