“The Palestinians are unable to understand that now they are the suckers just like the global Jehadies for the rich playboy Arabs who wear black goggles,have American wives,play golf in Texas ranch but also fund them so that they slog,build homes,grow food and get ready to fight for the next round of sacrifice for MUSLIM UMMA.”

No, Palestinians want a home where they can live with dignity and freedom. It’s as simple as that.

Anyway, I lose you when you talk about your Air India pilot friend. So he used to fly Air India before 1948 and said that Lebanon was awesome because of the Palestinians but now it’s not so much because Palestine is occupied? And Saudis owned Lebanon in 1948? Then came the “terrorism of the Muslim Umma”? In 1948? Al-Qaeda was a threat since 1948? Even Bush Jr. hasn’t gone the temporal route of fear-mongering. And you never explain how Lebanon has lost its uniqueness as Christians and Muslims and Druzes etc still have the same rights under their constitution last I checked.

Then you talk about how inept the Arabs are and then the end. What exactly was your point? It seems what you’re trying to say is that the only solution to the Palestinian occupation is to give up.

This vicious cycle that you mention is easily “walloped” by simply the most recent cycle. Ever since Hamas came to power through fair elections (bear in mind Palestine is the only successful democratic Arab country in the region. Think about that and tell me how the Palestinians are a bunch of suckers.) Israel has refused to deal with them despite repeated overtures from Hamas for a lasting peace including a two-state solution. Please explain to me what peace deals were offered to the Palestinians that they so vehemently rejected for violence? The road map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_map_for_peace#Start_of_implementation) has been persistently derailed by Israel despite acquiescing to their ridiculous demands including the removal of Yasser Arafat who ultimately, dramatically died while under siege by Israeli tanks, etc. Then they create the wall (I mean fence, of course) cutting off Gaza from the rest of the world and subjecting them to unbearable, unbelievable levels of psychological, mortal and economic torture. (Gaza is utterly dependent on the illegal tunnels and Israel for its survival. 49% of Gazans are unemployed. Children are going deaf from all the sonic booms low flying Israeli jets make, etc etc. The medically needy are dying at checkpoints to enter Israel’s hospitals.) Despite all this Hamas successfully maintained a truce with no rocket fire from their set up and condemnation of the miniscule amount of rocket fire from the Al Aqsa Brigade, etc. By the end of the six month ceasefire Israeli settlers had in fact fired more rockets on the Palestinians than the other way around:

“The few that were launched, none of them causing any casualties, were claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, by Islamic Jihad, by “the Badr Forces,” or by nobody. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called repeatedly for a cessation of rocket fire, and denounced those factions who broke the truce. A Hamas spokesman criticized Fatah for allowing the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is affiliated with Fatah, to fire rockets. Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces’ murders and settler pogroms continued unabated on the West Bank. They included an attempt by a settler to fire a homemade rocket toward the Palestinian village of Burin, which nearly killed another settler. During the lull, then, Israeli settlers fired more rockets (i.e., one) than did Hamas.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10123.shtml

And lest we forget, it was Israel that broke the ceasefire on the 4th of November by launching its own attack. And lets not forget that this wasn’t a sudden cry of indignation. The planning that a ground offensive requires is not miniscule. That along with the concerted propaganda campaign you see everywhere suggests that Israel has been planning this for at least six months (ie while the ceasefire was in effect: they never intended to maintain or renew it).

The Arabs are quiet but this is not something new. If that was what your article was trying to point then good on you for pointing out the obvious.

“IT IS FOR PALESTINIANS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THEIR SITUATION AND DECIDE THEIR FUTURE.”

Absolutely not. It is for Israel to understand their situation, stop breaking UN security council resolutions which they are in violation of for 40 years, halt the collective punishment meted out to the Palestinians, allow them the dignity of their own existence without fear of random death, allow them the right to rule their own homes, stop new settlements and return to the 1967 borders as outlined in road map for peace process to which both parties are signatories.

“1.END OF ISRAELI OCCUPATION CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED BY BEING PART OF UNIFIED ISRAEL /PALESTINE STATE WITH PALESTINIANS HAVING EQUAL RIGHTS IN EVERY WAY.”

No, that’s called perpetuation of the occupation, not end. The occupation will end when Israel gets off the land that is rightfully Palestinian. Right from the Balfour Declaration everything has gone against the Palestinians. Even if a two-state solution passes it will not change the fact that Israel exists on stolen land. Yet this is something the Palestinians are willing to live with. Israel should learn to as well. Arabs currently are second rate citizens in Israel. There is nothing to suggest that this will change if Israel takes over the rest of the territories as well, unless you know something I don’t.

“2. VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY and ABANDON MUSLIM UMMA’s help.”

Palestine is a democracy. The Muslim Ummah will always be with Palestine and the Palestinians know it. No one ever had hope the Mubarak would supply any kind of meaningful help. Bear in mind Egypt’s demonstrations were as much against Mubarak and his abhorrent policies as they were against the attack on Gaza.

“3.THE ZIONISTS WILL BE FORCED INTO A CORNER WITH THIS TACTIC AND THE WORLD WILL FIND DIFFICULT TO OPPOSE IT.”

