Will Release of Palestinians Who Killed Israelis Bring Peace?

[Mosby]

I’ll be damned if I understand the logic behind the list of prisoners who Israel is releasing in advance of the new peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. The initial list, which was published on the eve of these talks on Aug. 11, contains 26 out of the 104 prisoners who Israel committed itself to releasing in stages during the talks, based on the progress of the negotiations.

Their release was a precondition for the relaunching of the talks, and was intended to boost Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and bolster support for him among the Palestinian public, which has long since lost faith in him and in some possible peace process with the Israelis. It was intended to strengthen him after spending years trying to weaken him.

Behind the name of just about every prisoner who is being released is the name of an Israeli victim, who was murdered by that prisoner.

Take, for example, Isaac Rotenberg. He was a Holocaust survivor who was hacked to death with an axe by Abu Musa Salem Ali Atiya. Pay particular attention to the date on which Rotenberg was murdered. It was March 30, 1994, about half a year after the signing of the Oslo Accords and approximately two months before Palestine Liberation Organization leader (PLO) Yasser Arafat arrived in the Gaza Strip to establish the Palestinian Authority. Those days, most of the Palestinian public was overcome with a sense of euphoria. These were difficult days for Hamas, which watched as its brothers in arms in the PLO were lauded by the people as they established the government infrastructure that could one day lead to statehood. Meanwhile, Hamas was kept out of the game.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/08/release-murderers-bring-peace.html

[demosincebirth]

1. No. If peace ever came to fuition between Israel and the Palestinaians, members of Hamas would

have to get real jobs.

[azurnoir]

2. Was it intended to?

or much like the prisoner release in exchange Gilad Shalit, will provide a near endless means of outrage postings on the internet? My money is on the later

[shira]

3. Palestinians who murder Holocaust survivors by hacking them with axes.....

Last edited Tue Aug 13, 2013, 10:25 PM - Edit history (1)

....are freedom fighting heroes, protected under International Law as victims fighting Imperialism and Colonialism. From neo-Nazis and KKK types to Islamists and Stalinists, they are beloved. There are even some nice "liberals" who support this "resistance".

Anywho, proud butchers of Holocaust survivors go free and are welcomed home like heroes while a shmendrick like Jonathan Pollard is left wondering if he'd have been better off doing the same.

[Israeli]

8. what !!

while a shmendrick like Jonathan Pollard is left wondering if he'd have been better off doing the same.

Jonathan Pollard betrayed your country shira ... he is a traitor of the first order .
Shame on you !!

[shira]

12. Apparently Pollard would have been better off hacking to pieces elderly Holocaust....

....survivors. He'd be out of prison, like the Palestinians.

Of course he's a traitor & he deserves the prison time. I'm not arguing that.

[cascadiance]

4. Al Jazeera covering this live now on FSTV at this moment...

[aranthus]

5. This is what will bring peace.

1. Israel totally withdraws from the West Bank including Jerusalem.

2. No conditions. No disarmed Palestinian state, no observers, no foreign troops.

If these two principles are followed it is virtually guaranteed that there will be peace. . . at the end of the next war.

[shira]

6. At the end of the next war, Israel would probably have to re-occupy that....

...from which they withdrew.

[aranthus]

9. True, but it would end the conflict. n/t

[shira]

10. How would re-occupation end the conflict? Seems we'd all be back to square one....

In the same situation as today, but after much more bloodshed.

[aranthus]

13. It is the belief in peace that prevents resolution.

The Israelis cling to the belief that if they hang tough enough that the Arabs will eventually agree to let them be. Westerners believe that if the Palestinians are given enough goodies and Israeli concessions (a state, money, etc.) that they will make peace with Israel. A similar set of beliefs existed before the Holocaust. Jews thought that all they had to do to be accepted was to assimilate; become as much like the majority population as possible, and they would be safe. It was that belief that was one of the principle reasons for opposition to Zionism prior to World War II. The fear was that if they supported a Jewish state, that they would be seen as aliens in their countries of residence. The Holocaust convinced World Jewry that the belief was false (except that it appears to be true in the US, but America is a special case in many ways). The only way to break the current cycle is for Israel to give everything it can for peace. Then, there will either be peace (unlikely, but possible), or else Israel will have to come to the same visceral realization about living among the Arab states as Jews were forced to accept about living in Europe.

[azurnoir]

7. and I was right predictably so in fact

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=46124

[shira]

11. what were you right about? n/t