RubySoho
Winston
Why Israel And Hamas Are Undermining The Peace Process
March 13th 2008 04:56
The shock killing of eight Jewish religious students at in Jerusalem last week was the latest in a series of blows to the tentative peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority lead by Mahmoud Abbas. Within hours speculation was mounting as to whether the gunman, later revealed to be East Jerusalem resident Ala Abu Dhaim, acted alone or was linked to a terrorist group. Within hours Hamas praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility.
Israel immediately condemned the killings, as did the United States, France and Germany. The United Nations stopped short of doing likewise and called for attention to be given to Israel’s recent military operation in Gaza and renewed its call for a two State solution. To its credit, and despite fears to the contrary, the Israeli government claimed that the attack would not halt peace negotiations. With the Bush administration eager to see a deal between the Palestinians and Israelis before the end of Bush’s term, it seemed that such a deal could possibly be in the cards.
Then, two things happened. The first, on Friday March 7 was Hamas claiming responsibility for the attack on the Jewish seminary.
The second on Sunday March 9, was the announcement by the Israeli government that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had approved a plan to build 750 new homes in a Jewish Settlement in the West Bank.
These two incidents highlight why peace has not been forthcoming in the area. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since Israel pulled out in 2005; however, Israel refuses to allow Hamas to be privy to the peace negotiations with Israel since Hamas does not recognise Israel’s right to exist. Thus, Hamas rocket launches into Israel could be seen as an attempt to have a say in the matter. Israel’s answer has been to blockade the area resulting in what human rights and aid groups have called “the worst humanitarian crisis in Gaza since the Israeli occupation began in 1967”.
The United Nations and aids groups such as CARE International have said that Israel’s response has been disproportionate. According to Geoffry Binder, a humanitarian law expert, “it's grossly disproportional..what we're dealing with here is a few rockets coming from presumably one small corner of Gaza. And the response is the blockade and the destruction of hundreds of lives and the impoverishment of the whole area."
The peace talks looked on the verge of crumbling when Israel announced it would scale down it Gaza operation. So it looked like things were back on track. Then, obviously furious at being left out of the negotiations, Hamas struck in Jerusalem. Israel has a long history of retaliating to terror attacks with attacks of even greater death and destruction. Had Aba Abu Dhaim acted alone, the killings could have been seen as the act of a crazed gunman. Hamas’s involvement makes it a terror attack and now the world waits to see when and how Israel will avenge the deaths of these students. Hamas chose its victims carefully: the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva Seminary School is closely linked to the Jewish Settler movement. This is a powerful lobby in Israel and retribution will surely come.
(Sure enough, in perhaps the first round of Israeli revenge, four men described as militants were shot dead by Israeli commandos as they rode in an unmarked car. Just hours later Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza into the Israeli town of Sderot).
Israel is also going about its own way of undermining the peace process with, ironically (or perhaps un-ironically), approval of new settlements in the West Bank. Naturally, this angers Palestinian leaders who see it as a direct violation of the terms of the peace processs, which explicitly state that settlement expansion be frozen. Israel claims that the settlement plans predate the current government, and are therefore outside the terms of the agreement.
The United States has said that the settlement plans are “not helpful” to peace negotiations, but has stopped short of actually asking Israel to rethink the settlement. Condaleeza Rice, once again demonstrated why she is the most non-event US Secretary Of State ever, by simply stating that US policy is “well known on this issue”. Yes, we know you will never criticise Israel for anything. Big deal.
The motives of Hamas are clear. Those of Israel are less so. Why risk this chance at peace by provoking an issue that is perhaps closest to the hearts of Palestinians than any other? The settlements on the West Bank, where
400 000 Jews have settled since the occupation in 1967, anger the Palestinians who call attention to the fact that the occupation is illegal under international law. So why do it?
According to Radio Israel, it was the far right ultra-orthodox Shas Party, which pushed the government to restart the settlement. The Shas Party threatened to quit the government coalition unless the Olmert government approved the construction. Faced with the prospect of losing government, Olmert conceded to their demands.
So what we have is this. Olmert and Abbas, two relatively moderate men attempting to make history by brokering a lasting peace deal and both their efforts being undermined by religious extremists. There is a difference between them though. The actions of Hamas are outside the control of Abbas. Hamas is not in any way involved in the negotiations, thus the Palestinian Authority cannot be held responsible for the setbacks it causes. The Shas Party, on the other hand, is a part of the Israeli government. It is essentially blackmailing Olmert into accepting its demands. In bowing to this blackmail, the Israeli government is once again demonstrating that peace is not its top priority.
The peace negotiations will fail.
