Talking to Hamas is essential for progress
Through most of my life I have believed that Israel was a beacon of hope. But somewhere Israel’s leadership lost its way. Against the modern-day tragedy that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is important for countries such as Australia to be even-handed. That is why I support the appeal for the Australian Parliament to pass a resolution recognising the hardships of the Palestinian people and committing Australia to work for a fair and peaceful resolution and the establishment of a viable independent state for Palestinians.
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I agree wholeheartedly with your stance on this issue.
The hypocrisy displayed by Bush(& thus Howard)and Israel in not recognising Hamas as the legitimate democratically elected government defies belief.
I hold no truck with any form of terrorism, but history records many instances of former terrorists moving to a more legitimate (or more acceptable) form of action.
Some manage this very successfully, but it requires all parties to “come to the table”.
I agree. Until the weeping sore of the Israel- Palestine conflict is healed terrorism will not go away.
The Israeli Lobby have gained too powerful a voice in the American White House and the consequences have been devastating, not only for the USA, now mired in an unwinnable conflict in Iraq, but also for the people of Gaza and Palestine. Australia is a mid-ranking country and we need to assert our independent thinking on the Middle East. I agree with Mr. Fraser.
I welcome Malcolm’s comments as finally a hint of sanity. It has always astounded me that a nation which prides itself as secular and democratic, which makes compulsory the teaching of values including ‘a fair go’, ‘care and compassion’ and ‘responsibility’ could have unilaterally turned its back on the glaring injustice that daily occurs in Gaza. UN Resolutions are ignored, no politician has been courageous or responsible enough to demand that illegal activity ceases, and a whole population has been imprisoned and persecuted - in the full glare of the media - for years. It seems to me that we have sold our ideals very cheaply, exposing the hypocrisy of our ethics.
As an educator I have always tried to practice justice amongst the young people in my care - most of whom have been Muslim. It has been impossible to explain to them why the oppression in Palestine has continued for so long, and why they should continue to have faith in a just solution - but we must start.
Hamas won a legitimate democratic election which the Palestinians were encouraged to hold. They won this election because they Fatah was considered completely corrupt. When the the election results did not please Israel and the ‘West’ the Palestinians were basically told that they had elected the wrong party and Hamas was ignored. We should have talked to them at that time. We most certainly should be talking to them now.
Here, here!
Cheers
Jo
Mr Fraser - I fully support all points in your lucid and welcome article. My god, when will it end. Bush’s American government continues to justify moral corruption and subversion as their country’s right. They can prosecute lofty arguments for the life of a human stem cell straight-faced and continue to kill, intimidate and torture. How do we reconcile being so closely associated with this any longer. Israel and America’s intolerable treatment of Palestine has too many qualities of the Ayrian madness tragically seen before.
I hope that I will see in my life, a time when our judgments on foreign policy are fearlessly our own. We have much international credibility to recover after the darkness of the Howard era.
What took you so long?
Now that Australia is rid of the crawling obsequiousness of John Howard and his pusillanemous henchmen and women, and has a new government that has shown willingness to re-establish our own voice on foreign policy, it is certainly time to pass such a reso;ution as you propose. The present situation can never be resolved without dialogue in good faith beyween Israel and all sections of the Palestinians to establish a viable independent state for Palestinians. We must return to being even-handed, not following blindly the interests of the United States, which have failed these peoples in all respects and kept the dispute going.