“What do we need to do to have a better Egypt?” |
Unveiling the “innocence” of the Israelis
Greg Collins’ views ( April 13 issue) seem to me to be the same views of most Western people. To tell you the truth, I too am no fan of Hamas and condemn their attacks on innocent unarmed Israeli citizens. At large, I condemn attacks on any unarmed civilian regardless of nationality, race or religion. I also condemn and question the following: Israel’s refusal to abide by UN resolution # 242 & 338 that calls for its withdrawal from Gaza, the West Bank and Golan Heights. Its 41-year-old occupation (since 1967) is considered the longest occupation in modern human history.
Israel’s building and expansion of illegal settlements in the Palestinian West Bank, which goes against the Fourth Geneva convention Article 49, which states that “the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population in the territories it occupies.” Israel’s siege on Gaza is also against Article 33, which states that ‘Collective punishment is a war crime.”
Israel’s house demolition policy in the Palestinian West bank—demolishing Palestinian houses to be replaced by Israeli settlements; making thousands of Palestinians homeless everyday and murdering anyone who gets in their way, including innocent and unarmed American citizen Rachel Corrie.
Israel’s illegal building of highways on Palestinian West Bank that only Israelis can use. (Ex-US President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter described this as an apartheid system in his book ‘Palestine: Peace not Apartheid’)
Israeli checkpoints in Palestinian land hindering the movement of Palestinians from one. point to another and the construction of ‘The Wall,’ which is not built on the borderline that separates Israel from the West Bank, but on Palestinian land, thus confiscating and annexing Palestinian land into Israel as well as splitting some Palestinian villages and families from each other.
Israel’s daily killing, imprisonment and torture of thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children without trial.
Finally, I condemn the following:
The influence of mainstream Western media, which claim that it is always the Palestinians that attack first and that Israel is forced to act in self defense. Greg blames Hamas for hindering the peace process. But Hamas only won elections in January 2006; so I am wondering, who is to blame before that date?