Israel rejects ceasefire proposal

As I said earlier today, the Israelis have been saying that they will end their operation in Gaza when the Palestinians stop firing rockets into Gaza.

Earlier today the Palestinians offered to stop firing the Qassams into Israel if Israel would end it's attacks on Palestinians. I said then that I wouldn't hold my breath for Israel's response and that has turned out to be the case. Israel has refused the Palestinian offer of a ceasefire.

An Israeli government spokeswoman, Miri Eisen, said the militants had offered only a partial ceasefire.

She said the offer of an end to firing rockets from Gaza showed a lack of real commitment to peace.

Obviously, the act of offering to stop firing rockets into Israel is less of a commitment to peace than the Israelis continuing to bombard Gaza. By engaging in these acts of violence that have cost the lives of 400 Palestinians since June, over 200 of them civilians, the Israelis are showing their "commitment to peace"; a "commitment to peace" that the Palestinians are somehow lacking.

The world is upside down when an Israeli spokesperson is allowed to spout this nonsense without people simply laughing at her.

The Israelis have been finding ways to avoid peace for ever it seems, whilst still being allowed to pretend that they are the people searching for peace but that they lack a partner who shares their commitment for peace.

And all the while Israeli settlements continue to be built on Palestinian land. Of course, only a true cynic would see any link between this tragic inability for the Israelis to find a partner "genuinely committed to peace" and the obvious advantage to Israel that - as long as peace talks remain elusive - they can continue to take ever more of the Palestinian's land as their own.

But this fantasy is the one we now live in, where George Bush has referred to Ariel Sharon as "a man of peace". In a world where reality can become that distorted, Israel are able to talk of a "commitment to peace" whilst actually meaning that they will continue to bombard Gaza and kill it's civilians.

The Israelis can only get away with this crap because the US continues to view the Middle east through an Israeli inspired perspective. And, when it comes to this subject, the Democrats are as bad - if not worse - than the Republicans.

Any US citizen who wonders why their country is so hated in the Arab world, would do well to start their research at how the Israel-Palestine conflict has been presented to them, as opposed to how it is actually viewed by the rest of the world.

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