Palestinians Experience: Terror Backlash
Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 08:40
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Palestinians Experience:
Terror Backlash
Khaled Abu Toameh
Access|Middle East contributing analyst and prominent correspondent on Palestinian affairs
The two-week long Israeli military operation against Kassam rocket squads in Gaza, along with the recent terror strikes in Sinai, have served as a reminder to Palestinians how they are continuing to lose sympathy and understanding in the international community, writes Access|Middle East analyst Khaled Abu Toameh. A senior Palestinian official told Abu Toameh that when he contacted different foreign governments to protest Israeli "massacres" against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, he was surprised to hear that there was almost full understanding of Israel ’s motives for the operation, which began after two infants were killed by Kassam rockets in the Israeli town of Sderot .
"Before you call us to complain about Israeli atrocities, why don’t you tell ... Arafat and Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israeli cities", a senior European diplomat reportedly told the Palestinian representative.
Other foreign diplomats stationed in Ramallah and Gaza City have reacted similarly to appeals from the PA urging international intervention to halt the Israeli military operation. "My government is not prepared to interfere this time with Israel unless the Palestinian Authority starts taking practical measures to enforce law and order", one foreign ambassador told a top Arafat aide.
Many Palestinians have long despaired that the "militarization" of the intifada was costing them support within the international community. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was one of the first to speak out in public against the use of suicide attacks and rockets in the war with Israel . "These methods have caused us grave damage", Abbas said in a recent interview. "The world is now against us because we are being portrayed as ruthless terrorists who blow up buses and use rockets and guns."
This article was submitted by Access Middle East
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