Thursday, July 27, 2006

We sit and do nothing.

I thought long and hard about what to write for this post. Afterall, it is clear that the world is divided into those who think it is ok to bomb cities because two of your soldiers were taken, and those who do not.

The situation in the middle east was not caused by any one act. It is the culmination of decades of conflict. To try and see it from one side or the other is difficult when you do not live there, or have a direct involvement.

Hezbollah are a respected organization in the middle east and are seen as a resistance movement. Wikipedia says 'Resistance movements can include any irregular armed force that rises up against an enforced or established authority, government, or administration. This frequently includes groups that consider themselves to be resisting tyranny. Some resistance movements are underground organizations engaged in a struggle for national liberation in a country under military occupation or totalitarian domination.' Now the US and UK and Israel see them as terrorists. This is why Lebanon will not be able to get rid of them, or stop their actions.

The question of Palestine is the root cause of the conflict and until that is sorted out, then peace is not possible. From an Arab point of view, there are certainly two sets of rules. For years, the Palestinians have lived in undignified and desperate conditions. They, according to the west, brought this on themselves for not accepting the initial carve up of their homeland. They should not have fought, and should have accepted their land being given away. However, they did fight, along with the Arab world and lost more land. Not only that, but they little bit of land they were left with has been invaded and build upon and occupied. They have not been respected. But that's ok, isn't it. They are not equal. Through the continual backing and support of the US, Israel can do pretty much anything and when the UN tries to object, or place sanctions, the US veto it.

The anger, amongst Arabs is huge. Stories have circulated for years which I was not aware of but seem to be common knowledge over there. Sharon the Butcher becoming Prime Minister was the icing on the cake, for many Arabs.

I am certainly not anti Jewish, but I am am anti Israeli policy. I believe that everyone is equal. I accept that the Jewish people have a right to Israel. I do not believe that Israel should be wiped from the map, but I strongly believe that the Palestinians need to be given a large portion of their land back. No buffer zones. One side should not be entitled to a buffer zone, when the other side is not even entitled to a proper government and an army. If people can not fight officially, the only way is underground.

In situations of harmony and happiness, there is no place for fanaticism. Hitler came to power on the back of the humiliating sanctions that were put upon the German people after WW1. The way to stop suicide bombers, which I do not believe in, is to give them a reason to live and be happy with their life.

I went to the PLO website and looked at their 'facts'. Now obviously, they are from the Palestinian point of view, but they still make for sad reading.

I do not understand how the response from Israel, to get back to the present, is ok on any front. I do not understand how bombing cities is ok. I did not understand why we were allowed to do the same thing to Iraq. Collateral damage is an awful phrase that does not even pay proper respect that real, ordinary, human lives have been lost. By the thousands. By the tens of thousands, if you add up everything since this all began. It is not ok. There is a quote which I saw at the Holocaust Exhibition.

'All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to sit and do nothing'.