At 08:38 AM 7/26/2006, Isaac Lieberman wrote: >One problem with Mr. Hayden's analysis is that when the Palestinians and >Hezbollah speak of Israel's "occupation", they are referring to Israel's >very existence in the mideast, not just "disputed" territories.
There are no "disputed" territories. There are occupied territories, internationally recognized by the entire world as such, except Israel. Israel has never defined its own borders. The rest of the world however, recognizes that Israel is the occupying power in the Gaza, West Bank, Golan Heights (Syria) and once again in southern Lebanon. These occupations are illegal, and that illegality is heightened by the refusal of the Israeli government to fulfill its international humanitarian responsibilities as the occupying power, let alone by its attacks on civilians in those territories. > And I totally disagree with the claim about Israel's government and a > 2-state solution. Israel most certainly wishes a peaceful two-state > solution with the Palestinians. No Israeli government has ever committed to or even proposed a "two-state" solution. Moreover. in violation of international law, Israel refuses to let Palestinian refugees return to their homes in either those occupied territories or in Israel. >But most of Israel's Arab and Muslim neighbors seem to remain committed to >her destruction, not to peaceful co-existence. Israel sat relatively >patiently while Hezbollah built a stockpile of rockets measured in the >tens of thousands amassed near the border. It wasn't until Hezbollah >crossed the border, raiding Israel, killing 8 Israeli soldiers, and >kidnapping 2 others, that Israel finally moved to try to remove this one >of several existential threats. And the only reason residential settings >are being targeted is because that's where Hezbollah is hiding their >fighters and their weapons. The Israeli soldiers I believe were in fact captured in South Lebanon. Captured soldiers (including the Israeli soldiers captured by Palestinian resistance fighters) are not "kidnaped" or hostages, they are prisoners of war, and the exchange of captured combatants has taken place several times in the past between the Israelis and both the Palestinians and Hezbollah. In both the recent incursions into Gaza and Lebanon, hostilities were initiated by Israel, as part of a plan to widen the middle east fighting (in concert with US imperialist plans to deal with the war in Iraq by extending it to Iran and/or Syria). >As far as the palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails... when you have >people coming into your country repeatedly committing mass murder, you are >going to end up arresting some people to protect them. Those prisoners >should not be freed. Palestinian prisoners are not "coming into" someone else's country. they are prisoners of colonialism and of an internationally recognized and justified liberation movement. I notice you say nothing about the main point of Hayden's memoir, which was the extent to which pro-Israel political forces in the US, as well as Israeli and Zionist political figures, use political blackmail to exert a stranglehold on political discourse about Israel and Palestine. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
