I think this was worth putting here, as it encapsulates my view:
"This gentlemen's response to a New York Times columnist's article about the Israel-Palestine problem, sums it all up.
" First, three Jewish people were killed. It's not clear who killed them. [Me butting into to add: and we are not told by mainstream news of the deaths of the Palestinians before this] Why does Israel get to decimate a whole country for this? It seems that Hamas is the one trying to defend Palestine from an unjustified and brutal attack. If someone from Canada came over and killed a few Americans, and then we decided to destroy all of Canada, then yes, Canada would have a right to respond.
Second, Israel was created by the British as a Jewish state in 1948. Arabs were the majority, and Jews a much smaller minority at this time. Britain had no right to do this. The successors of colonizers are still colonizers. They may as well have created a Jewish state in Ireland or India. And the Irish or Indians, if such had been their fate, would have every right today to try to win back their land and to drive their oppressors from it.
Since its creation, Israel has engaged in a systematic campaign of colonialist expansion and oppression of the Palestinians. They are literally walled off from the rest of the world, blockaded, and subjugated in a land where they are lorded over by a racist regime that grants them no rights - no representation, no vote, no economic freedom. This has been acknowledged by the United Nations for some time.
[me butting in to add: they have imprisoned children, killed 100's of Palestinians with illegal phosphorus bombs, destroyed hundreds of villages, shot worshippers during prayer, raided & bombed surrounding countries, targeted airports for example, deported thousands of Palestinians, and much more].
One can understand why the Palestinians fight for their freedom. One can see the parallels to apartheid in South Africa. There is little difference. It is an apartheid. Those you label as terrorists are the ones who have been terrorized. They have the right to fight for what has been taken from them. It is the state of Israel that terrorizes the Palestinians, has driven them from their homes, and keeps them in a cage. If the British took over part of America, and then designated it a Catholic state, and that state then drove everyone from their homes if they weren't Catholic and then put walls around the non-Catholics and economically isolated them, who would you side with?
Your characterization of the situation as one of fault on both sides ignores the fact that one side is the oppressed, Palestine, and the other side, Israel, is the oppressor. It ignores the history of wrongful takeover. Would you criticize a slave for striking its master? Did you call South Africans terrorists when they fought in the streets against the Afrikaners? If justice is to be done, there can be no peace between a slave and a slaver - there can only be liberation.
Consider that democracy is seldom seen as a solution, one with Arab representation and Jewish representation. The reason for this is that Israel does not want democracy - they want a religious state that gives no power to the Arabs who live there. This is completely contrary to western ideals. The media - you, and the politicians, in this country, should acknowledge the wrongful creation of the Jewish state, the continued oppression of the arab population, and the Palestinians’ fight for freedom."
~Kevin Satter
"This gentlemen's response to a New York Times columnist's article about the Israel-Palestine problem, sums it all up.
" First, three Jewish people were killed. It's not clear who killed them. [Me butting into to add: and we are not told by mainstream news of the deaths of the Palestinians before this] Why does Israel get to decimate a whole country for this? It seems that Hamas is the one trying to defend Palestine from an unjustified and brutal attack. If someone from Canada came over and killed a few Americans, and then we decided to destroy all of Canada, then yes, Canada would have a right to respond.
Second, Israel was created by the British as a Jewish state in 1948. Arabs were the majority, and Jews a much smaller minority at this time. Britain had no right to do this. The successors of colonizers are still colonizers. They may as well have created a Jewish state in Ireland or India. And the Irish or Indians, if such had been their fate, would have every right today to try to win back their land and to drive their oppressors from it.
Since its creation, Israel has engaged in a systematic campaign of colonialist expansion and oppression of the Palestinians. They are literally walled off from the rest of the world, blockaded, and subjugated in a land where they are lorded over by a racist regime that grants them no rights - no representation, no vote, no economic freedom. This has been acknowledged by the United Nations for some time.
[me butting in to add: they have imprisoned children, killed 100's of Palestinians with illegal phosphorus bombs, destroyed hundreds of villages, shot worshippers during prayer, raided & bombed surrounding countries, targeted airports for example, deported thousands of Palestinians, and much more].
One can understand why the Palestinians fight for their freedom. One can see the parallels to apartheid in South Africa. There is little difference. It is an apartheid. Those you label as terrorists are the ones who have been terrorized. They have the right to fight for what has been taken from them. It is the state of Israel that terrorizes the Palestinians, has driven them from their homes, and keeps them in a cage. If the British took over part of America, and then designated it a Catholic state, and that state then drove everyone from their homes if they weren't Catholic and then put walls around the non-Catholics and economically isolated them, who would you side with?
Your characterization of the situation as one of fault on both sides ignores the fact that one side is the oppressed, Palestine, and the other side, Israel, is the oppressor. It ignores the history of wrongful takeover. Would you criticize a slave for striking its master? Did you call South Africans terrorists when they fought in the streets against the Afrikaners? If justice is to be done, there can be no peace between a slave and a slaver - there can only be liberation.
Consider that democracy is seldom seen as a solution, one with Arab representation and Jewish representation. The reason for this is that Israel does not want democracy - they want a religious state that gives no power to the Arabs who live there. This is completely contrary to western ideals. The media - you, and the politicians, in this country, should acknowledge the wrongful creation of the Jewish state, the continued oppression of the arab population, and the Palestinians’ fight for freedom."
~Kevin Satter
During an Israel-conducted massacre from previous years..
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