Israel immediately condemned the killings, as did the United States, France and Germany. The United Nations stopped short of doing likewise and called for attention to be given to Israel’s recent military operation in Gaza and renewed its call for a two State solution. To its credit, and despite fears to the contrary, the Israeli government claimed that the attack would not halt peace negotiations. With the Bush administration eager to see a deal between the Palestinians and Israelis before the end of Bush’s term, it seemed that such a deal could possibly be in the cards.
Then, two things happened. The first, on Friday March 7 was Hamas claiming responsibility for the attack on the Jewish seminary.
The second on Sunday March 9, was the announcement by the Israeli government that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had approved a plan to build 750 new homes in a Jewish Settlement in the West Bank.
These two incidents highlight why peace has not been forthcoming in the area. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since Israel pulled out in 2005; however, Israel refuses to allow Hamas to be privy to the peace negotiations with Israel since Hamas does not recognise Israel’s right to exist. Thus, Hamas rocket launches into Israel could be seen as an attempt to have a say in the matter. Israel’s answer has been to blockade the area resulting in what human rights and aid groups have called “the worst humanitarian crisis in Gaza since the Israeli occupation began in 1967”.
The United Nations and aids groups such as CARE International have said that Israel’s response has been disproportionate. According to Geoffry Binder, a humanitarian law expert, “it's grossly disproportional..what we're dealing with here is a few rockets coming from presumably one small corner of Gaza. And the response is the blockade and the destruction of hundreds of lives and the impoverishment of the whole area."
The peace talks looked on the verge of crumbling when Israel announced it would scale down it Gaza operation. So it looked like things were back on track. Then, obviously furious at being left out of the negotiations, Hamas struck in Jerusalem. Israel has a long history of retaliating to terror attacks with attacks of even greater death and destruction. Had Aba Abu Dhaim acted alone, the killings could have been seen as the act of a crazed gunman. Hamas’s involvement makes it a terror attack and now the world waits to see when and how Israel will avenge the deaths of these students. Hamas chose its victims carefully: the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva Seminary School is closely linked to the Jewish Settler movement. This is a powerful lobby in Israel and retribution will surely come.
(Sure enough, in perhaps the first round of Israeli revenge, four men described as militants were shot dead by Israeli commandos as they rode in an unmarked car. Just hours later Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza into the Israeli town of Sderot).
Israel is also going about its own way of undermining the peace process with, ironically (or perhaps un-ironically), approval of new settlements in the West Bank. Naturally, this angers Palestinian leaders who see it as a direct violation of the terms of the peace processs, which explicitly state that settlement expansion be frozen. Israel claims that the settlement plans predate the current government, and are therefore outside the terms of the agreement.
The United States has said that the settlement plans are “not helpful” to peace negotiations, but has stopped short of actually asking Israel to rethink the settlement. Condaleeza Rice, once again demonstrated why she is the most non-event US Secretary Of State ever, by simply stating that US policy is “well known on this issue”. Yes, we know you will never criticise Israel for anything. Big deal.
The motives of Hamas are clear. Those of Israel are less so. Why risk this chance at peace by provoking an issue that is perhaps closest to the hearts of Palestinians than any other? The settlements on the West Bank, where
400 000 Jews have settled since the occupation in 1967, anger the Palestinians who call attention to the fact that the occupation is illegal under international law. So why do it?
According to Radio Israel, it was the far right ultra-orthodox Shas Party, which pushed the government to restart the settlement. The Shas Party threatened to quit the government coalition unless the Olmert government approved the construction. Faced with the prospect of losing government, Olmert conceded to their demands.
So what we have is this. Olmert and Abbas, two relatively moderate men attempting to make history by brokering a lasting peace deal and both their efforts being undermined by religious extremists. There is a difference between them though. The actions of Hamas are outside the control of Abbas. Hamas is not in any way involved in the negotiations, thus the Palestinian Authority cannot be held responsible for the setbacks it causes. The Shas Party, on the other hand, is a part of the Israeli government. It is essentially blackmailing Olmert into accepting its demands. In bowing to this blackmail, the Israeli government is once again demonstrating that peace is not its top priority.
The peace negotiations will fail.
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Comment by Ahmed
techy.Bytes
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Qwerk
Cinema Three
The IDF through delibrate carelessness provokes the Palestinian militatns and strengthens their cause. For now they believe they have Hammas and other such factions under check.
In the end the fight is over politics, speaking in terms of pure religion only the ultra-orthodox Jews are involved in doing what they are. In the end no one wins because a few parties on both sides (the IDF, orthodox jews, hammas etc) want absoloute power in a land that relgiously and politically speaking cannot be controlled by any one set of people.
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
The fact that it can fly in the face of international law yet again by approving yet more settlements in the West Bank proves this. Yet, this brazen actions recieves little attention in the press. Why?
It amazes and saddens me that so many can't see it.