Ashadian said: I can tell from your response that your a total media sheep! You have no idea what is going on but just believe the status quo and propaganda. Israel don't want peace because they want the land. Maybe you should watch independent news? Why are Jews and Israel's condemning Israeli occupation of Gaza? Maybe you should take on the views of unbiased media/people who don't have agendas and arms deals etc. I suggest you read up on Miko Paled(the generals son) Israeli and ex IDF! |
Phrases like "media sheep", "Zionist", "anti-semitism", "apologist", etc, are always words used by those who have closed their mind to the possibility of being wrong, and are used to beat down debate rather than opening it up and debating on facts.
I suggest you spend your time asking yourself if your analysis of the situation is balanced. I also suggest this to anybody who asserts the opposite of what you assert.
Guess what? Reality isn't black-and-white, it's a whole spectrum of colours. It's not nearly as simple as you might think, and neither side can be considered innocent in this atrocious and reprehensible situation. Indeed, there's a lot of blame to go around, from the British who thought it was a good idea to establish a Jewish state on what was, at the time, majority Muslim land, to the Muslim states around the area that thought it was a good idea to attack Israel to try to destroy it, to the Israeli government who acts as though it has some divine right to expand into Palestinian land, to the various organisations in Palestine who think (or have at one time thought) that violence, suicide bombings, and armed resistance were the way to achieve a better situation.
Hamas has, in its founding document, a quotation attributed to Mohammed (although it's disputed whether he actually said it) that refers to the end of days, in which it speaks of Muslims killing Jews wherever they hide, and the land itself working to help the Muslims. This informs Hamas's actions. And it becomes clear how this might be influencing them when you look at actions, as until relatively recently, they quite often carried out suicide bombings (and claimed the credit; this isn't some conspiracy situation). Even now, despite the parts in the Quran about only fighting when the enemy fights, and stopping when the enemy stops, Hamas has, multiple times in this most recent situation alone, refused to allow even a temporary cease fire (or has refused to extend such a cease fire).
This doesn't legitimise Israel's actions. But it does bring some insight into the situation that viewpoints like yours lack.
Both sides quite simply lack the perspective necessary to understand the situation.
Those in favour of Israel will claim that it's the "only western democracy" in the region... now, aside from the fact that Israel is not a western democracy (Israel is not a western nation, by definition), Jordan has a system bearing strong resemblance to that of Britain, which is broadly considered a western democracy.
Those against Israel will claim that there is some sort of propaganda system in place, where Jews somehow magically control the world's media. Also nonsense. All that is happening is that Israel is far more skilled at PR than most Muslim nations, or Hamas or Fatah. Netanyahu spends as much time as he can talking to the media, to keep their message out there. Meanwhile, both Abbas and Haniyeh mostly just put out press releases and talk to their own people. As a result, worldwide media gets saturated with Israel's message, and Palestine's message, if it gets heard, gets heard from media people in Palestine, reporting on the situation, rather than direct from the source.
In truth, it's my opinion that, if Abbas got some savvy PR advisors, and some policy wonks that could advise him on courses of action, he'd be able to solve this problem and walk away with a strong government leadership position (either as the strongly-supported head of a Palestinian state or as one of the leaders of a combined state, depending on whether it's a two- or one-state solution) and a Nobel Peace Prize. He is uniquely positioned to truly solve this problem, in a way that countries like Egypt, America, and Jordan aren't. He could be the voice of reason, the one calling for true peace and for dialogue rather than violence from both sides. He could embarrass both sides into coming to the table, and he could manipulate the US into forcing Israel to stop settlements and to recognise Palestine properly. For instance, he could demand that Israel recognise Palestine's right to exist.
If you're willing to consider things from both sides, and open your mind to the possibility that it's not a fight between good and evil, then you might just come to understand at least a fraction of what is happening there. Sadly, I fear that you will remain stuck in your one-sided, biased, rhetoric-filled view, the same kind of view that is driving this madness (on both sides)... but at least this post might just manage to help somebody, somewhere, to come to a more well-rounded view of the situation.