Green MEP welcomes peace cyclists to European Parliament

Jean Lambert, London's Green Party MEP, greeted Peace Cyclists at the European Parliament yesterday calling for a suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement.

At a meeting hosted by Jean Lambert, the activists made a presentation to MEPs on human rights abuses carried out by the Israeli authorities, witnessed over the past five years in Israel and the Occupied Territories of Palestine.

Representing a wide range of backgrounds, ages, faiths and nationalities, the cyclists had travelled over 200 miles from the International Courts of Justice in The Hague to Brussels.

Believing Israel to be in serious breach of the terms of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the Peace Cyclists delivered a petition calling for the agreement, which gives favourable trading terms to Israel, to be suspended immediately.

Jean Lambert, who is a Member of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties and a long-time peace activist, said:

"The Peace Cycle is a real example of individuals taking constructive action on this divisive issue. I echo their call that we need to break the cycle of violence in Israel and the Occupied Territories of Palestine. To move toward peace we need governments to address the human rights abuses so that trust can be developed and built upon."

Ms Lambert, who visited Gaza last year, continued:

"The people of Gaza have been suffering for many years as a result of the Israeli blockade and many necessities including food and medical equipment are not getting through to people. Its effect is simply to strengthen the hands of the hard-liners and to undermine the ability of citizens to live in what we would all consider normal conditions. Lifting the siege is essential for both human rights and human dignity."

I hate to admit it, but the nutter's got a point about Gaza

Well, I've just really upset myself. I'm thoroughly depressed but deeply concerned. I saw a news article about Bin Laden on Yahoo! and thought it would be a good idea to bring out the highlights and destroy the bad points of what he had to say. I wanted to dismiss everything he said as the ravings of a religious nutter, but I did want to agree with him (and still do) that what is happening in Gaza is a holocaust. I would actually be happy to go further and say that the behaviour of the Israeli government and armed forces toward the people of Gaza is absolutely similar to that of the Waffen SS, Gestapo and Nazi party to the Jews during WWII.

The Israelis don't like that comparison to be made, but there are a number of stark undisputed facts that suggest that it is not a wholly unreasonable comparison to make. They are settling Palestinian land and displacing people like the Nazis did with Jewish businesses and homes. They indiscriminately bombed civilian targets like the Nazis did. They are policing the locals like the Nazis did. They have created a Ghetto like the Nazis did and they are preventing those within from basic human rights and in many cases natural and biological necessities, like the Nazis did. The only thing they haven't done yet and hopefully never will is embark upon an official proactive extermination program involving gas chambers or mass executions. It's time to be honest I think and admit that if something looks and feels like a holocaust then it sure as hell is a holocaust.

What upset me was the amount of pictures online of the atrocities that have been committed against children in this conflict. There were hundreds upon hundreds of graphic photos of dead, maimed, mangled, butchered, incinerated, partial, dismembered, decapitated, wounded, crying, terrified, violated, innocent children. I didn't know whether it would've been appropriate to have used any of the unimaginable images I saw for this article. I didn't know if I even wanted to see them again let alone use them so I decided not to. Instead I am satisfied for now with the knowledge that I have spoken out against a murderous, duplicitous political regime (not race or religion) and that anyone wishing to see the images I have described today can do so freely.

Green MEP Calls For Urgent Political Solution To Conflict On Return From Euro-Parliament Visit To Gaza

Caroline Lucas MEP demands recognition for Palestinian unity government and an end to the blockade, as illegal Israeli settlement building continues.

Following a four-day visit to Gaza and the West Bank with a European Parliament delegation, Green Party MEP for the South East Caroline Lucas has warned that the Middle East peace process will fail unless political leaders recognise a Palestinian unity government – and insist on an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza.

Speaking about her trip to the region, Dr Lucas, who is also Green Party Leader, said: "The UK's Secretary of State for International Development has today said it's crucial that Palestinians come together for reconciliation –and I would certainly agree with him. Yet the EU's refusal to recognise the previous unity government because it contained elements from Hamas – though democratically elected – was instrumental in dividing Palestinians and exacerbating tensions.

