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Why the Arab world is no longer interested in the Palestinians

Please kindly refrain from Fake News on Pakistan Defence Forum or speculative threads

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http://www.arabnews.com/node/1041641/middle-east
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Foreign ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Thursday indirectly condemned plans by US President-elect Donald Trump to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
A statement issued after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name, but said the OIC rejected any actions that could undermine the ability of Palestinians to claim part of Jerusalem in a future state.
It called on governments to desist from any activities that might encourage Israel to “pursue its illegal occupation and annexation of ....east Jerusalem, including any such encouragement through the transfer of their diplomatic missions to the city.”
 
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Israel is too powerful to deal with. Palestine issue is gone. No more issue
Comm'on bro. Don't say that. It's heart breaking... How can you close your eyes on this :
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with all respect to all my Pakistani friends here but saying "we are the only one who will do every thing about this" and claiming that arabs will not do anything about Palestine or against Israel , just remember who is the only country who had 5 wars against Israel :-)
He is right. Since Mossiu Sissy had ordered to destroy all of the tunnels going to Gaza.
This is what Egyptian soldiers did to a Palestinian mentally ill guy. Wasn't he an Arab or a Muslim Mr Feroon?
  • Naked Palestinian man shown wading into the water near Gaza border
  • Egyptian soldiers open fire on the man, using several warning shots
  • Victim was named as 26-year-old Ishaq Khalil Hassan, from southern Gaza
  • His family said he had been having treatment for mental health difficulties
  • The shocking video was broadcasted by Al-Jazeera news network
  • WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT



Egyptian soldiers have been accused of shooting dead a mentally ill Palestinian man who waded through the sea at the Gaza border crossing.

Shocking footage showed the man swimming naked in the Mediterranean Sea when the unseen soldiers opened fire on him.

A bystander tries to signal for the shooters to stop, but his limp, dead body is later seen lying motionless on the shore.

Scroll down for video:

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

2F9F98A000000578-0-image-a-17_1451159712530.jpg


Shocking footage showed the man swimming naked in the Mediterranean Sea when the unseen soldiers opened fire on him

The victim has been named as 26-year-old Ishaq Khalil Hassan. His family said that he had received treatment for mental health issues in the past.

Hassan was from southern Gaza, where the Rafah border crossing has remained closed between Gaza and Egypt.

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The Palestinian interior ministry in Gaza accused Egyptian forces on Saturday killing a mentally ill Palestinian who had waded through the sea into Egypt's territory.

Gaza's interior ministry confirmed the tragic incident took place last week and that the man died from gunshot wounds.

Al Jazeera network showed the man walking in the Mediterranean sea, naked, and then crossing through a small barbed wire fence.

Upon entering Egyptian territory, gunfire can be heard as warning shots are aimed near the man.

Another person on the beach appears to signal to security forces at a watchtower to stop shooting and the man's body is seen floating in the water and then washed up on shore.

Gaza is ruled by the Islamist Hamas group. The Interior Ministry there said the man was mentally ill and demanded Egypt launch a probe into the incident.

'It is clearly a cold-blooded execution, committed in broad day light,' spokesman Eyad al-Bozom said.

Egypt and Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, have tense relations.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was ousted from power when former president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown in 2013.

The Egyptian government has accused Hamas of helping Islamist militants in Egypt's Sinai desert, which borders Gaza. Hamas denies this.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ems-swims-past-Gaza-border.html#ixzz4XexGmvXM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
@BHarwana
Hey @EgyptianAmerican you need to see that.
 
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There is no solution but 2 state solution or major conflict at some stage

Hand over the Jerusalam to United Nation body to control visa entry to the city controlled allowance of visitors etc and move on

10,000 Visas to Jews / Day
10,000 Visas to Cristians / Day
10,000 Visas to Muslims / Day

1-2 Day visitation allowed to main city

No reason why visitors can not come in supervised UN , do their religious duty and then leave back to their own cities / countries etc

The 2 state can just contain their own respective population
 
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Comm'on bro. Don't say that. It's heart breaking... How can you close your eyes on this :
View attachment 374191
Gaza was attacked by Israel solely because its terrorists chose to bombard civilian targets in Israel. Blame them for employing her as a human shield, then placing a shiny, unblemished doll she isn't attached to in the picture with the purpose of blinding the ignorant by dishonestly heightening their pity.

