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 |