Genevieve wrote:
But what you're overlooking is that both Palestinian and Israeli citizens aren't on a 'side', they are the victims of the CONFLICT, a conflict that both sides are taking part of. Anti-zionist Israelis, who opposite Israel's regime, are not on the 'oppressing side' and Palestinian citizens are AS oppressed by Hamas as they are by Israel. Hamas doesn't care about Palestinians, they care about their ideology. So they keep shooting rockets to provoke Israel, knowing full well that Israel will kill thousands of Palestinians; they don't give a fuck. To them it's ideology over human life, which makes them as co-complicit in this situation as Israel.
Things are never as easy as 'they did it' in international conflicts. Humans like to think in those terms, this is why we watch movies with clearcut badguys and heroes. But reality is completely different.
right, but negotiations aren't between the citizens of each country in general they're between representatives. i'm not talking about anti-zionist israelis, i am talking about the israeli state, as should be obvious to anyone reading.
in a free election, the israelis elected a coalition government consisting of likud, the largest party and some other parties of varying degrees of right wingness
and in a free election, palestinians in gaza elected Hamas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinia ... tion,_2006
so, in terms of the international negotiations, this is what you have to work with.
THIS is the reality.
the reality is also that when the palestinians elected hamas, they were immediately sanctioned by Israel and the West
where were the sanctions against Israel for voting for Likud?* where were the demands that Israel accept the right of the Palestinians to a state and accept the illegality of its post-1967 occupied territory** and settlements prior to engaging in negotiations?
the claim that Hamas and Israel are both "oppressors" is repeated endlessly and yet the reality*** is utterly biased in Israel's favour when it comes to negotiating a solution.
THIS is what is preventing real negotiations from occurring
* there have been calls for sanctions against israel on various issues but the united states blocked them
** observe the ferocity of the reaction when Obama suggested Israel might return to its 1967 borders. They are pretty much alone in the international community in opposing this (HIGHLY reasonable) solution
*** i.e. the united states
