UN official equates Arab terror and Israel's self-defense
By Stan Goodenough
February 19, 2008
Jerusalem Newswire
Original Source: http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2341
Visiting United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes Monday bundled together the Arab firing of rockets at Israeli civilians and the Israeli effort to stop those attacks by describing the conflict on the Gaza-Negev frontier as a vicious cycle of violence.
Israel reacted angrily to the immoral equation, charging that Holmes' blurring of the clear lines between aggression and self-defense in fact contributed to more terrorism by encouraging the Arabs to believe the world would pressure Israel rather than condemn the Arabs.
According to The Jerusalem Post, prior to making his statement Holmes had toured the Gaza Strip and visited the bombarded Israeli town of Sderot where he had heard first hand from victims who have for years endured the horror of living under almost daily attacks.
That he would come out with such a mealy-mouth statement after so-clearly witnessing the suffering of Israel's civilians flabbergasted Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Aharon Abramovitch.
But Holmes went even further.
Ignoring the often-reported widespread support given the terrorists by Gaza's Arab civilians, including the public rejoicing when Israeli victims are killed in Palestinian attacks, he asserted that the harm caused the people in Gaza is not justified by the rocket attacks.
Israel's surgical strikes collectively penalizes an entire population and are wrong, he said.
The fact that Israel fully and unilaterally left the Gaza Strip in 2005, and no longer controls one square inch of that territory made no difference.
Israel continues to have the obligation of an occupying power in ... Gaza and [as such] must fulfill its obligations.
The United Nations' long history of damning Israel and pitying the Palestinians has done nothing to help bring the conflict to an end.
As Abramovitch said, it is an approach which in fact encourages the terrorists to persist.