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All the critics of France are now eating humble pie. Zidane was incredible today. Ribery gave France an extra cutting edge too. There’s a good chance France could go all the way. They would probably meet Germany in the final and it’s hard to predict the outcome, but France are starting to play like they should play and they are the team with the players for the big occasion. They might shake up the world and win the cup after looking like no-hopers at the start of the tournament.
Didn’t Britain hang lord haw haw? Let’s string up these nazi propagandists too. String them up and then beat them down with sticks like pinatas. Fun for all the family.
You’re just ignoring the facts and basing your opinions on how you think the situation should be, not on how it is. You say that there’s nothing to stop an orange farmer from maintaining his business when his orchard is taken from him but how exactly do you grow oranges without an orchard?
You’re just not being realistic. You say that the fighting should just stop by itself, but that’s never going to happen. It’s naive to expect people to surrender all their rights and live under foreign rule. Your analysis of palestinian finances and political groups was way off the mark too with no basis in fact.
If you look at the end of the colonial era in many parts of the world, even though the people living under foreign rule were completely outgunned they still took up arms against their oppressors. It happened in Kenya, Yemen, Indochina, Algeria, South Africa, zimbabwe, and many other places. This is no different. The ANC used questionable tactics at times. SWAPO had the maxim of “one settler one bullet”. The bottom-line is that you can’t murder, torture and persecute people and not expect a violent backlash. Give me an example of where a nation was persecuted but there was no form of resistance and the population accepted a life of subservience? If you can’t then it proves that your argument is severely flawed.
You can even look at the example of Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. They were no match for the Israeli military but they persisted in their armed campaign until the Israelis finally withdrew from Lebanon. You could also say that it was due to Hamas that Israel decided it was no longer worth staying in Gaza. People will always fight for freedom no matter where they are in the world. The tactics may not always be ethical but as long as you have colonial rule you will have armed resistance. That’s the way it is like it or not.
I only seem to make accurate predictions when I don’t place any money on a game. Strange thing about the England game is that nobody remembered Ricardo has a reputation for being good at stopping penalties. He reacts to shots rather than guessing, so you have to hit the ball hard and accurately to beat him like Hargreaves did.
It’s fanciful to imagine that the Palestinians can just get on with their lives while the occupation exists. How is an orange farmer for example supposed to sustain a viable business when his orchard gets chopped down and the land gets taken by the Israeli military. How can Palestinian fishermen conduct their affairs in a normal manner when their coastline is under the complete control of the Israeli government who can dictate whether or not ships are allowed out to sea and where they can sail. Palestinian airspace is under the control of the Israeli government. Israel can also control the flow of imports and exports out of Palestinian territory. We’ve also recently seen Israel arbitrarily withholding tax payments that the palestinian authority is due.
So Israel has a strangle-hold on all freight, all movement by land, sea and air, any and all palestinian land, palestinian water supplies, and on Palestinian finances. There is also the punitive damage that Israel carries out on Palestinian buildings and infrastructure. This is not an environment suitable for a country to prosper. Even the basic needs of Palestinians such as education and healthcare are impaired by the occupation because of the limited freedom of movement.
If you try defining terrorism then you will find that Israel is just as guilty of terrorism as Hamas is. Israel’s brand of terror is deadlier and more sophisticated. Some might say that Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organisation but the international community also recognizes that Israel is a rogue state with no respect for the rules and customs of war, or for basic human rights. Is a country that carries out war crimes any better or any different from a terrorist organisation? I think not. Also let’s not forget that the USA who are quick to denounce Hamas were found guilty of terrorism in Nicaragua. The USA has been a major exporter and trainer of state terror. Is terrorism carried out by the state on its population any less awful than terrorism by a militant faction? So, let’s ditch the hypocrisy.
Hamas has said it is willing to accept the 1967 borders which would effectively mean they would recgonize Israel in all but words. Is the Israeli government interested? Of course not because they want to continue stealing Palestinian land. In the absence of a peace deal we will inevitably see the return of the suicide bombers and the incursions. The cycle of violence will not stop. The fighting has been going on for almost 60 years and it won’t just magically stop all by itself. The road to peace lies through negotiation and an end to the occupation.
I think France might cause another upset and beat Brazil. Brazil are vulnerable at the back and Henry is one the best strikers in the world.
The England Portugal game is too close to call. England have match winners who can win any match even if the team is playing badly but so do Portugal and Portugal probably have more pace in their side. Figo and Maniche will be key figures they will be very dangerous. Cristiano Ronaldo will pose a threat too if he plays. There will probably be a red card at some point in the proceedings, it’s bound to be a heated affair.
