[Livia]

Originally Posted by DanaC

The Palestinians aren't noble ... But they are oppressed. The rockets they send over are a drop in the ocean compared to the wholesale slaughter meted out to them by Israel.

What do people think the Palestinians should do? Cease fighting and just accept the annihilation of them as a people/state?

When the Palestinians fight they are stomped in response by those who have absolute power over them. When they don't fight Israel steps up the building programme

Livia, you say you've been to Israel but have you also been to Palestine?

Yes, I have been to Palestine. Have you?

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Livia

Yes, I have been to Palestine. Have you?

No. But several very good friends have. Two of my closest friends went there a few months ago as part of an academic exchange ('Bradford2Gaza'). And I have several Palestinian (and Israeli) friends whose personal stories I have listened to with interest.

What comes through very clearly from all their stories is the sense, not just of violence and injustice, but constant, routine and unavoidable humiliation at the hands of Israelis. At check points (which have to be passed through in order to engage in many daily activities), it is commonplace for Palestinians to be humiliated by the guards. It is also commonplace that people are refused passage (which of course makes working outside their specific area very difficult).

Also what comes through very clearly is the fear. It is a terrible thing for the Israelis that they wave their children off to school knowing that they could get hit by a rocket or a suicide bomber. But on a sheer numbers game, what they are looking at is a small possibility. For the Palestinians, the chances of their children being hurt or killed is so much higher. And so is the chance that their family member will simply not come home, picked up and arrested instead on a suspicion, or for throwing stones at the occupying force. And for those arrested, torture is commonplace. The use of back and body breaking 'stress positions' such as 'the banana' leave those arrested crippled with back problems for life.

Setting aside the death toll (which, though it can be counted on both sides, is desperately tilted to the Palestinian side), and the strangulation of their state and economy through walls and blockades, these people are mentally and physically tormented day in and day out.

That anybody can look at that situation and not feel sympathy for the Palestinian's, and anger at the Israeli's part in it baffles me.

We are supposed to look at the Israeli's historic right, yet ignore those Palestinian families who still have the keys to homes lost to Israel decades ago. We are supposed to sympathise (and I do) with those Israelis facing rocket attacks, yet look the other way at the grotesque slaughter meted out to the Palestinians year after year.