Israel makes extraordinary efforts to avoid such casualties, compared to militaries of most other countries. But that stark fact gets ignored because it's supremely important to many to demonize Jews.
 
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Gaza was attacked by Israel solely because its terrorists chose to bombard civilian targets in Israel.
First You have no idea about me :mad:. Second there is no Israel existing, it's only occupied Palestine which will be freed in the near future inshallah after a full scale war, we Muslims call it Akhar-o-Zaman, Jews call it Armagadon. Arabs will unite again also with other Muslims altogether will march on Palestine. The prophecy of our prophet (PBUH) ahhh you cannot imagine, we are counting the single seconds and minutes to see that day.
Israel makes extraordinary efforts to avoid such casualties, compared to militaries of most other countries. But that stark fact gets ignored because it's supremely important to many to demonize Jews.
Fool yourself piece of sh**. Like what you did in Palestine we will not avoid civilian casualties.
 
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lol we are the only one who will do every thing about this. Remember helping India against us time to pay you back by slipping a nuke to Hamas or Hezbollah oh or they just stole one of our nukes. Hehehehehehehe. Stop being greedy or there are many off tables options hehehehehehehe.:chilli::chilli::chilli::chilli:

You are really delusional...Do you think rest of nations are just eating lollypops..Stop using your nuclear blackmail throughout the world..
 
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You are really delusional...Do you think rest of nations are just eating lollypops..Stop using your nuclear blackmail throughout the world..
With all those BMD systems and hungry fauji on borders don't you think a better option would be to smuggle in a nuke rather than using an expensive missile. Don't just show criticism but think on the delivery system is more feasible and workable plus it will also provide 100% accuracy for detonation. This is also a type of nuclear deterrence.
 
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Comm'on bro. Don't say that. It's heart breaking... How can you close your eyes on this :
View attachment 374191


He is right. Since Mossiu Sissy had ordered to destroy all of the tunnels going to Gaza.
This is what Egyptian soldiers did to a Palestinian mentally ill guy. Wasn't he an Arab or a Muslim Mr Feroon?
  • Naked Palestinian man shown wading into the water near Gaza border
  • Egyptian soldiers open fire on the man, using several warning shots
  • Victim was named as 26-year-old Ishaq Khalil Hassan, from southern Gaza
  • His family said he had been having treatment for mental health difficulties
  • The shocking video was broadcasted by Al-Jazeera news network
  • WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT



Egyptian soldiers have been accused of shooting dead a mentally ill Palestinian man who waded through the sea at the Gaza border crossing.

Shocking footage showed the man swimming naked in the Mediterranean Sea when the unseen soldiers opened fire on him.

A bystander tries to signal for the shooters to stop, but his limp, dead body is later seen lying motionless on the shore.

Scroll down for video:

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

2F9F98A000000578-0-image-a-17_1451159712530.jpg


Shocking footage showed the man swimming naked in the Mediterranean Sea when the unseen soldiers opened fire on him

The victim has been named as 26-year-old Ishaq Khalil Hassan. His family said that he had received treatment for mental health issues in the past.

Hassan was from southern Gaza, where the Rafah border crossing has remained closed between Gaza and Egypt.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Share
The Palestinian interior ministry in Gaza accused Egyptian forces on Saturday killing a mentally ill Palestinian who had waded through the sea into Egypt's territory.

Gaza's interior ministry confirmed the tragic incident took place last week and that the man died from gunshot wounds.

Al Jazeera network showed the man walking in the Mediterranean sea, naked, and then crossing through a small barbed wire fence.

