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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (3772)	2/12/2003 6:29:01 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Anyway, the point was never whether or not Palestinian kids are exposed to weapons and uniforms from an early age, nor whether there is a morbid fascination with martyrdom among them. Hmmm... without going back to reference previous posts, I thought that "kids with guns" AND adults using them as "shields" was the topic.. But I think you are looking for examples where Adults marched kids in front of them as shields.. And I don't believe we'll find many examples of that... Though it has been cited (if I remember correctly) that some adults have mixed with the kids for the purpose of throwing molotov cocktails. The kids serve the purpose of preventing Israeli soldiers from advancing toward the buildings where Palestinian snipers hide. They use the kids to restrict IDF reaction to their sniping (blowing a building away).. The real issue is why Palestinian security officials are not forbidding children from engaging IDF soldiers. That's a job for the adult men... The children are supposed to be the future of their people, not the martyrs. And the PA, in past years, has encouraged children to skirmish with IDF soldiers. And I'm pretty sure that were you or I in such a situation, the last thing we'd do is permit our children to be out there in harm's way.. I don't have any sympathy for Arafat - I believe he has done many grave errors that cost dearly to his people, and I am not convinced if ending the conflict and a prosperous Palestine is his ulterior motive. We both certainly agree on that.. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't want the conflict to end on anything but his terms, where he's considered the leader of a nation born in blood... That's how he wants his legacy to be record in the history books.. and why he must be eliminated from the peace equation. My sympathy for Palestinians is due to my understanding of their suffering. As a nation, they have entered a most unhealthy phase, one I would almost call a "death cult", And I assert that, to a large extent, it is self-inflicted (through this intifada). And that belief is finally starting to permeate some of the Palestinian moderates... The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza might be harsh, with a people living in political, social, and economic limbo, but it was a fair sight better than they were being treated by the Egyptians and Jordanians... The Israelis at least attempted to integrate Palestinians workers into their economy (even if as cheap labor).. But since the intifada, and the closing of the borders, they don't even have that... And who's fault is it?? Arafat's... And Hamas... and every other group who's strategy is NOT to work to the benefit of the Palestinian people, but to the destruction of the Israeli state. We first need to come over the prevailing feeling I sense around here that Palestinians are irrational and pyromaniac lunatics whose actions cannot be understood anyway. And to understand this, we need to understand to whose advantage it is for the Palestinian people to think like this?? Who is teaching them this kind of stuff?? Who is urging their children onto the streets to take up useless combat and sacrifice. And I agree... we should talk about who's orchestrating all of this, and how the overthrow of the rogue states in the region might positively alter the economic and social opportunity for people in the region in the future.. Hawk Hawk