| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:What do the Palistinians and their supporters actually want ? | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 15/05/24 19:46:00 |
| You are right. I was concentrating on the question of what Israel should do differently. At least John Kettlekey had a go at answering this question, which I respect, though I don’t agree with his view. But to address his questions: 1) As regards the hostages, only around half have been released, which is disappointing. Unfortunately Hamas’s price for releasing the remaining hostages, a complete Israeli withdrawal, is unacceptable. This would leave Hamas in control of Gaza, ready to strike again. As regards eradicating Hamas, 20 of Hamas’ 24 battalions have been dismantled according to the IDF. Hamas has all but been defeated militarily, which is why their only hope is that pro-Palestinian demonstrators will put pressure on Western governments to suspend support for Israel. 2) Though John Kettlekey did not frame this in the form of a question, I don’t agree with the view that a more moderate leader than Netanyahu would agree to a ceasefire. The BBC have propagated the trope that the Israelis want peace but the obstacle is Netanyahu ‘s right wing government. Netanyahu is unpopular because he allowed the attack of October 7 to take place but opinion polls show that the majority of Israelis support the campaign to eradicate Hamas as a military force. 3) The dreadful missile strike on on the aid workers clearly shows that it is not possible to justify every attack carried out by the Israelis. War by its very nature is chaotic and mistakes are made. But I believe that the Israelis do not deliberately target civilians. Many civilians have undoubtedly died, but it is an exaggeration to claim that tens of thousands have died. Of the 35000 Palestinians who have died according to the Hamas ‘Health Ministry’, it is likely that almost a half are actually Hamas militants, some of whom may have participated in the atrocity of October 7. 4) Lastly, though this too was not framed as a question, I don’t think it is true that terrorist movements can never be eradicated. Yes, there are a few Republican terrorists around, but the IRA no longer poses a threat to civil society in NI. There are small pockets of Isis diehards, but Isis no longer has the capability of terrorising large swathes of Syria. |