Do All People Forget History? The Jakarta Post, Friday, January 30, 2009
I refer to the article “Hamas responsible for Gaza war: EU” (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 27, p. 12). For such news, The Post gave almost half a page of coverage with bold letters and large font? Here. I would like to comment on statements made by the European Commission for Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Louis Michel, in the article. Doesn’t Michel remember who in 1947 partitioned the land of Palestine and gave it to the Zionists? It was Europe! Doesn’t he remember how the Zionists expelled the Palestinians from their houses and lands in 1948? By terror! Terrorizing the Palestinians! Doesn’t he remember who started the 1967 war and took the lands of Gaza, the Golan Heights, Sinai, the West Bank and Jerusalem? Doesn’t he remember who helped the Sabra and Shatila massacres? Doesn’t he remember who blockaded Gaza? Why don’t people remember what happened and is happening to the Palestinians? Why are they always blaming the Palestinians when they have to fight the occupiers by any means, as the Zionists did in the past, for their land, their houses and their farms that have been occupied, through acts of terror, for such a long time? Why do people (who do know the precise history) never give the slightest assistance to the Palestinians in their fight for their freedom and independence? The Palestinian problem can only be solved by returning the lands of the Palestinians and by the West telling the world the Palestinians have such a right. Michel must remember the cause of the Palestinian problem and have a fair perspective toward the Palestinians. Massaruddin Tangerang, Banten Source: THE JAKARTA POST URL: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/30/letter-do-all-people-forget-history.html Comments: Paolo L. Scalpini Awareness and forgivingness are the only solution. If Mr. Massaruddin thinks that his (extremely selective) 'remembering' of history is a justification for Hamas' continued attacks then that is of course his right - though I am afraid his reaction says more about how the minds of people where '(mis)(in)formed' during the long era of Orde Baru and the days after. But still, in that case please don't be so hypocritical to act so indignantly when the other side reacts to this as well. Hate leads to more hate, violence to more violence. In the end it doesn’t matter anymore who was right and wrong. Doesn't God (or Allah) teaches us that? Usually this is not a ‘black and white’ thing anyway. It’s all a matter of perception unless you blindly take sides and don’t want to see the other side of the picture as well. In fact many people remember history differently because there were millions of histories of common people living their life in parallel with many others, who may have a different perception of history. For instance, imagine that you were born in Israel in the seventies as the child of Jewish refugees from Yemen or Morocco. Wouldn’t you see the missile falling in the playground where your little child often plays, or the bus being blown up by a suicide bomber as a big injustice and a threat? Around the world there are an uncountable number of people and peoples who have reasons for feeling dispossessed or feeling the victims of many injustices. If they, and the freedom fighters with a very different philosophy than Hamas, like Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King would have fought their struggle with the same dogmatic hatred as Hamas there would be many more bloody conflicts in other areas of the word. This could go on and on… Mr. Michel has a far more balanced view of history and he has condemned both parties. He has no electoral reasons either to misuse this issue for politial gains. But Hamas' unwillingness to come to a peace settlement (unless it means wiping Israel of the map) and its deliberate targeting of civilians, are indeed a fundamental problem that won’t simply go away by blaming Israel. Of course Israel deserves a large part of the blame as well – let’s make that clear. But Hamas and their ‘emotional’ co-religionist supporters help create a situation that can easily be exploited by Israel for their side of their struggle and in the end leads us even further away from God's peace. Tatu Fuad Maulani Dear Massarudin, You hit the nail exactly on the head with your letter questioning people's pretended ignorance of the true history regarding Zionism and its brutal actions. Even Yitzak Shamir admitted he was a terrorist wanted by the British after he assassinated a British official. The moral of the story is that you have to be very powerful to do anything you want to do and that what you do is always right. Anybody not sharing your view or not getting allied with you is wrong, is a subhuman who should be obliterated from the face of the world. Bravo Sir! Henry Without saying that the Palestines or the Israelis are wrong (In my opinion they are BOTH wrong). I do remember history. You fail to go further back in history than 1900: because that's convenient to make your point? This is a text from Wikipedia that explains the 'roots' of Israel. If you take the effort to read further on wikipedia, you will see why both, Israeli and Palestinians alike have legitimate claims on this piece of land, nowadays called 'Israel'. For further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel Unfortunately it isn't as simple as you suggest. The simplest solution would be if both, Israeli and Palestinians would live together in peace and respect. Unfortunately both have no such intentions and that's the whole issue. Skeptic Well... face it, Israel is there first before being evicted. When they come back, the Palestinian simply don't want to share the land and therefore there is conflict. If you wish to refer to history as a ground to justify that the land is rightfully Palestinian, You should know that the Palestinian occupied the land why the Israelites was exiled... Thus, Israel can also use that same reasoning to justify them coming back. What Israel did back then might not be honorable. But that does not justify the shameful things Hamas did.... Both are Surely you know that if you fire a rocket from a residential area, you endanger the populace around it... Please don't make Hamas heroes, Using Human shields are not something heroes should do... And please don't think that this is a lie. They shoot from schools and hospitals and reignited the war many times... We cannot say Israel's retaliation is right, but Hamas' action is definitely not better. The problem can be solved only if the two agree to coexist... Pamer gaya dengan skin baru yang keren. Coba Yahoo! 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