"If the Palestinians can put together a government of genuine unity, based on tolerance, pluralism, and a commitment to previous peace process agreements that include the recognition of Israel, then it is the responsibility of the international community to accept it – regardless of
whether or not it contains members of Hamas.

"And indeed, a process of dialogue and reconciliation between the different Palestinian factions is already emerging. The political leaders gathering in Sharm-el-Sheikh this week for a conference on aid and the reconstruction of Gaza must recognise the need to support this political process and work towards bringing the West Bank and Gaza under unity control. More aid may provide short-term relief for the humanitarian crisis, but it is merely a sticking plaster on what is essentially a political struggle.

"There are already tonnes of aid piled up at the border into Gaza, but the continuing Israeli siege is preventing it from reaching the people who need it most. When I met with UN officials in Gaza this week, I was told that around 750 trucks a day are needed to maintain essential supplies.
Currently, Gazans are lucky to see around 30.

"So, the international community must demand an urgent lifting of the siege on Gaza, and ensure the free movement of people, as well as goods, for the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – in other words, the first steps towards ending the occupation, so that the Palestinian people can be allowed to start rebuilding their economies and communities.

Dr Lucas concluded: "Unfortunately, the main threat now to a two-state solution is the Israeli authorities' continuing aggressive expansion of the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the further extension of the apartheid wall. Israel must be brought to account for this continued flouting of its commitments under both the Oslo Accords and recent peace
agreements."

Super Nanny to Solve Problems in Gaza

I was visiting one of Brentwood's more sophisticated Turkish dining retrieval establishments last night waiting for my grilled delicacy to be prepared when I happened across a publication called the Sun. Now I used to be a bit of a paper snob and for a while would have only used the Sun for one thing alone (imagination suggested at this point). Recently, however I have started to think that news from any view is valid particularly when it is regarded by huge numbers as the Sun is.

I was in good spirits until I happened across a two page spread about the situation in Gaza with a photograph of a father crying over the bodies of his two young sons and a cousin, all of whom looked no older than 5 years old. It was one of the most upsetting pictures I have ever seen in my life. Three children lay dead on the ground. They looked like they were sleeping...but they were dead. They were innocent. They would've had no interest in religious extremism or politics but that's what killed them. Just to make things clear, I think that both sides of the conflict are as evil as the other.

I have grown up in an area where jews and muslims live side by side in peace, go to school together and do business together. I don't think there are too many marriages between the two but then that cannot be expected from hundreds of years of ingrained prejudice and racism against each other. Nevertheless, they don't kill each other. In the middle east however, they wage war like fighting children who when confronted and questioned about their actions, argue with a "you started it!"..."no, you started it!" mentality which frustrates any attempt to get them to the negotiating table.

The year 2009 like so many others has begun with death in large numbers, not as a result of terrorism but as a consequence of equal evil and malevolence and it is time that the world did something positive instead of the passive approach that has been taken to date to stop this mischief once and for all. If both sides want to kill children and innocent people and then blame the other side like a child would then it is time for an adult response.

Israel needs to be sent to the "naughty corner" and made to stay there until it learns that it cannot go on indiscriminately killing and humiliating its neighbours. Super Nanny tactics are needed to tackle this most extreme childish form of national if not racial ethos.

The Palestinians need to be educated and safeguarded from the likes of Hamas, but it cannot and must not be a job for Israel or the US to do. Their neighbours, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia must be made to take responsibility for "their own" and if they fail then they should be sanctioned as well. Believe me, if you hit the Saudis or any of the other fuel rich states in the middle east in the pocket every time there is a terrorist attack in Israel or the rest of the world, then terrorist acts emanating from that region would soon come to an end.

One way or another the violence needs to end and Jews and Muslims need to be held to account for their support of the political administrations they both choose to stand behind every time the killing starts.