Thursday, May 15, 2008

Israel's 60th birthday

Is it my imagination, or is the coverage of Israel's 60th anniversary in the British press almost entirely from the Palestinian point of view? A typical example:

Abbas pledge on 'catastrophe' day
BBC
15/5/08

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he is determined to end Israel's occupation of Palestinian land, labelling it "mankind's shame". Mr Abbas also said his hands were extended in peace, as Palestinians mark the "catastrophe" of Israel's creation. More than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced in the war that followed Israel's establishment in 1948.

...

As Palestinians recalled the "Nakba" (catastrophe) 60 years ago, Mr Abbas said in a televised speech: "It is time for this occupation to leave our land and blood. It is time this mankind's shame, which is called the Palestinian people's Nakba, to end."

Sirens sounded across the Palestinian territories during two minutes of silence for those who fled or were expelled in the conflict that followed Israel's declaration of independence. Protest rallies were held across the West Bank and Gaza, and demonstrators released 21,915 black balloons - one for each day since Israel's creation.

3 comments:

Andy said...

Interesting article from Monocle on the warming relationship between Israel and China:

http://www.monocle.com/monocolumn/2010/08/29/israels-blossoming-friendship-with-china/

JP said...

Strange how, in the constant references to an apartheid state in the Middle East, this is never what the activists actually mean:

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Abbas Reveals His True Agenda
Hudson NY
February 2, 2011

In a recent discussion of the anticipated Palestinian state, Mahmoud Abbas, leader in the territory, said he "would not tolerate one single Jew in his new country, Palestine." Speaking before journalists in Ramallah, he clearly noted, "We have already said, completely openly, and it will stay that way: 'If there is a Palestinian country with Jerusalem as its capital, we will not accept that even one single Jew will live there.'"

Abbas rejected any suggestion that Jews in Judea and Samaria, who have lived in their homes for decades, could remain under Palestinian rule. Meanwhile, in all negotiations, the Palestinian position is that "Palestinian refugees" have the right of return to Israel. According to the Abbas proposition, therefore, Israel should open its borders for Arabs while Palestine closes its borders for Jews.

Here is the deal: Arabs, who now represent about 20% of the total population in Israel, can now live in Israel as full fledged citizens with all the rights that being a citizen confers. They can have their own political parties and settle in their own communities. But on the other side of this political ledger, not one Jew, including those who reside on the West Bank, can remain, once Palestine becomes an independent nation.

What more does one have to know? Sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. There is, and will remain, in the proposed new state, different standards for Arabs and Jews. Hence, what precisely is a two state solution? An Arab state that immediately becomes a threat to the very existence of Israel, as Jews are regarded as the enemy and, by virtue of law, must be ostracized -- or worse.

To make matters even more surreal, Abbas is considered an ideological moderate. After all, he does not call for killing Jews, only for a form of apartheid, of absolute separation.

more...

Andy said...

Nice to know who was on our side during the Falklands:
Israel 'supplied arms to Argentina during Falklands
"Air to air missiles, missile radar alert systems, fuel tanks for fighter bombers and gas masks were dispatched from Israel apparently destined for Peru but were then transported on to Argentina, it claims.
As the British Task Force sent to reclaim the islands after the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falklands began to get the upper hand, Argentina's ruling military junta was left with few choices from which to source replacements for equipment lost in war.
But according to 'Operation Israel: the rearming of Argentina during the dictatorship (1976/1983)' the junta found that Begin was willing to strike an agreement."

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Netanyahu tells Britain that Israel and the UK should support each other because 'We are you and you are us" I hope he will demonstrate that he means what he says and denounce Israel's action during the Falklands...