What’s stopping Israel from keeping its troops inside Israel? They need the troops there to protect the settlements. Why are there settlements illegally placed on Palestinian land? The hawks in Israel view the Occupied Territories as land given to them by God and therefore theirs to conquer by divine right.
Fatah bent over backwards to accomodate Israel, they did everything asked of them short of disarming their political opponents in Hamas. They have recognized Israel, they accepted the Road Map without preconditions and yet Israel has constantly refused to negotiate. Even when a ceasefire was achieved Israel wasn’t interested in talking to Fatah. All the time that there is a political stalemate the settlements keep expanding, the wall continues to be built creating a de facto annexation of Palestinian territory into the state of Israel and the Palestinians continue to be killed and denied basic human rights. This is why there are Palestinian militants. If you strip human beings of their rights, their dignity, their freedom and even of their life then the inevitable result is that you will create people hell-bent on retribution.
Remember Hamas was created in 1987 during the first uprising against the occupation. The occupation is the biggest obstacle to peace in this conflict. The Palestinian president has not asked for anything more than the Palestinians are entitled to. All that he and the PLO are asking for is for Israel to withdraw back to its recognized territory. That means Israel would have around 78% of historic Palestine and the Palestinians would have around 22%. Evidently the Israelis think a 78% – 22% deal in their favour is not enough.
The fatah government under Arafat and Abbas recognized Israel and made reforms to please the international community but Israel kept moving the goalposts. It said it didn’t want to negotiate until Hamas decommissioned its weapons and disbanded. This was an absurd demand because there was no way the Fatah government could possibly bring this about especially in the absence of any peace deal. Any attempt to do it would have led to a civil war which would have been good for Israel but not for the Palestinians (divide and conquer).
Palestinians are perfectly entitled to take up arms against the army that is persecuting them. Killing soldiers of the occupying army is an act of resistance just like it was during WWII. As long as Israel is carrying out a brutal occupation of Palestinian land then Israeli soldiers will be fair game. It may not be the best tactic but there is nothing unethical about it. In fact they are perfectly justified in their actions against military targets. The taking of a prisoner must have been deliberate because it’s far easier to shoot somebody than to take them hostage and escape with them. They are hoping to arrange a prisoner swap like the exchanges that have happened in the past.
It does seem clear that the attacks by the Israeli military do breach the Geneva Conventions. It would appear that there has been needless destruction of civilian infrastructure. I mean was it really necessary to deprive the entire area of power especially when the power is needed to supply water to the population. There’s also no way to bring fuel into the area to supply back-up generators. Lord only knows how the hospitals will operate.
The funny thing is that in England there’s so much hostility towards Irish travellers who move onto travellers’ sites. Now imagine if the travellers moved into villages with tanks, bulldozers and infantry and took over the entire village moving the villagers out of their homes. How would English people react then? That’s the sort of situation the Palestinians find themselves in, so is it any wonder that some of them want to inflict harm on Israelis?
The attack on the Israeli military outpost wasn’t an act of terrorism, it was a legitimate act of resistance. There is no law against shooting enemy soldiers in a conflict. There is no law against taking enemy soldiers captive either. The wisdom of the act is questionable but its legitimacy is not.
I feel sorry for the family of the soldier taken captive because Israel’s actions are bound to lead to his death. There’s no way the soldier can be rescued because as soon as Israeli troops get anywhere near the location the soldier will be executed.
I get the feeling that the real objective of the Israeli government is to punish the palestinian people. That’s why they’re destroying infrastructure. They could just swap a few palestinian child prisoners for the israeli soldier but the Israeli government wants to posture and act tough and the result will be that everyone loses.
The biggest contradiction of this operation is that the Israeli government accuses the exiled leader of the military wing of Hamas, in Damascus, of being behind the attack on the soldiers. They also say that the palestinian government was not calling the shots and is not aware of the prisoner’s location. They even flew warplanes over the president of Syria’s home. However, 60 members of the Palestinian government have been captured by Israeli forces.
PB seems to think that the only people being killed or attacked are the Israelis who face attack from militant rockets. He conveniently overlooks all the palestinian civilians being killed by the Israeli military on a regular basis. The fact is that more palestinian civilians die than israeli civilians. Since Israel is the invader then surely the onus must be on Israel to keep its soldiers and civilians inside Israel instead of taking part in a massive land-grab thereby putting themselves in direct conflict with the Palestinians. If the Israelis leave the Palestinians alone then the Palestinians will probably leave the Israelis alone.
The police and the courts will always make mistakes and that’s why the death penalty is not an acceptable punishment.
