Palestinian Journalists, Intellectuals Speak Out Against Children Participating In Terrorist Attacks

[shira]

Some hope.

Introduction

The Palestinian public and leadership widely support the ongoing violent events which PA officials have dubbed a "popular uprising" and Hamas calls an "intifada."

The PA and Fatah do not condemn stabbing or even shooting attacks, and its officials and media outlets justify the current wave of terrorism, lionize its participants, commemorate attackers who were "martyred" and praise perpetrators who survived the attack. They also accuse Israel of executing Palestinians, especially children, and claim that it still intends to change the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.(1)

Despite the atmosphere of incitement and accusations against Israel by the PA, several Palestinian intellectuals and journalist, including Hafez Al-Barghouti, the former editor of the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and a Fatah Revolutionary Council member, have criticized the attacks, and especially those carried out by children. They expressed outrage at the participation of teenagers, including very young ones, in stabbing attacks against Israelis, claiming that it was not the place of children, and that their childhood and lives must be protected. They accused the leadership of Palestinian organizations of "trading in the blood of children" and sending them to die by encouraging them to carry out such attacks and praising and glorifying those who do. Some intellectuals called to instill in the public and the youth values of life, study and work, rather than values of seeking death.

Some writers also urged the Palestinians to avoid harming Israeli civilians, for both moral and practical reasons. On the moral level, they claimed that Palestinians must preserve their humanity; on the practical level, they argued that harming civilians, especially at the present time, harms the Palestinian struggle and casues it to be associated with the global terrorism led by ISIS. Some even called to cease stabbing attacks due to their lack of effectiveness and their heavy cost in Palestinian lives, and called to find alternative modes of struggle.

The following are excerpts from the articles...

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8925.htm

[azurnoir]

1. This is the second thread you've run about the same poll from December 14

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134121762

[shira]

4. Yep, I just changed it to something related & more hopeful. n/t

[azurnoir]

10. without looking let me guess

Bassem Eid, Khalid abu Tomeh or perhaps even Walid Shoebat?

[azurnoir]

11. Nope apparently a new Palestinian 'star' arises Hafez Al-Barghouti who writes for Arutz Sheva

[shira]

12. Do you think it's wrong for Palestinians to speak out against....

....Palestinian children participating in terror attacks?

[azurnoir]

13. No but it depends on how they go about it too

albeit I do question the authenticity/veracity of a Palestinian who writes for settler news and that of MEMRI itself, they leave little words out their translations sometimes like translating "we will be killed" as "we will kill"

[shira]

14. What do you mean, how they go about it?

The MEMRI article cites many sources to back its claims.

So much for the claim that MEMRI only posts articles that bash Palestinians.

[King_David]

15. Think someone here will call one of these guys an "Uncle Tom " like we saw in this group before ?

And Mondoweiss will be the hero of half the group because Weiss is a Jew ?

Unbelievable, one may say ......

[6chars]

2. Palestinian leadership needs to rise to the occasion

If Palestinians really think more violence will lead to more Israeli response and then to even more violence, where that leads is a civil war where they are going to find their situation vastly worse. If they think more violence will get Israel to make concessions, and take these concessions as proof violence works and amp it up, again, this will not lead Israelis to withdraw to "where they came from" - it would also lead to civil war. If they are expecting this civil war to be fruitful with all the Arab armies coming to their aid, they should look at history - it won't happen.

What they need is LEADERSHIP THAT SAYS NO TO VIOLENCE. Get those pro-violence poll numbers down, get Israel to be less in siege mentality, and go to the table with the various parties who might be there with less human cost along the way and a straight path to a good outcome. Why doesn't their leadership do this? Because their "supporters" around the world tell them how much they are victims, and will never criticize their violence. How about a few years without violence and see what kind of conciliatory leadership Israel elects. (Anticipating critics who will say "Israel should disarm first" -- well, yeah, except they aren't the ones without a state, so just in terms of self interest, not in terms of the anti-Israeli contingent's sense of justice, the Palestinians leadership ought to be promoting civilized behavior. Yes I said it. Terrorism is not civilized.)

[shira]

6. OP changed due to being a duplicate....showing there is hope. n/t

[Jefferson23]

9. I don't think I have ever posted to an OP and then see it replaced. lol

I will delete my message, thanks.

[shira]

5. It was a duplicate OP. Just changed it to something similar, more hopeful. n/t

[6chars]

7. the people described in the revised op are real leaders!

[shira]

8. They're reviled as traitors by anti-Zionist haters of everything Israel. n/t