Upon entering Egyptian territory, gunfire can be heard as warning shots are aimed near the man.

Another person on the beach appears to signal to security forces at a watchtower to stop shooting and the man's body is seen floating in the water and then washed up on shore.

Gaza is ruled by the Islamist Hamas group. The Interior Ministry there said the man was mentally ill and demanded Egypt launch a probe into the incident.

'It is clearly a cold-blooded execution, committed in broad day light,' spokesman Eyad al-Bozom said.

Egypt and Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, have tense relations.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was ousted from power when former president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown in 2013.

The Egyptian government has accused Hamas of helping Islamist militants in Egypt's Sinai desert, which borders Gaza. Hamas denies this.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ems-swims-past-Gaza-border.html#ixzz4XexGmvXM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
@BHarwana
Hey @EgyptianAmerican you need to see that.


I knew about this incident for a long time. So what? It is over and he is dead. Changes absolutely nothing.

Gaza was attacked by Israel solely because its terrorists chose to bombard civilian targets in Israel. Blame them for employing her as a human shield, then placing a shiny, unblemished doll she isn't attached to in the picture with the purpose of blinding the ignorant by dishonestly heightening their pity.

Israel makes extraordinary efforts to avoid such casualties, compared to militaries of most other countries. But that stark fact gets ignored because it's supremely important to many to demonize Jews.

Debunking Israel’s 11 Main Myths About Gaza, Hamas and War Crimes
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mehdi-hasan/gaza-israel_b_5624401.html


5) Hamas use the civilians of Gaza as ‘human shields’

Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor: “I saw no evidence during my week in Gaza of Israel’s accusation that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields.” The Guardian: “In the past week, the Guardian has seen large numbers of people fleeing different neighbourhoods.. and no evidence that Hamas had compelled them to stay.” The Independent: “Some Gazans have admitted that they were afraid of criticizing Hamas, but none have said they had been forced by the organisation to stay in places of danger and become unwilling human-shields.” Reuters, 2013: “A United Nations human rights body accused Israeli forces on Thursday of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.”


I don't like Hamas for it's killing of Citizens, it is completely uncalled for. But Hamas does not use Human shields.
 
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There is no solution but 2 state solution or major conflict at some stage

Hand over the Jerusalam to United Nation body to control visa entry to the city controlled allowance of visitors etc and move on

10,000 Visas to Jews / Day
10,000 Visas to Cristians / Day
10,000 Visas to Muslims / Day

1-2 Day visitation allowed to main city

No reason why visitors can not come in supervised UN , do their religious duty and then leave back to their own cities / countries etc

The 2 state can just contain their own respective population
no pakistani will enter israel jerusalem is israel property you want war come one only country reconized israel can enter israel

First You have no idea about me :mad:. Second there is no Israel existing, it's only occupied Palestine which will be freed in the near future inshallah after a full scale war, we Muslims call it Akhar-o-Zaman, Jews call it Armagadon. Arabs will unite again also with other Muslims altogether will march on Palestine. The prophecy of our prophet (PBUH) ahhh you cannot imagine, we are counting the single seconds and minutes to see that day.

Fool yourself piece of sh**. Like what you did in Palestine we will not avoid civilian casualties.
we have enaugh nukes for all arabs dont warry

There is no solution but 2 state solution or major conflict at some stage

Hand over the Jerusalam to United Nation body to control visa entry to the city controlled allowance of visitors etc and move on

10,000 Visas to Jews / Day
10,000 Visas to Cristians / Day
10,000 Visas to Muslims / Day

1-2 Day visitation allowed to main city

No reason why visitors can not come in supervised UN , do their religious duty and then leave back to their own cities / countries etc

The 2 state can just contain their own respective population
only citizen country israel have reletionship can enter israel we dont want muslem terorists in our country

First You have no idea about me :mad:. Second there is no Israel existing, it's only occupied Palestine which will be freed in the near future inshallah after a full scale war, we Muslims call it Akhar-o-Zaman, Jews call it Armagadon. Arabs will unite again also with other Muslims altogether will march on Palestine. The prophecy of our prophet (PBUH) ahhh you cannot imagine, we are counting the single seconds and minutes to see that day.

