Reactions to Suicide Bombing Vary
The reactions to yesterday's Tel Aviv suicide bombing vary. As I noted yesterday, the Hamas-led 'Palestinian Authority' lauded the attack, while 'Palestinian President'The Jerusalem Post reports that a 'senior official in the Prime Minister's office' said that, "we now face a Hamas government that not only does not stop terrorism, but condones it, encourages it and gives comfort to its perpetrators," explaining why this attack was different from previous ones.
It pointed out that just two weeks ago PA Interior Minister Said Siam said Palestinian security forces would not interfere with Palestinian strikes against Israel.
"We will not put our sons in prison for political memberships or resisting occupation, because occupation is the reason for the problem," Siam said.
The Post quoted the Prime Minister's office official as saying that Israel had little choice but to take matters into its own hands and take sustained, harsh steps against the terrorist organizations.
But the same article notes that while many countries condemned the attack, only the United States did not call for Israeli restraint. For example, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mikhail Kamynin condemned the attack and called on the PA to counter "anti-Israeli acts, primarily terrorist attacks." But at the same time, he called on the Israeli government "to show restraint and composure despite the serious conditions in order to prevent slipping into confrontation."
British foreign minister Jack Straw condemned the attack, but added "I would urge restraint on all sides at this difficult time."
And EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana condemned the attack, while appealing for "the unofficial truce observed by Hamas to continue" and calling on "all parties to prevent any further descent into a senseless spiral of violence. "The only solution to the conflict in the Middle East is a negotiated settlement," he said.
And then there's Egypt, the second largest recipient of US foreign aid. In an editorial in a state controlled newspaper, the Egyptian government praised yesterday's attack, calling it "an act of sacrifice and martyrdom." Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and receives more than $3 billion annually in US foreign aid. Maybe it's time that foreign aid be reconsidered. Here are more details on the Egyptian editorial:
Egypt has always taken pains to condemn the violence by both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is exceptional for one of the country's three biggest newspapers, whose editor is effectively appointed by President Hosni Mubarak, to endorse a Palestinian attack on Israeli civilians.
"It is not required of the Palestinian people that they raise their hands in surrender, accept the daily Israeli attacks and watch waves of settlers occupy their land and build settlements," wrote Al Gomhuria in an editorial of its Tuesday edition.
"It is not required of the Palestinian people that they clap Israel and its allies while they mobilize the whole world to besiege the heroic [Palestinian] people ... because they have chosen Hamas," the editorial said, referring to the United States and European Union's cutting off funds to the Palestinian Authority because its Hamas government refuses to renounce violence.
"For all that, the sacrificial and martyrdom attack occurred in the heart of Tel Aviv, and there will be more later," the daily warned. In the Islamic faith, a martyr goes to heaven.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:02 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home