“What do we need to do to have a better Egypt?” |
It saddens me to see how many people like Greg Collins come to the Middle-East with such a simplistic view of the conflict. According to Greg, Hamas is the root cause of all the violence in this conflict and the only solution is for Palestinians to simply lay down their weapons and give up their right to resist the occupation. As a Palestinian, I strongly condemn the murder of unarmed civilians. While sticking to that belief, I do not see how the murder of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli Defense Forces constitutes legitimate self-defense.
Mr. Collins also said that Israel is more willing to negotiate with the government in the West Bank because it “does not employ terrorist tactics similar to the systematic methods encouraged by the Hamas leadership.”The government in the West Bank was created more than six months ago, and has made clear efforts to seek a peaceful settlement with Israel ever since. Yet, why has Israel ignored these efforts? Has Israel stopped the construction of its Apartheid Wall, removed any of the 500+ checkpoints, or withdrawn from any of the settlements?
Why is it that radical Israeli settlers freely operate in the West Bank without fear of punishment by their government? These are terrorists that terrorize the lives of Palestinians. Why is the government of Israel protecting and supplying these terrorists with weapons? Why is it that one of Israel’s most famous and prestigious religious schools, the Yeshiva Mercaz Ha-Rav, has been allowed to teach racist hatred and promote the cause of settler terrorism for years?
Why is it that I do not even have the simple right to visit my family in Gaza or to visit Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine even for just a short visit? Don’t Palestinians deserve to be protected from terrorism and violence as well? Or are we third class people, who do not deserve even the most basic human rights?
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of this situation is that these terrible state-sponsored acts have gone almost completely ignored by the world media for years. This has led to the idea that all the problems in this conflict are due to the Palestinians. If this were the case, why is it that repeated offers for a truce have been rejected by Israel? You blame Hamas, which won the January 2006 elections, for the current situation. But who is to be blamed for the situation before then?