Well I’m glad somebody figured it out. The US will clearly never be at loggerheads with the rest of the world especially when what they’re saying makes sense and what the US is supporting is illegal.

“4.TEMPLE MOUNT WAS ORIGINALLY A JEWISH TEMPLE AND THAT IS WHY THE QUIBLA WAS CHANGED FROM JERUSALEM TO MECCA. AL AQSA MUST BE MADE INTO A PLACE OF WORSHIP FOR ALL RELIGIONS WHO BELIEVE IN ABRAHAM. GIVE YOUR PRESENT RIGHT VOLUNTARILY TO UNITED NATIONS.”

Please spare me. You’re writing on a purportedly responsible political blog, try and maintain a bit of journalistic integrity. I find it really disgusting how all the onus is on the Palestinians and Muslims to make the concessions while it is the Palestinians who are the victims and the oppressed in this conflict.

The comments are equally disturbing.

“you are right, it is now irrelevant how iseral was created and why,its time to move on and find a solution from where we stand now not where we stood a hundred years ago,”

Maybe it’s irrelevant to you. I’m sure it wouldn’t be if your daughter literally died of fear (at the age of 14 no less: http://gazasiege.blogspot.com/2009/01/at-age-14-she-died-of-fear.html) from being bombed for no reason. If this hyperbole to you then try and just fathom what Gaza is going through (http://www.alternet.org/audits/113143/israel%27s_%27crime_against_humanity%27/). Peace is important and needs to be attained. History will help us realize why we still don’t have it.

And Mona’s ideology can pretty easily be summed up in this paragraph from her article:

“It is the ultimate dishonor to the memory of Palestinians killed this weekend to call for more violence. It has failed to deliver for 60 years.”

Because Israel is so willing to get involved on the negotiating table right? Her solution the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (in this article at least) is the “go home and clean up the gutter” attitude Americans had to Muslims in the US after 9/11.

All I ask is for people to sit back and place these events in historical perspective. Forget that Israel’s offensive has killed almost 700 people so far this week alone, while Hamas’ rockets killed around 15 people in 8 years. Forget that the settlers are armed and licensed by the IDF and are in effect state militia. Forget that when Israel withdrew from Gaza, illegal settlements continued unabated in the West Bank. Forget the Wall. Forget Sabra and Shatilla. Just consider that Israel is a state with WMDs, a close ally of the world’s only superpower, in violation of numerous UN security council resolutions, existing on land stolen from Palestinians (originally living in peace (yes peace. Harmony even) with their Jewish neighbors), and yet the international community and armchair pundits have the audacity to impose sanctions on the Palestinian government and its people who have neither food, water, electricity, jobs, health or education let alone decent military equipment to provide any sort of protection or deterrance from Israeli aggression and slaughter. Please just put yourself in their positions and think about how you could live like that.

Thanks.

This same this is applicable to Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan.

All the parties need to come together and think logically and rationally.

Along with the article written by Johann,

Read THE BRILLIANT article written by Mona Eltahawy , a columnist for Egypt’s Al Masry Al Youm and Qatar’s Al Arab.

http://www.monaeltahawy.com/blog/?p=94

“”"”"”Israel is the Opium of the People((ARAB AND OTHERS) and Other Taboos”"”"”"”"”

These two articles are spot on.

you are right, it is now irrelevant how iseral was created and why,its time to move on and find a solution from where we stand now not where we stood a hundred years ago,

but who will use the nukes?

pakistan and iran are least bothered,

jews will not nuke the palestianins, as they will save their arsenal pak or iran, should there is a change of heart in the leadership, besides tanks and jets a enough for the rag tag army

peace

Peace between Israel and Palestine can return ONLY BY ACCEPTING ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO EXIST by the muslim world and by ordinary Palestinians..

No matter how debatable the creation of Israel is ,No matter how much hate u guys have against Jews
its VERY IMPORTANT to understand and realize that you simply CANNOT throw 6 million ISRAELI people out of their homes.

In this age of nukes ,even the dream of such a thing is DANGEROUS……..

In case,heaven forbid, a nuclear war breaks out…….Every arab nation can get wiped out along with israel.

a very well written article,

specially the vicious cycle part, may be its something like rasi jal gai per ball na gaya,
palestinians still think themselves as in the past, thinking they will get want they want,
being a muslim it pains me to say that beggars are not chosers

they have only two options “take it or leave it” now they are in a fix what to do,this problem has been further compounded by the weak and dumb leadership

hezbollah of lebanon, the sworn enemy of the jews is also watching quitely, as there is a shia suni difference,

pak knows USA will destroy pakistan much sooner , if pak attacks the jews, so they are just delaying the ineviatable

its only serves the muslims of the world right, the sorry state they are in,

it reminds me of the grass hopper who played all summer and then starved in the winter, the grasshopper then went to the ants , who worked hard and saved food for the winter, the ants helped him

now muslims are the grass hoppers , non muslims are the ants, but ants are not kind like in the tale,BUT THEY CANT BE BLAMED, no one asked muslims to have pitty on themselves and go into hibernation,if anyone is to be blamed its the muslims themselves, WE muslims should wake up and see how advanced the world is now, self pitty will get us nowhere

Best Regards