Genocide and the UN, by Gråulf

During WW II Franklin Roosevelt called for the unconditional surrender of Germany. The allies did not care about civilian casualties. In fact, the allies thought the Nazi regime and the German people who supported genocide didn’t especially deserve “humane” or “proportional” treatment. Today these same allies condemn the Israelis for defending themselves against those who attack them, despite the fact that Hamas, who rules Gaza, is a self-proclaimed genocidal organization.

The UN claims to be concerned about genocide, and it is engaged in prosecuting genocide in places like Rwanda, but the United Nations has failed to condemned the PLO, Hezbollah, and Hamas, all of which are terrorist organizations, and all of which have the destruction of Israel as their primary focus. I am also curious about the UN’s failure to comment on a new law passed by the Hamas in Gaza during the Christmas holidays. The law makes crucifixion the appropriate punishment for Defamation of Islam.

I spent last night reading the Hamas charter (Hamas is an acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement” in Arabic). It is a long rambling document, similar to the charter of Hezbollah. It states unequivocally the Hamas reason for existing is the liberation of Palestine from the impurity of the Jews. According to its charter, Palestine was Gods gift to the Muslims until the Day of Resurrection, and it is their duty to hunt down and kill all Jews, no matter where they hide. The charter also states that no part of Palestine may be abandoned or renounced, for “renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing [our] religion”. The existence of Israel is therefore, in the words of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, "an affront to Islam" and Hamas's campaign against Israelis is "an expression of the Divine Will".

Most people believe the PLO removed language calling for the destruction of Israel from its charter back in 1993, when on a sunny September day in l993, Arafat and the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin made a promise of peace between their people and sealed the deal by awkwardly clasping hands to shouts and applause from thousands gathered on the White House lawn. In fact, the language calling for the destruction of Israel has not been removed from the PLO charter, and is still there despite repeated US pressure to remove it. When Arafat returned to the Middle East he explained to his followers that he had acknowledged that Israel did in fact exist, so he admitted to that, but he would newer admit that Israel has a right to exist. The Palestinians are masters of duplicity, and the Bush administration eventually realized that it was a waste of time to negotiate with them. The conflict in the Middle East is not about land, as much as it is a religious conflict, and as such it is immune to any rational resolution.

The question is, what irrational resolution might work, other than the use of force to exterminate one side or the other?

Gråulf.