The photograph shows Israeli soldiers at the scene of a shooting on a West Bank road, one that claimed the lives of four Israeli settlers, two men and two women (one of whom was pregnant). This incident, which Hamas claims responsibility for, comes on the eve of so-called peace talks in New York.
Now it is easy to point the finger at Hamas and accuse them of terrorism. But, let’s face it, Hamas, which was the democratically elected Government that Fatah (led by Abbas) usurped, is under siege just as the West Bank is under occupation and has been since 1967. People under occupation and siege have the right to resist using any means.
And, besides, the Jewish settlers lived in homes and were driving on roads built on occupied Palestinian land, acts that are illegal under International Law.
My question is: how can people under siege and occupation negotiate a proper peace settlement with those who are still brutally oppressing them? Surely the first condition for any peace talks should be that the Israelis return to the 1967 borders, that they dismantle the concrete walls, that they release all Palestinians prisoners, etc. This would bring some balance to the negotiations!
And how can people under siege and occupation negotiate a proper peace settlement when the major supporter of the people conducting the brutal siege and occupation, the one who arms them and gives them untold sums of money and vetoes U.N. Resolutions which condemn Israeli behaviour, is again pretending to be an honest broker?
Indeed, ironically, the talks are to be held in Washington, hardly a place of neutrality given that a majority of Americans support Israel no matter what atrocities it carries out!










