I WRITE in response to the recent articles in the Dewsbury Reporter from Mike Wood MP and Adam Wolstenholme concerning the conflict in Gaza. I share the concerns about the present situation and the suffering of people both in Israel and Gaza.
Like many, I hear and read a lot of articles about how unfairly Israel is dealing with this situation, though the facts are that this is a country that has received more than 6,000 rocket attacks over the last two years out of Gaza , and like any nat
ion, they are effectively exercising their right to both defend themselves and seek to resolve the situation quickly.
Hamas needs to be defeated, otherwise the killing will simply continue.
Reports often cite how the Palestinians should have their own independent state, and it is often said how Israel is denying them this. May I point out that the Palestinians have in fact been offered an independent Palestinian State at least seven times in the past. Correspondence I recently read outlines that in:
1937 by Britain's Peel Commission, but the Arabs said no.
1947 by the UN when it agreed to the division of the British Mandate between a Jewish state and an Arab state, but the Arab League said no.
1967 when Israel offered to return conquered territory after the Six Day War but the Arabs responded with the Khartoum Declaration: no peace with Israel and no negotiation with Israel.
1979 at Camp David I, but Arafat rejected any compromise deal.
2000 at Camp David II, when Israel accepted but Arafat rejected the Clinton deal.
2001 when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Gaza + 97 per cent of the West Bank + 3 per cent Israeli territory but Arafat said no and launched the intifada.
2008 Israel signed the Annapolis Agreement and Israel engaged in fortnightly meetings with Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority but these were torpedoed by the split between Hamas and Fatah.
The current situation has essentially come about because in December 2008 Hamas refused to renew its ceasefire, this despite appeals from both Fatah and by Egypt. Hamas, I understand, has now made a two-state solution much more difficult to reach. Having been subject to Hamas rockets for years, Israelis now fear that if Israel withdrew from the West Bank and handed it over to the Palestinian Authority, Hamas could seize full control from Fatah and then around 90 per cent of Israelis would be within the range of their rockets. Can Israel allow that to happen? These are the difficult realities that must be faced. Hamas has used all the assistance the Palestinians in Gaza received from other Arab countries in order to strengthen its fight against Israel and not to improve the welfare of its people. The Palestinians deserve something better than that from their leaders.
I applaud what Adam Wolstenholme said in Adam's Angle.
BRIAN TAYLOR
Becks Court
Earlsheaton
DEWSBURY
