PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Israeli Air Force practices for Iranian strike
Old 23rd Jun 2008, 16:12
  #70 (permalink)  
Jackonicko
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Just behind the back of beyond....
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No-one needs to condemn Iran for its lunatic pronouncements about Israel.

Patently we would all (even those of us who are stern critics of the more zionist aspects of Israeli policy) heartily condemn even the idea that Israel should be 'wiped off the map' or 'pushed back into the sea'. Condemnation of such a foul desire goes without saying, surely?

And you have to put Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements in context. The Iranian's have always been big on horrific sounding but empty, impotent rhetoric (remember what they were going to do to the 'Great Satan') and it would be a mistake to think that if Ahmadinejad says something, that's what he actually intends, means or wants. (And there's some controversy as to what he did say....)

As to the rights and wrongs of the Palestinians and Israelis, it is true that some violence has continued post Oslo, but it would be a fool who denied that there has been a seismic shift in Arab attitudes to Israel since then. Oslo marked the point at which various Palestinian factions publicly and specifically acknowledged Israel's right to exist, remember.

However, Israel has failed to abide by UNSC resolutions, and has failed to honour agreements on settlements on the West Bank. It has been heavy handed and disproportionate in its response to Palestinian violence, and the continued expansion of the settlements, the buidling of the wall and blockades have undermined Arab faith in the process. Israel's continued intransigence (and its failure to ensure that Fatah was able to deliver progress post Oslo) has played into the hands of Hamas and the Arab extremists, some of whom never signed up to Oslo in the first place.

Neither side is wholly in the right, and the Palestinian Authority's failure to control the terrorists is disgraceful, but I'd say that Israel's failure to compromise, and its disproportionate military response has been almost as responsible for the current situation - and we expect better from the Israelis, somehow.
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