Fool yourself piece of sh**. Like what you did in Palestine we will not avoid civilian casualties.
we too powerfall for faild arab countries

And if you are not able to find out. Can you imagine what will happen so please respect always Pakistan for your security cause we are not barbecue and stop your hostile policy against Palestine back away from playing with fire between India and Pakistan. Because you need to be correct always and we need to be correct once, the probability stands against you.


What will happen if Israel has USA we have China and world is a scary place strange things happen. After Israel there will be no one to pursue against us. At max India will lobby for sanctions and USA will give us more funds to secure our missiles in future. lol what kind of noobs you are.
Now hush away and let me go to some real topics.

lol you people are stupid to think that Pakistan will not fight for Palestine after Israel helping India. We consider our obligatory duty to beat the hell out of Israel as they have paid respect to us in war we will return the favor. Israel should reconsider it's India policy and there might be a chance but there was a strict commitment of help made to Palestine President in case of Israeli aggression on state visit. Pakistan is not making those nukes to put in shelves they are made for a reason, We are not that rich country so we only make what we intend to use.
we will find out and then destroy your country with nukes dont forget we have one of the best anti balistic missle in the world you cant defend from our nukes
 
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we will find out and then destroy your country with nukes dont forget we have one of the best anti ballistic missile in the world you cant defend from our nukes
Are you stupid. I said we will not use ballistic missiles but rather smuggle a few in Israel and bang. And to inform you Pakistan is not Hamas or Hizbollah we have MIRVs and most advance missiles in the world you cannot be able to defend against them. Turkey is our ally it will give us air bases to fire Air to surface Nuclear cruise missiles on you. We have stealth SLCM, your arrows will be useless. We have the worlds best intelligence agency even better than CIA it has assets in every place in the world. we will bang all nukes at once making sure not a single one of Israeli nukes survives so what will you do when there is no one of you left to strike back. We Pakistanis don't want to harm you but Israeli policy towards India and Palestine is leaving us out of options. You must protest to your Gov to stop the Indian support and make Israel safe for you and start working on two state solution, There is no bigger idon that you people why do you want a full life of war for just 10 miles of land in the west bank. Withdraw the settlements make a beautiful Israel and live in peace and may be some day Pakistan and Israel can be friends. You have taken so much land and you will live in 100 more years of war for just 10 mile of land lol. All that money being spend on weapons can be spend on Israelis and making your life better. Have some brains man. Why do you want to live your entire life fearing that some one will drive a nuke into your cities and end your existence. If Pakistan will not do it someone from Iran will do it. Soon Trump will end Iran Nuclear deal and they will have a nuke and after that it will matter of time. As soon as Iran will get a nuke Israel will be attacked in return what will you do Iran is so big your nuke will only damage 10% of the country and still the rest will invade you.
 
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turkey will get nuked too they will not try us you dont have mirv you dont have stelth slcm keep dreaming we will destroy you
and we will kip suport india aerrow can defend from mirv your tech is shit
try us we will destroy you
 
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Alright guys, stop with the bashing and nuclear threats we all know not a single bullet will ever be exchanged between our countries. Besides the topic discussed here is in fact the harsh truth that Muslim won't accept - besides the fact that there never was a "Palestine" because the Arab countries invented them as a reason to attack Israel (note that when Israel declared independence no such claims as "saving 'Palestine' from the occupation" where ever stated, but only the destruction of the Jewish state); it is true that Arab countries keep the "Palestinians" on refugee camps on purpose to be used to demonize the Jewish state of Israel, all this situation could be avoided today if the Arabs didn't push it to war and just accepted the 1947 peace proposition.
 
