lk
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response 68 of 70:
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Jan 6 21:07 UTC 2004 |
Good grief, David. Confronted with one false equivalence (as if tolerating
"outposts" in the middle of nowhere is the same as harboring and aiding
terrorists who are murdering innocent civilians) you move to another:
> Neither side has ever struck me as very enthusiastic [about making peace].
Really? So both sides were equally unenthusiastic in 1937, when the Jewish
Agency accepted the principle of partition yet the Arab High Committee
rejected it?
So both sides were equally guilty in 1947, when the Jewish Agency accepted
the findings of UNSCOP and Resolution 181 (establishing 2 states, one Arab
and one Jewish) and the Arabs violently rejected it, opting for war?
Following this war, the Arab League isued its "3 NOs" declaration:
No negotiations, no recognition, no peace with Israel and went on to
reject Resolution 194 (the very one invoked today as the basis of a
"right of return" in a maneuver that can best be described as the
opposite of a line-item veto).
Again after the 1956 war, despite Israel's unilateral withdrawal from all
territories in a good-faith effort to kindle negotiations, the Arab League
re-issued its "3 NOs".
Again after the 1967 war, Israel accepted UNSCR 242. The Arab League rejected
it and re-issued its "3 NOs".
Following the 1973 war, Israel again unilaterally withdrew (after repelling
the surprise Arab attack, its forces were on the outskirts of Damascus and
Cairo). Ultimately Egypt would come around and make peace, but not only
was Carter's Camp David rejected and denounced by the rest of the Arab world
(none of whom would come to the negotiating table), Egypt was expelled from
the Arab League.
Has anything really changed in the last 25 years?
When Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel signed a peace treaty with Israel,
he was promptly assassinated by the Syrian/PLO/Shia axis, the peace treaty
anulled.
Yes, the PLO has rejected terrorism (even several times), yet continues to
harbor, fund and perpetrate it.
After 7 years of Oslo the Saudis finally paid lip service to a peace plan (that
stayed in the drawer; the first hint of taking it out caused an uproar at
the ensuing Arab League meeting which quickly disintegrated and disbanded).
At least Oslo allowed Jordan to come out from the PLO shadow and make peace
(with a waiting and willing) Israel.
Yet even at Clinton's Camp David, Barak was willing to compromise and make
peace and Arafat was not.
So why this hesitancy to compromise and make peace? Because much of the
Arab world views "compromise" as "surrender" and has no interest in it.
http://www.heggy.org/culture_of_compromise.htm
And, as the historian Benny Morris posits:
|| Palestinian leaders and preachers, guided by history and religion,
|| have traditionally seen the Jews as an inferior race whose proper
|| place was as an abased minority in a Muslim polity; and the present
|| situation, with an Arab minority under Jewish rule, is regarded as a
|| perversion of nature and divine will.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20030421&s=morris042103
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lk
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response 69 of 70:
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Jan 10 05:24 UTC 2004 |
Ran across an interesting tidbit showing that the International Committe
of the Red Cross does not consider Israeli settlements to be a "war crime", a
violation of the Geneva Conventions. From the Jerusalem Post (20 June 2001):
The Jerusalem representative of the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC), Rene Kosimik, on May 17, 2001, said, "The installation
of a population of the occupying power in occupied territory is
considered an illegal move, it is a grave breach. In principal it is
a war crime." Rep. Eliot Engel protested to the President of the
ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, who replied, "The expression 'war crime'
has not been used by the ICRC in relation to Israeli settlements in
the occupied territories in the past and will not be used anymore in
the present context." He added, "The reference made to it on May 17
was inappropriate and will not be repeated."
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aaron
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response 70 of 70:
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Jan 30 21:10 UTC 2004 |
So you are arguing that the illegal settlement perpetrated by Israel in
the occupied territories is not a war crime? Finally, we're on the same
page. <eye roll>
How much reserve duty have you refused to perform over the past three
years, Leeron? Some refuse out of conscience; others out of cowardice.
Right?
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