Belgium - A government of Bastards?

From Fox news, yesterday. Israel objecting to efforts of European Union to help with new peace iniative. Mentions Belgium case.

If the US can just hold Sharon's feet to the fire maybe we can have some progress on A Palestinian state, peace in the Middle East for both Palesinians and Jews and a reduction of unnecessary antipathy to the US by 1 billion Muslims around the world.

Sharon's one week requirement was in the Chronicle today. He deliberately puts the whole peace process hostage to the whims of one angry Palestinian bomber. He knowss, that there are radical Palestinians, his counterpart who will not let a week go by as they don't want peace either.

Unfortunately I expect Powell and Bush to back down when confronted by Sharon and Israel.

EU Urges Israel on Peace Plan

Sunday, November 18, 2001


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JERUSALEM — European Union representatives met with Israeli leaders Sunday in hopes of restarting peace talks with the Palestinians, but the Israelis were cool to the idea of European involvement.


EU officials said they would press Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to drop his insistence on a week without Palestinian violence before implementing an international peace plan.

The EU delegation, headed by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, talked with Israeli peace activists and was to meet Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. The visits followed talks Saturday with Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon, said Sunday that the EU can play only a limited role as mediator in the conflict, because it has persistently shown bias in favor of the Palestinians.

"The European Union has in the past demonstrated a lack of balance in its policy toward Israel, and therefore its ability to play a constructive mediating role is limited," Gissin said.

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Arafat appealed to the EU to persuade the Israelis to end a series of measures against the Palestinians, including the economic blockade of their territories, targeted killings of militants suspected of attacks on Israelis and occupation of Palestinian autonomy zones.

Although Verhofstadt stressed that the EU was carrying a "balanced" message to both sides, the European delegation intended to seek those moves from Israel, he said.

Speaking in Ramallah at a news conference with Arafat Saturday, Verhofstadt said there was an "urgent need" to open up the Palestinian territories.

Israel has argued that its measures are aimed at stopping attacks against its civilians.

The EU mission came as attention focused on the possibility of increased U.S. involvement in Middle East peacemaking. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell scheduled a speech for Monday about Mideast policy after he and President Bush talked of the need for an independent Palestinian state.

Verhofstadt said Saturday, "There is now within the international community a general agreement that if we want to find a solution .... we have to create a viable Palestinian state."

The fact that Belgium currently holds the presidency of the EU has caused tension with Israel because a Belgian court is investigating a charge of war crimes against Sharon.

The charge stems from the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by an Israeli-allied Lebanese militia at the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut while Sharon was defense minister. The Israeli army was in control of Beirut at the time.

The Belgian government is seeking to amend a law that allows it to prosecute people for war crimes committed outside its territory. In the meantime, it says it cannot interfere in the judicial proceedings.

The situation was aggravated when Belgian state TV screened a BBC documentary on the efforts to prosecute Sharon. Israel submitted a sharp protest to the Belgian government.

"I think that a friendly government could perhaps have done something to prevent the screening of that terrible, one-sided film precisely on the eve of the visit," said Victor Harel, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general for European affairs.

 

Just one more example of an issue that glynch is confused about: he is still under the impression that Ariel Sharon is the only bad guy in the Middle East. And that by somehow removing him everyone's problems will be solved.

You see, this is another example where if glynch's overly simplistic and biased ideas (eliminate Sharon and everything will be fine) are put to the test, there will simply be war. No peace is possible until the Palestinians stop sending suicide bombers. That is the key to peace; if Arafat could/would just try to control Hamas, then we (the US) could force Sharon to do a deal. But we cannot as long as suicide bombers are still attacking pizzerias...

glynch is, of course, still in denial about the fact that the Palestinians are at least half to blame for the lack of peace in the middle east. And he still doesn't understand that both sides will have to make sacrifices in order to reach a deal.

So, more reality-challenged propaganda by glynch. Somehow I don't feel any wiser for it...

 

Treeman,

Now, I will be the first to admit that Ariel Sharon should be indicted for war crimes and deserves a place in hell next to
Osama Bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Slobodan Milosevic, but
to state that the peace process hinges on Arafat stopping
suicide bombers is simplifying the issue.

Atrocities have been committed on both sides and by simply
halting the peace process based on a group of extremists on
either side is ludicrous. The number of palestinians killed far
outweighs the number of Isrealis killed over the last few years.
Israeli's killing children in the streets is not much better than a
suicide bomber i'm sorry to say.

What it will take is the moderates that represent the majority
on both sides to come together, make an agreement and
weaken the power of extremist Jews and extremist muslims.

 

The simple problem is if you line up the Israeli aggressions with Palestinian aggressions and your blind and biased and you come to a conclusion that they're both the same...you have to input one more thing. Israel is a modern country with one of the most advanced militaries on earth. Palestine is an occupied land where everyone is hungry and poor virutally.

I expect the richer, more educated and the ones that are backed by MY money to have some self restraint. If they're going to do the crap they do...I would like America to not send my money to help them.

Israel has NOT offered anything of decent value to the Palestinians. They only offer a semi b*stard state that is not continous and cannot have a military. They will not have any rights over their water and will be surrounded by all sides (both islands) with Israeli forces. They will not even control the right of their own airspace with Israeli plans. And of course Jerusalem would still be Israelis and the 'state' of Palestine will have little villages and roads that are still for Jewish Israeli settlers who are armed with guns supplied by one of the most powerful militaries on earth.

That is NOT a peaceful solution that a sincere Israel should offer. That is spitting at the face of an oppressed people.