Friday 11 July 2014

Israel

Israel has at its disposal the most sophisticated weaponry and armour and defence systems known to the world. As an Israeli spokesman pointed out on Newsnight yesterday (July 10 2014), the 'shield' against the missiles works very nearly all the time, the ten minute shelter rule works for the rest. 

The killing of the Israeli teenagers was a crime. It wasn't an act of war. Regimes should be able to distinguish between the two. Israel defends itself against the missiles, it knows how to deal with crimes. However, on this occasion - as in all others - it responds as if genocide is about to be committed against the Jews of Israel, and only by killing scores of Palestinians will this genocide be averted. 

This is not true. If, Israel was serious about preventing further attacks, there is only one way: to negotiate a settlement with whatever parties it faces. 

The argument that it can't talk to terrorists has been superseded by many regimes all over the world and indeed Israel's allies work with (and supplies arms to) people it has called terrorists when it suits them. 

The point here, though, is that it suits Israel to be in permanent non-peace talks so that the West Bank can continue to be colonised.