... in 'Exodus' swears towards the end that "Jews and Arabs will live together and share the land in peace"... it wouldn't surprise me to find that much of the emotional & cultural identification of a lot of Americans stems from this movie.

Yes! Palestinians are subjected to the most humiliating racist policies which indeed

deny their very humanity.

Their houses are bulldozed, they have to travel on seperate streets,

and the simplest travel is made absolutely intolerable by

check points and arbitrary harrassment.

And of course systematic murder by the Israeli state in the name of

stopping "terror."

All this Islamic fundamentalism is an outgrowth of that apartheid oppression,

not the cause of it.

Nice to see an article that's not "explaining" Israel's war crimes a la

the Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Thanks

And yes, young men trained to direct traffic killed without warning by F 16s

and drone guided missiles (courtesy the USA)

are not "combatants"

click sig to read original post at DesertPeace

Part 2:

Question: why have the Arab states failed to help Palestinians militarily?

Answer: Most Arab sates, probably with the exception of Lebanon, are despotic and tyrannical regimes which happen to be at America’s beck and call. These dictatorial regimes are not answerable to their own masses. More to the point, the leaders of these regimes value the legitimacy that comes from American and Israeli acceptance more than that which comes from their own people’s acceptance.

In other words, these regimes don’t represent or reflect the will of the masses. Hence, a regime-change in these states is next to impossible under the present circumstances because free and fair elections are not allowed.

Needless to say, this situation is maintained and perpetuated thanks to the unlimited support and backing by the US, the ultimate slave-master of these police states.

Question: Do Palestinians feel betrayed?

Answer: Absolutely they do. After all, we are left alone in the face of this Nazi war machine which is exterminating a people on no other account than its enduring determination to gain freedom and justice.

Question: what do you think are the main goals of the Israeli operation in Gaza?

Answer: There are many goals.

First, they are trying to break the will of the Palestinian people to resist the colonialist Israeli occupation, which is actually an act of rape. In other words, they want to continue savaging and oppressing us in ways unimaginable, and when we resist and or even complain, they threaten us with physical annihilation. It is very much like a serial rapist who threatens to murder his victims if they resists or complain. But Israel is more than just a serial rapist. It is also a murderer, liar and thief.

Another goal is simply to be able to impose a complete surrender on the American-backed Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Israel as well as the Bush Administration think, I think erroneously, that if Hamas is neutralized, the PA can be coerced into accepting a “peace” settlement whereby Israel would take all the assets and Palestinians would take all the liabilities. I am talking about a sell-out “peace deal” that would allow Israel to keep the settlements, the bulk of East Jerusalem and decapitate the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees who were uprooted from their homes when Israel was created more than sixty years ago.

Another goal is to boost the chances of Israeli war minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wining the next Israeli elections. It is well known in Israel that the more Palestinian blood a given Israeli politician sheds, the more popular he or she will become in the eyes of the Israeli Jewish public. I am not saying that 100% of Israelis think this way. But I think the percentage is not less than 80% . In short, we are talking about a mostly cannibalistic and psychotic society that would be willing to murder millions of people while claiming to be the victim.

Question: Do Palestinians blame Hamas for the suffering and havoc and death inflicted on them as a result of the Israeli attacks?

Answer: Some may do, but I think the vast majority of Palestinians don’t. After all, it was Israel, not Hamas, that violated the ceasefire. Throughout the duration of the last cease-fire, which lasted for six months, Hamas meticulously observed the ceasefire. But Israel killed as many as 49 Palestinians. Moreover, Israel tightened the siege on Gaza, transforming the coastal territory into a modern-day Ghetto Warsaw.

Even the PA in Ramallah is saying now that Israel alone is responsible for this massive crime against humanity.

Question: why does Hamas not recognize Israel?

Answer: Why doesn’t Israel recognize Palestine? Besides, which Israel would you want Hamas to recognize? Does Israel have fixed borders? Moreover, how could we recognize a state that doesn’t recognize our very existence?

Question: I mean the 1967- borders?

Answer: Does Israel recognize the 1967 borders?

Question: Would you be willing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state?

Answer: Would American Jews, for example, be willing to recognize the US as an exclusive Protestant or Baptist state?

Question: When this war is over, How will Hamas look?

Answer: Hamas will be exhausted, and this is quite natural, given the unequal and asymmetrical nature of this war. However, soon after, Hamas will reassert itself and recover her strength. But the movement has already gained the sympathy, solidarity and admiration of tens of millions of Arabs and Muslims throughout the world.

Yes, Hamas’s relations with the regimes in the Middle East may not be good, given their subservience to the US. But Hamas is watching with great satisfaction millions of Arabs and Muslims who are identifying with the movement. This is exactly what Hamas is looking for and getting. In the final analysis, the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, criminal and satanic as it is, may well be proven ultimately a bless in disguise for Hamas and the overall Islamist cause.

Similarly, the pro-American “moderate regimes” will lose whatever modicum of respect that they may have had.