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'Palestinian' terror regime: "We will NEVER recognise Israel"
All we need to know. Unfortunately this won't be found as headline news in European media.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-leader-in-gaza-vows-group-will-never-recognize-israel-1.330593
So much for 'settlements' being the issue
Hamas will never recognize Israel, Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday at a rally to mark the 23rd anniversary of the militant group's founding.
"We say it with confidence as we said it five years ago when we formed our government, and we say it today: We will never recognize Israel," Haniyeh told a crowd in Gaza City numbering tens of thousands.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-leader-in-gaza-vows-group-will-never-recognize-israel-1.330593
So much for 'settlements' being the issue
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You know, it's odd that so 'many' people have signed up on DS (in the last few days), posting more or less the same thing you've done.
Bizarre, don't you think ? :cool:
While it did cross my mind too, I didn't think enough of it to post about it... especially without discussing the topic.
I've been accused of being anti-Israeli plenty of times, but c'mon, you've got to admit, Hamas really aren't helping with crap like that.
Well I've been lurking here for a few weeks and see that CXC has carte blanche to post anti-Israel stuff.
I thought I might readdress the balance with things that the BBC will never tell you.
Nope.
^^ This ^^
The claim that settlement activity is an obstacle to peace because it will supposedly diminish the territory of a future Palestinian entity is baseless.
The amount of territory taken up by the built-up area of all 121 settlements in the West Bank, with approximately 290,000 residents, is estimated to be just 1.7% of the territory. Two thirds of the settlers reside in five major blocs, and half of the settlements have 500 or less settlers. Four of the blocks are very close to the 1949 armistice line (“Green Line”) and many of them are suburbs of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Ninety eight percent of the Palestinian population lives within roughly 40% of the West Bank, in six major cities and 450 villages. Consequently, 60% of the West Bank is empty of any buildup. You can drive for a long while in the West Bank and find no Jewish settlements or Arab cities, or people. Moreover, the settlements are a major source of jobs and income for the Palestinians.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3965119,00.html
In the past, Israel has evacuated and destroyed its settlements in an effort to give momentum to peace. Removal of the settlement of Yamit in Sinai as part of the peace treaty with Egypt in 1982 and the unilateral removal of all Jewish settlements in Gaza in 2005 are important examples that Israel is prepared to make painful sacrifices in the interests of peace. If there is a credible and tangible peace process, with necessary assurances of coexistence and security, the Israeli public would undoubtedly be willing to sacrifice settlements again.
...
Despite creating an unhelpful reality in the region, the settlements are by no means the only obstacle to successful peace talks. Settlements are merely a symptom of a conflict that is ideological, not territorial. When looking at the role ideology plays in the region, certain challenges must be addressed before peace talks can become fruitful.
Firstly, the role and aim of spoilers in the region must not be underplayed. Hamas Islamists operating in Gaza seek to undermine the possibility for peace at every step. The murder of four Israelis in the West Bank by Hamas terrorists, on the eve of the Washington Summit, was a cynical attempt to de-rail the peace talks. Additionally, the group still holds kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, now in his fourth year of captivity.
With its ideology in tact, Hamas is no partner for peace, and if this is our reality, how can the fact Gaza is not in play be reconciled? Are we now looking at a three-state solution? Perhaps Palestinian reconciliation, on ideological terms that support a genuine resolution to the conflict, must first be sought.
Secondly, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the real root of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been their ongoing refusal to recognise "the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own in their historic homeland". Netanyahu has singled out this issue as a key "prerequisite for ending the conflict".
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2010/10/matthew-offord-mp-the-settlements-are-not-the-defining-issue-of-the-middle-east-peace-process-.html
Wonderful stats there.
I also read the other day that Arabs have 350 times the amount of land Israel does. And that Israel is only about 0.6% of middle east land. :eek:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/91784
Paragraph 6
Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/israel-rations-palestinians-trickle-water-20091027
Out of interest does Israel recognise Palestine?
The only chance of progress is to nuke the entire Middle East IMHO. Shame about our addiction to oil.
When children won't play nice, you keep them apart.
Are you going to address the topic before asking people to answer your queries..?
WTF? This is over a year old and has nothing to do with the topic!
Israel tried to sideline them, but Europe isn't happy about it.
One of the biggest problems in this conflict is the European left wing who are so obsessed with Israel, it's as if they're wanting to finish off what their grandparents started 70 years ago.
Sounds nice, that's what they did between Lebanon and Israel.
Didn't stop Hezbollah launching war in 2006 - which Israel through European media somehow became the culpable party.
Don't forget that Hamas were legally elected to represent the Palesinian people, so to exclude them from any talks is planning to fail. Hamas is as equally reprehensible as the Israeli government, and both need changing before real progress can be made on peace talks.
"Their grandparents"? Are you claiming most of Europe's grandparents to be part of some sort of "final solution" type thing?
That'd be highly offensive to all those who fought the Nazis, and falls into the classic trap that to be against the Israeli administration is the same as being anti-Semitic, when that's patently bollocks.
You are not SimplySimon - I try to ignore these silly, unhelpful threads but they are proliferating and clogging up the top of the thread list. I wouldn't mind if everybody was involved in the discussion but it is the same old contributors saying the same old thing and neither side is moving or debating.
So, as Father Ted said, "Down with this sort of thing!"
Making comparisons between an internationally recognised terrorist group, and the Israeli government.
Gee, you're not an extremist or anything :rolleyes:
As for being 'elected' - yes they were, however, they then went on a killing rampage to slaughter 200 of their political rivals. Hardly democratic, is it?
They would have killed more if Israel hadn't stepped in to save Fatah members.
No, the accusation that Israel is singled out above all other nations and derided for things that all other nations are guilty of. Such as the time Jack Straw derided Israel for 'assassinations' whilst UK drones were splatting Iraqi's and Afghans in their villages.
The fact that even the founder of Human Rights Watch has said they're obsessed with Israel and have skewed the facts.
While that would seem like the sane solution. It has one fatal flaw. It would have to be a UN peace keeping force. or a NATO taskforce like KFOR was to Kosovo. There's at least one member state on the executive of both organisations that can veto any such arrangement and isn't known for taking a neutral stance when the Israel Palistine issue arises.