Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Tony Bliar on Hamas

Yes, our resident troll on "terrism", Tony Bliar, Bush's lapdog, the British politician who has more innocent blood on his hands than any other in British history has something to say about Hamas.

This man, called a mass-murderer by Harold Pinter, who plunged this nation into offensive wars with two countries that didn't pose a threat to us, is clearly an expert on terrorism.

This quack, who lied and lied about our reasons to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq and is co-responsible for a seriously increased likelihood of terrorism on British soil, feels the need to give his two cents.

This warmonger and religious nut, who has contributed so brilliantly to plunging the Middle East into further and more violent chaos has the key to peace in the Israel/Palestine conflict.

This terrorism analyst, who is convinced Islamic terrorists have ulterior motives but is unable to come up with any, tells us how it's done.

This lawyer, who seems to have a serious problem grasping the concept of civil liberties, is kind enough to let us partake in his gratuitous "advice".

This wannabe general, who's contributed so much to Britain being seen as a Crusader State by Muslims worldwide, speaks out:


Blair: Hamas must understand terrorism damages peace process (Haaretz)


Hamas must recognize that attacks like the one that killed nine civilians in Tel Aviv set back the Middle East peace process and damage Palestinians' hope for an independent state, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday.

The Palestinians' new Hamas-led government refused to denounce the suicide bombing earlier this week by another militant group, Islamic Jihad. Blair said Hamas must recognize Israel and forego violence.

"I hope very much that Hamas realize that those who kill innocent people in this way, by this type of attack that happened in Tel Aviv, are wicked and irresponsible, but more than that that they do absolutely nothing to further the process of peace in the Middle East or the two-state solution that we all want to see," Blair said in his weekly House of Commons question session.

The European Union has suspended direct aid to the Hamas government but says it will try to find ways to continue humanitarian support.

Blair said the international community "stands ready and willing to take forward a negotiated solution on the basis of a fair deal that allows for an independent, viable Palestinian state provided that Hamas in turn are prepared to recognize the State of Israel and to give up violence that does nothing to make this process work and does everything to harm it," he said.

Increasingly I'm beginning to believe the Bliar isn't only a disingenuous spinner but also, alas, not particularly bright (brighter than Bush but no prizes for that achievement).

To just about everybody it must be clear that Palestinian armed struggle against the Israeli Occupation of their land is futile and counter-productive. It's futile because this is a war that cannot be won militarily. It's counter-productive because it gives the Israelis any excuse they need to block any negotiations and sets them on a collision course with the undoubtedly ill-fated "convergence" solution of Olmert.

But the US and EU decision to cut funding to the PA to try and force Hamas to recognise Israel and forego violence, is nothing short of the moral equivalent of shelling innocents. When the PA runs completely out of money, expected to happen as early as next month, we can expect chaos on the ground.

By their half-hearted promises of increased humanitarian aid the quartet are in fact admitting the funding cut is unnecessarily cruel and pointless.

This is post-Kuweit Iraq all over again: impose sanctions that hit the population, then try and relieve suffering with the Oil for Food programme.

Who seriously expects that Hamas will now throw up their hands in the air and comply with these demands? If anything will be achieved it will be further entrenching of Hamas' position.

Let's not forget that Hamas has largely observed a year long, unilaterally declared ceasefire. That it has offered a longer term truce. That its process of politisation will almost certainly soften its line, given some time to readjust and find its feet.

On the face of it the demand that Hamas recognise Israel makes sense. But Bliar and friends conveniently forget that only two members of the Arab League of Nations recognise Israel: Jordan and Egypt. Several key Muslim allies in the West's "war on terror", like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and UAE, do not do so either.

The West will never learn...

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3 Comments:

At 6:17 PM, Blogger Sophia said...

I was quite surprised when I learned from the memoirs of former UK ambassador to the US (he detested Blair and described him as someone authoritarian with no manners)that many people from the labour government, most notably Balir and Straw were uncritical and on their knees before the Bush administration. I understood also that this may have been due to the fact that Bush's manners in treating foreign head of states were a factor. If it was someone Bush needed badly, he would roll the red carpet and give them royal treatment and make them feel important. The irony of this is that it is this kind of personal consideration (and Bush seems to be very personal in his treatment of other head of states, there are the buddies and the foes, those who he didn't want to meet and to see), related to Blair being sensitive to personal consideration, that might have brought the unholy alliance between Bush and Blair.

 
At 7:52 PM, Blogger Oleh Yahshan said...

I don't really care if hamas recongizes Israel or not, and niether do most people living here.
But What we do want is to end what you pointed out, as useless violance.
So either Hamas, Jihad and Co. have yet to figure out that the Israelis are not running out of Here every time an attack happens - and think that it's one more attack and Israel Will collapse.
Or (as I belive) - They know it's pointless and are doing it just so they can kill people.

In either case, we are in a bad sittuation - where they think the violance is the solution. What is going to happen is they will hit a nerve in Israel - and leave the Israeli Govt. Little choice but to go after every last one of them - including Hamas Leaders.
Call it an excuse on the Israeli part or call it lagitamite - it makes no difference in the end - the results (if they don't stop the violance) will be the same - it just a matter of how many body bags (both Israeli and Palestinian) they want to see before it happens.

 
At 4:10 PM, Blogger Gert said...

Oleh:

"Or (as I belive) - They know it's pointless and are doing it just so they can kill people."

For someone who's clearly capable of intelligent and civil debate, that's a really stupid remark.

No one, apart from very rare psychopaths, actually kills for fun. People who resort to violence and killing do so because they have real grievances.

In this case the grievances are there for all to see.

Controlling Palestinian factions isn't easy. We've seen the same in Northern Ireland: when the IRA declared a unilateral ceasefire there remained the oddball individual or faction that wanted to carry on with the struggle. This, by the way, happened on both sides: Loyalist factions broke ceasefires too, against the will of the Loyalist majority.

Blaming all Palestinians for the actions of a few is a self-serving folly: it would be as foolish for me to blame all Israelis for the views of a small minority of extremists. Such people exist in all societies or groups of people: call it the law of averages...

 

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