Originally Posted by
Mycroft
War sucks all around. We should put an end to this one especially for the sake of the Palestinian people who, being the weaker party, suffer even more than the Israelis.
From someone who's clearly pro-Israel, that sounds pretty paternalistic.
But then, there must first be someone to talk to on the Palestinian side. Or, the Palestinians must first recognize Israel as a
Jewish state - never mind that 20-25% of the citizens of Israel are
not Jewish. Or whatever the excuse-du-jour from the Israeli government is not to talk.
Originally Posted by
Mycroft
Again, the fastest and easiest way to put a halt to it is to bring both sides together to negotiate final borders.
There are armistice lines that are now called "the Green Line". At the end of the Israeli war of independence all sides agreed they are not final borders.
That doesn't invalidate the fact that all territory beyond the Green Line counts as occupied territory. Building settlements there which house 100s of 1000s Jewish Israelis, with their exclusive "
slegs vir Jode" roads contravenes international law. Surely you'll also advocate that Israel revert the West Bank (and East Jerusalem) to the status quo ante, i.e., evacuates all those illegal settlers before starting negotiations?
And yes, Israel has been using the excuse of "military use" for obvious civilian settlements in the West Bank/East Jerusalem, that's a plain fact.