1. Not according to UNSCR 242, which links Israeli withdrawal from any territory to a negotiated peace agreement with the relevant party.
2. No one has the right to attempt to terrorize civilian populations by murdering men, womnen and children in their own homes (like the Fogel family; why did a 9-month old baby girl have to be decapitated by a murderer in the name of "resistance"?).Resistance means attacking the occupying coun try's military, not murdering civilians on a public bus or at a shopping mall. Resistance is not firing thousands of unguided missiles randomly at civilian targets.
3. Palestinian "militants" regularly violate the Rules of War and the Geneve Conventions, yet no one seems to give a damn.
4. There are many other states that have far worse human rights records than Israel- and they sit on the UN Human Rights Council, regularly condemning Israel while they continue their own violations.
5. Hamas won elections in 2006-- granting them a four-year democratically elected term of office. Hamas is now in the in the middle of the NINTH year of a FOUR year elected term of office. If that's "democracy" in your opinion, then I have to disagree. How would you have felt if President Bush had just postponed elections because of the war on terror and remained in office until today? I wager you wouldn't support that for a moment.
6. Si Hamas has adamantly refused to negotiate in any way, shape or form with Israel, I have no idea how you expect Israel to have "good faith" or any other kind of negotiations with Hamas.
Have any of the commenters here ever even read the Hamas Covenant? How about the Palestinian National Charter or Israel's Declaration of Statehood?
Anyone who has not read all the documents above has no way to form an objective opinion. I'll make it easy for those of you who are willing to make the effort:
1. Not according to UNSCR 242, which links Israeli withdrawal from any territory to a negotiated peace agreement with the relevant party.
2. No one has the right to attempt to terrorize civilian populations by murdering men, womnen and children in their own homes (like the Fogel family; why did a 9-month old baby girl have to be decapitated by a murderer in the name of "resistance"?).Resistance means attacking the occupying coun try's military, not murdering civilians on a public bus or at a shopping mall. Resistance is not firing thousands of unguided missiles randomly at civilian targets.
3. Palestinian "militants" regularly violate the Rules of War and the Geneve Conventions, yet no one seems to give a damn.
4. There are many other states that have far worse human rights records than Israel- and they sit on the UN Human Rights Council, regularly condemning Israel while they continue their own violations.
5. Hamas won elections in 2006-- granting them a four-year democratically elected term of office. Hamas is now in the in the middle of the NINTH year of a FOUR year elected term of office. If that's "democracy" in your opinion, then I have to disagree. How would you have felt if President Bush had just postponed elections because of the war on terror and remained in office until today? I wager you wouldn't support that for a moment.
6. Si Hamas has adamantly refused to negotiate in any way, shape or form with Israel, I have no idea how you expect Israel to have "good faith" or any other kind of negotiations with Hamas.
Have any of the commenters here ever even read the Hamas Covenant? How about the Palestinian National Charter or Israel's Declaration of Statehood?
Anyone who has not read all the documents above has no way to form an objective opinion. I'll make it easy for those of you who are willing to make the effort:
Palestinian National Charter (1964): http://www.un.int/wcm/content/site/palestine/pid/12363
Palestinian National Charter (1968): http://www.un.int/wcm/content/site/palestine/pid/12362
See if you can fogure out what the changes made in 1968 were, and what was the reason for the changes.
Hamas Covenant: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp
Israel Declaration of Statehood: http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx
Now digest them and figure out what each party stands for--then decide who you feel deserves your support.