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Bekijk Volledige Versie : British Jews criticise Gaza raids



mark61
06-07-06, 23:27
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News community affairs reporter

Some 300 British Jews have signed a petition condemning Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip.
The group, including dozens of well-known figures, says it has "watched with horror" Israel's response to the capture of a soldier.

Palestinians in Gaza were being subjected to "collective punishment" because of the actions of militants, said Jews for Justice for Palestinians.

An Israeli spokesman said this view did not represent those of British Jews.

The petition, which appeared as a full-page advert in Thursday's Times Newspaper, condemns the way Israeli forces have responded to the capture of Cpl Gilad Shalit.

Palestinian militants captured the soldier on 25 June amid a cross-border attack between Israel and Gaza.

Israeli forces have targeted infrastructure in Gaza in an effort to secure the soldier's release, a move that had led to accusations that it has breached humanitarian norms.

The Times advert, which cost £10,000 (US $18,400), is signed by well-known figures in British society including playwright Harold Pinter, film director Mike Leigh, historian Prof Eric Hobsbawn, and actor Miriam Margoyles.

The group also includes a large number of academics.

Dan Judelson, spokesman for Jews for Justice for Palestinians, said: "We simply do not see how Israel can defend attacking civilian targets such as water works and power supply."

"There are those in the community who say that Jews should not criticise Israel. But Israel is damaging itself through this kind of action."

Mr Judelson said that many people believed the attacks on Palestinian infrastructure were less about liberating Cpl Shalit and more about seeking a pretext to over-throw Hamas, the militant Islamist organisation elected to run the Palestinian Authority

"Whatever your views are of Hamas, and I of course do not share the politics of Islamists, you cannot kick out democratically-elected governments because you do not agree with them."

Growing crisis

Israel has defended the action, saying it is justified to target institutions and infrastructure which "facilitates terrorism".

An Israeli embassy spokesman in London said: "The views expressed by these individuals do not reflect the position of the British Jewish Community. Nor does it represent the British Government, or even the British media.

"Israel is doing everything possible to secure the release of the abducted soldier and to put an end to the barrage of Qassam attacks, with minimum civilian casualties.

"If the signatories are so concerned about our region, one must ask why they have not also chosen to voice solidarity with the residents of Sderot and Ashkelon, who are living under daily threat of Qassam Rockets."

Daniella Peled of the Jewish Chronicle, the influential London-based community newspaper, said that the story was significant but had to be put in context.

"The advert is likely to cause a strong reaction amongst many mainstream Jews," said Ms Peled.

"But vigorous debate and diversity has always been part and parcel of Jewish life.

"As the old saying goes, where there are three Jews you'll find four opinions - and of course that's especially true when it comes to Israel."

mark61
06-07-06, 23:30
Israel warned on Gaza exit strategy
By Martin Patience
BBC News, Jerusalem


Israel has vowed to stop rocket attacks by Palestinian militants from Gaza on Israeli communities lying close to the territory. The military moved into areas of northern Gaza used by militants to fire the rockets - effectively creating a security buffer zone.


Israeli military officials say it will not be a permanent presence
Initially the Israeli military said it launched the incursion into Gaza to try to pressure Palestinian militants to release the captured Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit.

But after Palestinian militants continued firing Qassams - crude home-made rockets - from Gaza into Israel, the operation's objective was widened to prevent the rocket fire.

Officials say there are no plans to reoccupy Gaza or carve out a permanent buffer.

"We have no intention of drowning in the Gaza swamp," Defence Minister Amir Peretz said on Wednesday.

But some Israeli security analysts are warning that is just what the army risks - getting sucked into the "swamp".

"It's easy to go in, but difficult to pull out," says Yossi Alpher, the former director of the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Easy to fire

When a Qassam hit the major Israeli city of Ashkelon for the first time, Israel's security cabinet instructed the army to prepare for a long battle focusing on "institutions and infrastructure facilitating terrorism".

What this will involve is not clear as the Israeli army has refused to give specific details on the operation.


Clashes have worsened since the military action began
But the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that the army wanted to capture a broad swathe of territory about one-and-a-quarter kilometres into Northern Gaza to prevent rockets being fired.

Some Israeli security analysts, however, warn that it will be impossible to prevent all the rocket launches.

"I don't think you can stop them firing Qassams 100%," says Yossi Alpher. "They are very easy to travel with and easy to fire."


Flexibility

Drawing on Israel's experience in Lebanon, where the army got entangled in a bloody, decades-long occupation, Mr Alpher says the Israeli military could get drawn further into Gaza that it wants.

The rocket attacks on Ashkelon suggest that Palestinian militants have developed Qassams with a greater range, meaning that they could still hit Israeli communities even if they were not fired from northern Gaza.

"It's a slippery slope: You begin in the north and end up in the south of Gaza," he says.

Jonathan Fighel, a senior researcher at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, says that Israel needs to develop a strategy that will prevent itself from getting bogged down in northern Gaza.

"The buffer zone needs to flexible," he says. "There can't be Israeli troops located in it every day. The troops need to be mobile otherwise they become a target.

"Israel needs to create the notion that while there are not troops in the buffer zone 24 hours a day, Palestinians think that there are."

But Mr Fighel says the best solution would be negotiations to settle the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. "There really is no substitute," he says.

ronald
06-07-06, 23:38
Allemaal leuk en aardig. Goeie zet van die Engelse joden.

...nu wachten wanneer er een Arabische advertentie wordt geplaatst met de boodschap: Stuur die jongen nou eens terug!

Duivelin
06-07-06, 23:55
Telkens als ik de reactie zie/lees van Israelische politici/sympathisanten van de Israelische politiek op lui als 'Een ander Joods geluid' en dan nu deze gasten, moet ik denken aan The Jewbird van Bernhard Malamud.

Sayfdien
07-07-06, 10:20
Waar gaat dat boek over, Duivelin?

Duivelin
07-07-06, 22:02
Geplaatst door Sayfdien
Waar gaat dat boek over, Duivelin?


Is geen boek, maar een kort verhaal. Gaat over een joodse vogel (The Jewbird) die nergens geduld wordt en overal waar hij komt wordt belaagd en gehaat door anti-semieten, waaronder ook andere vogelsoorten. Dit symboliseert dan 't feit dat zelfs de ene jood de andere een anti-semiet kan noemen. Ik heb het verhaal in mijn bezit, maar zou er dan foto's van moeten maken indien je het wilt lezen daar ik geen scanner heb. Roept u maar als je daar genoegen mee neemt.

Met Philip Roth was ook al zoiets, o.a. met 'The Conversion Of The Jews'. Prachtig verhaal is dat by the way.