May 5th, 2003 

Albert Camus wrote in 1956, when he described the conflict between France and Algeria and these words  about “that infernal dialectic“are also applicable to the Israeli / Palestine conflictvaccording to which:

“Whatever kills one side kills the other too, each blaming the other and justifying his  violence by the opponent’s violence. The eternal question as to who was first responsible loses all meaning then. And because they could not manage to live together, two populations, similar and different at the same time but equally worthy of respect, are condemned to die together, with rage in their hearts”.

After much delay by the US, the so-called “road map” has been presented to the different parties in the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. A central part of the road map is the sidelining of Hamas or Yasser Arafat which has done nothing to solve the conflict.

Like previous US government have supported Iraq, it should not be forgotten how previous Israeli government have supported Hamas, since they saw it in their wisdom as counter weight to the PLO. In short, Hamas is a beast of their own making, besides Hamas is much more than a terrorist organization.

But Prime Minister Sharon must be overjoyed that his friend President Bush who called Sharon “this man of peace” has waited this long giving him the opportunity to leave a path of destruction on the occupied territories.

Looking at the occupation and the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict in general it can only concluded that over the past years, just like in Lebanon, Prime Minister Sharon has been once again inheriting the wind of his policies. We have seen again how Sharon “he made it a desert and called it peace“, has once again been on a stampede and has left a path of destruction without a battle plan, or exit strategy.

It is an illusion to think that by turning to massive violence the Israeli army can stop the resistance against occupation. The slogan “to root out terror” is a vain illusion as is his so called victory elusive, only diplomatic negotiations can bring a solution. It is obvious that the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is in no less flagrant a violation of the Security Council than Iraq, showing the double standard of the Bush administration.

But is it not amazing that the Israeli people in their wisdom have elected Sharon for another term, this certifiable lunatic as their leader. That in itself is already telling for the morality of the Israeli people, but if we look how the demographic characteristics of Israel have changed over the years it is not surprising.

It has always been Sharon his quest to end the Palestine / Israeli peace process and today we see war atrocities taken place in the occupied territories under his responsibility. But this is hardly surprising if we look at the history of Sharon, who should also be viewed a war criminal after the events at Sabra and Shatila, this has been happening over the last years is only a confirmation.

This is the same Sharon who was in 1953 as commander of Unit 101, responsible for the massacre of Kibya, a small village in Jordan, where 75 people were slaughtered; of which 50 were women and children.

I can only conclude that the 35-year occupation of the Palestine territories has corrupted Israel morally, which is dominating, expelling, starving, killing, and humiliating the Palestinians, inviting the destructive suicides attacks, resulting in the terrible waist of young lives we see in Israel.

The house to house razzia’s, the raids, the snipers, the executions and mass arrests remind me of the dark times of European history, we witness war crimes, crimes against humanity, a spiral of violence, which make it impossible to keep silent.

There can be only one conclusion, Israel has the right to exist within its own borders, defend itself, but the Palestinian people have suffered long enough under Israeli occupation, and they deserve their own Palestinian state.

William J J Houtzager, Soest, May 5th, 2003