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The Choices Palestinians Make
by Dexter Van Zile
February 6, 2017 at 4:00 am


  • The notion that the Israeli pilot is the only one who has any responsibility for the child's death is simply false. A lot of bad choices were made — by Palestinians — prior to the death of the young child and Atef Abu Saif knows it; he just can't — or will not — address these choices, at least not in this text.
  • The reality that Saif will not confront in his book [The Drone Eats With Me] is that Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, bears a huge measure of responsibility for the suffering he documents. Hamas has repeatedly started wars that it cannot win against a country that cannot afford to lose.
  • During these conflicts, it has launched rockets from schoolyards and has used hospitals as command centers for its leaders, putting civilians on both sides of the conflict at risk. When children are killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, Hamas puts their bodies on display to demonize Israel, and writers such as Saif assist in this tactic.
  • During the war in 2008–2009, Hamas... used cement and other building materials allowed into the Gaza Strip—ostensibly for the benefit of Palestinian civilians—in order to construct tunnels that could penetrate Israel and serve as a means to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians.
  • During its 2012 fight with Israel, Hamas leaders declared that killing Jews is a religious obligation. Hamas promotes a genocidal organization that seeks Israel's destruction and yet Saif does not speak a word about this lethal ideology or actions before or during the 2014 war.
  • Honesty requires that the deaths of these Palestinian children serve to drive — not obstruct — the conversation toward Palestinian abilities and responsibility.
  • On and on he goes in an emotionally powerful but intellectually dishonest lament. Saif simply cannot come to grips with the responsibility Palestinian leaders have for the suffering in the areas they govern.
  • This is exactly what Saif's condescending patrons and boosters in the West are looking for — narratives that allow them to embrace and broadcast baseless hatred for the Jewish state in the name of human rights.
  • Westerners who feast on this narrative do not help the Palestinians, but hurt them, by responding to the misdeeds of Palestinian elites with condescending pats on the head instead of the rebukes they warrant.
After returning from an awful weekend trip with a Christian youth group, I told my mother I wanted to stop going to church in the next town over and worship where we lived. "Nobody likes me over there," I said. Her response was direct and brutal: "Maybe they are not the problem. Maybe it is you."

It was a shock. Mothers are not supposed to talk that way to their 11-year-old sons (so I thought). In the years since, I have tried, with varying degrees of success, when in a difficult position, to look at the role I played in creating the circumstances I find myself in.

Maybe I have behaved in unlikable ways and need to stop. Life together with other people — with any measure of peace — requires a willingness to dispense with a false belief in one's innocence. We all tend to believe that nothing is ever our fault; more likely, we realize that many things are.

There are times when I wish my mother could remonstrate with the Palestinians intellectuals, many of them Christians, whom I meet in the course of my work. Listening to them talk, it often seems as if the difficulties they describe are solely the result of other people's acts. Most unsettling of all, however, is the willingness of Western peace and human rights activists to affirm this crippling narrative of innocence.

Instead of patting Palestinians on the head and telling them that everything is Israel's fault, perhaps it is time to bring them up short and tell them, "Maybe it is you!" — and insist that Palestinians look closely at the injustices and mistakes perpetrated by Arabs over the past few decades. Perhaps it is time to confront Palestinians with the choice they face: They can keep trying to deny the Jewish people their right to a sovereign state, or they can make peace and get a state of their own; they cannot do both. If Palestinians are interested in making peace, perhaps they need to start earning the trust of the Israelis, bring an end to incitement, educate their children for peace instead of murder, and begin building a future for themselves and their children without blaming Israel for every setback they endure.

Here, the ability of the Palestinians to romance and recruit sympathetic, empathetic and condescending peace activists actually works against them. It hinders their development as a people because it prevents them from developing the human capacity for agency, or ability to, in the words of psychologist Albert Bandura, "influence intentionally one's functioning and life circumstances... [People] are not simply onlookers of their behavior. They are contributors to their life circumstances, not just products of them."

