A rchive Date
[ 01-02-2006 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Palestine ]
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[http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Corbella_Licia/2006/02/01/1420499.html
Terrorists' election a relief for Israelis
By LICIA CORBELLA
Wed, February 1, 2006
So how much have things really changed for Israel now the Palestinian people elected the terrorist organization Hamas to form a majority government?
Dr. Yossi Olmert, the youngest brother of Israel's acting prime minister Ehud Olmert, said while the state of Israel is "very disappointed" with the election of Hamas, many Israelis are actually a bit relieved.
That's right. For many Israelis, the election of Hamas is a deliverance of sorts from the naive belief by much of the world that Palestinian leaders sincerely sought and seek peace.
At least Hamas' position on Israel is crystal-clear. Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel and the extermination of all Jews unless they submit to Islamic rule. Period.
Indeed, the vow to destroy Israel and murder all Jews is Hamas' very foundation stone. Take that goal away and Hamas crumbles and ceases to exist.
So finally the world is recognizing what tiny Israel is really up against and has been since its creation in 1948.
At long last the doublespeak coming out of Palestinian leaders' mouths has ended. The forked tongue of Palestinian leadership has been fused. Its two faces are now one and it is undeniably the face of hatred.
For decades, for instance, Yasser Arafat said one thing in English for western TV cameras and quite another to his Palestinian followers in Arabic. There are literally hours of film footage proving this, yet many westerners refused to believe Arafat never really wanted peace.
"Now the truth is out loud and clear," said Olmert yesterday during a meeting with the Sun's editorial board as part of a cross-Canada tour.
"Nobody has to interpret what the Palestinian leadership says any more. Hamas is very blunt. So, it is in a sense positive only in the sense that it brings the situation to its full reality. It's unmistakable."
Olmert says what he's hearing in Canada is an enormous change from what he heard during his four visits to Canada last year.
"More and more people don't try to justify the terrorism and the tactics anymore. That attitude shift is something I can gauge and measure."
That's quite a change and it's happened since Palestinians elected Hamas to 76 of the 132 seats on their legislative council just last week.
Canada's prime minister-designate Stephen Harper also made it very clear where Canada stands, saying Canada "supports a secure Israel and a democratic Palestine. But for a nation to be truly democratic, that nation must renounce the use of terrorism." Exactly.
Olmert says the Israeli government will not deal or negotiate with Hamas, or any other terrorist organization. Many other western democracies have already vowed to cut off all foreign aid to the Palestinians as a result of the election of Hamas.
Olmert says the election results were only partly due to Palestinians protesting against the rife corruption of the defeated Fatah party. After all, the Palestinian people have been the largest recipient on a per-capita basis of foreign aid, but owing to the corruption of Arafat and others, those billions of dollars disappeared into Swiss bank accounts rather than to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians.
Sadly, many Palestinians voted for Hamas because they agree with its aims -- to destroy Israel. They have been raised on such a steady diet of hatred, it is to be expected.
Why the world is so surprised by the election of Hamas is a bit baffling to Olmert.
"The Islamic fundamentalist movement is opposed to the very existence of the Jewish state," said Olmert.
"For example, the Iranians have a total commitment to destroy Israel and we have a total commitment to prevent it and we will prevail because we want to live."
And therein lies the real reason why tiny, though mighty Israel, continues to thrive and survive in the midst of an enormous region of totalitarian regimes bent on its destruction: The will to survive is much stronger than the will to kill innocents.
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