Israel’s response to Hamas is not proportional

Dear Editor,
I was stunned and angry this midday (Jan 16) when I heard Condoleezza Rice say that Hamas came to power 18 months ago in a violent coup. I am sure I recall correctly that Hamas came to power legitimately after winning the election which was free and fair, but the US and Israel refused to accept the democratic will of the Palestinian people. This is from a US President who says he wants to spread democracy in the region. The Bush administration continues to live in a land of fairly tales to the very end, seeing things the way they think they should be.

It would have been possible to admire Dr Rice for all she has accomplished but instead her actions have confirmed my belief that education cannot help some people become objective, fair and just.

What is even more distressing, is that Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister said that even after a ceasefire is reached, they reserve the right to take measures to ensure that no further attacks on Israel takes place. What she is saying is that, they will continue to bomb specific targets the Israelis feel may be ammunition depots or housing Hamas members. This is a blatant insult to the rest of the world. The US MOU with Israel should not be limited to ensuring that weapons do not get into Gaza but it should also state that the US will stop arming Israel as well because Israel is using those weapons to kill innocent people. Certainly, any person with some limited objectivity can clearly see that Israel’s response to Hamas is not proportional. Israel does not have the right to commit murder simply because they once suffered the same fate.

The Palestinians are just as much to blame as the Israelis for this continued brutal existence they find themselves in.
The United Nations, instead of passing all those silly resolutions which continue to allow that sore to fester in the Middle East, should instead determine which lands belong to whom and demarcate those lands accordingly. Create the State of Palestine immediately and make it a Protectorate of the UN or jointly between Egypt and Jordan with Egypt responsible for the Gaza Strip and Jordan, the West Bank for a period of ten years before allowing them to rule themselves.  Any transgression by either the State of Israel or the State of Palestine should then be dealt with harshly by an army comprising countries who are truly ‘a coalition of the willing.’  Whatever the world does, the Palestinian lands must be removed from under the control of Israel as the first step immediately. The United Kingdom especially must champion this cause, since it is they who created this mess at the end of the Second World War.

Finally, one can only hope that President-elect Obama will be as objective, fair and just on this particular international issue as he has so far demonstrated he is on domestic issues.
Yours faithfully,
Ganesh Singh