All too often, outsiders to the Israel-Palestinian conflict encourage the Palestinians to view themselves as onlookers to their own suffering, without encouraging them to think what their leaders did to cause this suffering. Over the long haul, such condescension does not help, and can be lethal.

You can see this condescension in the blurbs promoting The Drone Eats With Me: A Gaza Diary, (Beacon, 2016) by Palestinian writer Atef Abu Saif.

"This is what war is like in the twenty-first century—the voice of a civilian in the onslaught of drone warfare, a voice we have never heard before," writes Michael Ondaatje, author of the acclaimed text, The English Patient. Molly Crabbapple, the radical author of Drawing Blood, declares that Saif's book "deserves to become a modern classic of war literature." It would seem that Saif has written a text of towering importance.

Alas, he has not. Saif does provide a powerful first-person narrative of the suffering endured by the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. The stories Saif tells in his diary, portions of which were previously published in Western newspapers, are harrowing, tragic and well written, particularly when he recounts the suffering endured by parents whose children were killed by Israeli missiles and gunfire. The entry for July 15, 2014, is emblematic:

On the TV, the father of one of the children killed in an attack on the Shuja'iyya quarter on July 9 wails at the corpse of his son: "Forgive me, son, I could not protect you!" It is very hard to watch, knowing deep down that this might be me in a week's time. Being a father brings with it a deep-seated instinct to protect, but also an assumption that you can protect. You are your children's hero, their superman. You tell yourself you can outwit the planes, the tanks and the warships, to protect them. You can do anything for their sake. But this father on the TV could not have done anything differently to protect his son. Only the pilot had any choice in the matter.

The problem in Saif's thinking becomes evident in the last sentence: "only the pilot had any choice in the matter."

The notion that the Israeli pilot is the only one who has any responsibility for the child's death is simply false. A lot of bad choices were made — by Palestinians — prior to the death of the young child and Saif knows it; he just can't — or will not — address these choices, at least not in this text.

By placing all the blame on the Israelis for the death of the child, he is encouraging his readers to believe that the Palestinians are powerless to change the circumstances under which they live. According to him, only the international community, which Saif laments as ineffectual and indifferent, can do that.

The reality that Saif will not confront in his book is that Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, bears a huge measure of responsibility for the suffering he documents. Hamas has repeatedly started wars that it cannot win against a country that cannot afford to lose. During these conflicts, it has launched rockets from schoolyards and has used hospitals as command centers for its leaders, putting civilians on both sides of the conflict at risk. When children are killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, Hamas puts their bodies on display to demonize Israel, and writers such as Saif assist in this tactic.

Hamas has summoned civilians to the rooftops of buildings to serve as human shields after Israel warned that these buildings would soon be under attack. During the war in 2008–2009, Hamas diverted food and fuel from their intended recipients as part of its policy of increasing the suffering in the Gaza Strip in order to make Israel look bad. It has used cement and other building materials allowed into the Gaza Strip — ostensibly for the benefit of Palestinian civilians — in order to construct tunnels that can penetrate Israel and serve as a means to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians.




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A Hamas official recounts on Palestinian TV how Israeli forces gave advance warning to him, to evacuate his home before bombing it. He goes on to describe how after the warning, he rushed to gather friends, family and neighbors on the roof of the building to use as human shields, which caused Israeli forces to abort the strike.


In the months prior to the 2014 war, Hamas leaders openly declared that they were going to invade Israel and cross all sorts of red lines in the upcoming conflict. Hamas made good on this promise by attempting to hit nuclear facilities in Dimona with long-range missiles. The missiles hit the city, but missed the city's nuclear facilities.

The attempted attack on Israel's nuclear installation in Dimona during the 2014 war is in line with countless declarations from Hamas that it seeks the destruction of the Jewish people. Apart from both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas Charters, a few months before the summer war, for instance, a show broadcast on a Hamas-run television station encouraged Palestinian children to kill all the Jews.

During its 2012 fight with Israel, Hamas leaders declared that killing Jews is a religious obligation. Hamas promotes a genocidal organization that seeks Israel's destruction and yet Saif does not speak a word about this lethal ideology or actions before or during the 2014 war.

Insisting that Saif confront Hamas's misdeeds in a book that recounts — page after page — the tragic deaths of Palestinian children as a result of Israeli airstrikes might, to some readers, seem like a merciless and heartless thing to do. But if the goal is to bring these deaths to an end, that is exactly what Saif and other Palestinian intellectuals need to do.

All too often, the Palestinian deaths are used to shut down the conversation about what Palestinian leaders have done wrong and about the underlying causes of the conflict. Honesty requires that the deaths of these Palestinian children serve to drive — not obstruct — the conversation toward Palestinian agency and responsibility. As long as average Palestinians view themselves as ineffectual and helpless, their leaders will continue to rob them blind and put their children in harm's way.

To be sure, Saif has, condemned Hamas for its totalitarian behavior after the organization prevented him from leaving the Gaza Strip to attend a literary awards ceremony in 2015 where he was to receive acclaim for his book, The Suspended Life. This text, which was short listed for the International Prize for Arabic Literature in 2015, does reportedly hint at Hamas's oppressive agenda and style of governance. Saif is quite articulate and forceful declaring that "Freedoms retreated gradually under Hamas rule in Gaza."

Another Palestinian writer from Gaza, Asmaa al-Ghoul, has also been critical of Hamas on this score. Speaking in Oslo in May, 2013, she declared, "Journalists in Gaza also have to face a lot because of the Islamist government of Hamas. It is a dictatorship pure and simple." This may help to explain criticism of Hamas, however, is nowhere to be found in Saif's book.

Predictably, Saif is quite forceful in his condemnations of Israel. In his entry for July 20, 2014, written in response to an Israeli drone strike that tragically killed Palestinian children, He writes:

Who will convince this generation of Israelis that what they've done this summer is a crime? Who will convince the pilot that this is not a mission for his people, but a mission against it? Who will teach him that life cannot be built on the ruins of other lives? Who will convince the drone operator that the people of Gaza are not characters in a video game? Who will convince him that the buildings he sees on his screen are not graphics, but homes containing living rooms, and kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms, that there are kids inside, fast asleep; that mobiles hang over their beds; that teddy bears and toy dinosaurs lie on the floor; that posters line the walls? Who will convince him that the orchards his craft flies over in the dark aren't just clusters of pixels? Someone planted those trees, watered them, watched them as they grew. Some of those trees are ancient, in fact, maybe older than the Torah itself, older than the legends and fantasies he read about as a boy.

On and on he goes in an emotionally powerful but intellectually dishonest lament. Saif simply cannot come to grips with the responsibility Palestinian leaders have for the suffering in the areas they govern. Nor can he come to grips with the humanity or the hopes and dreams of the people on the other side of the conflict. The reference to the Torah is a gratuitous slap — as is his use of the words "legends and fantasies" to describe what goes on in the drone operator's head.

Sadly, the book is not a "classic of war literature," but instead, just another text in the overpopulated genre of anti-Zionist polemics, otherwise known as "resistance literature." In the world Saif describes, the Palestinians are innocent victims without any capabilities or responsibility for the circumstances they are in; the Israelis, to him, are the all-powerful monsters who have nothing but contempt for the international community that fails to hold them accountable.

This is exactly what Saif's condescending patrons and boosters in the West are looking for — narratives that allow them to embrace and broadcast baseless hatred for the Jewish state in the name of human rights.

Westerners who feast on this narrative do not help the Palestinians, but hurt them, by responding to the misdeeds of Palestinian elites with condescending pats on the head instead of the rebukes they warrant.

Dexter Van Zile is Christian Media Analyst for the Committee For Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA).


@EgyptianAmerican @Erl
 
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all this situation could be avoided today if the Arabs didn't push it to war and just accepted the 1947 peace proposition.

AND if Israel accepted the 1967 resolution 242 on partition.

Just sayin', good day, Tay.
 
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