Hamas must be boycotted till it halts terror, U.K.'s Straw tells Haaretz

[Colorado Blue]

snip

Straw, who will preside over the EU's Council of Ministers, says the Middle East will be one top British priority. "We will actively support the Sharon government's courageous plan for disengagement from Gaza and we will provide practical support for the Palestinians as they assume full responsibility for the security, economy and civil society in Gaza."

How does this fit with the revelation, on the eve of his visit, that British diplomats recently met with Hamas officials? Straw, who championed Hamas' inclusion on the British and EU lists of terrorist organizations, harks back to a day in 1973, when he arrived for work as a lawyer at the Old Bailey. Four IRA bombs exploded that day in central London, one of them outside the courtroom. Straw was lightly wounded by glass shards. He says the experience enabled him to understand fellow victims, and therefore he "would never compromise with terror."

Straw says the meetings with Hamas mayors, which he himself revealed in a BBC interview, are an exception. Hamas leaders should be boycotted until they meet two inflexible conditions: to "renounce violence and abandon their revolting charter which calls for the destruction of Israel."

What if Hamas wins the PA parliamentary elections? "In that case," he concedes, "all of us - and Israel first and foremost - will face a dilemma."

snip

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/586601.html

[Colorado Blue]

1. Now I think this is a good idea.

Let's boycott a terror organization instead of a university.

What do you say?

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Likud, AIPAC, Bnai Brith, ADL, and Mogan Dovid Adom

are the only "Terror Organizations" many self-proclaimed, self-laudatory, pseudo-progressives know how to boycott.

Bushco isn't the only one using Orwellian doublespeak.

[drdon326]

3. "self-proclaimed, self-laudatory, pseudo-progressives " ???

I....I....I find that hard to believe.

[Englander]

10. Since you mention 'doublespeak';

'Tue 7 Jun 2005

UK Diplomats Meet Hamas Members

British diplomats have held talks with members of Hamas, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw confirmed today.

>snip

“We have a diplomatic job to do as others do, and our diplomats in the occupied territories – as anywhere else in the world – see part of their job, indeed part of their job is, to have contact with elected representatives.(said Mr Straw)

“In the occupied territories it is de rigeur, it is required, that if a diplomat of whatever level goes in to a town they go and talk to the mayor.

“What happened on two occasions – just two occasions – is that such discussions have taken place.

“But on each of those occasions our staff have spelt out to the elected official – they have been seen in that capacity and that capacity alone – our position overall in respect of no dealings with Hamas as an organisation as long as it continues to support violence and the destruction of Israel.”

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4656801

[pie]

4. I have a much better idea. Cut all 'aid' to Israel for one full year.

Then play the aid-for-concessions game:
Tear down the wall of shame - get some money.
Leave the occupied territories - get some money.
Dismantle all nuclear capacity - get some money.
Rebuild Palestinian homes destroyed by dozers - get some money.
Replant all Palestinian fruit fields destroyed by dozer and arson -
get some money.
Pull back to the Green Line - get some money.
Allow the UN to issue troops, both as observers
and as peace keepers - get some money.

These are concrete, verifiable steps that would
lend themselves to the creation of a lasting peace in the area.

Now, we are not talking the kind of money pouring in at this time.
The new limit will be, say, twenty percent of the current.

I have many more suggestions,
but we should start there.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. And while we are at it...

Let's cut all aid to the PA for one year.

Play the same game with them.
Stop the suicide bombers in ACTION, not WORDS -- get some $$$
Make Hamas change its constitution --- get some $$$
Rebuild the homes and businesses destroyed by suicide bombers -- get some $$$
Demand that anti-Semitic programming be pulled from Palestinian TV stations --- get some $$$
Be willing to share Jerusalem with the Jews --- get some money

I have more suggestions too. But, what is good for the goose is good for the gander/

[Coastie for Truth]

7. At the very least

Become ENERGY INDEPENDENT NOW

-No consumer dollars for oil stolen from Arab proletariat

Support proletariat mineral rights reform

-No petrodollars for oiligarchs
-Petrodollars for the Arab and Palestinian proletariat

[Colorado Blue]

8. I have another idea.

Let's start building some relationships, here and now, by distinguishing between Hamas, an avowed terrorist organization with a stated purpose of destroying Eretz Israel, and the Palestinian people.

And let's distinguish between radical jihadists and mainstream Muslims.

I'm quite sure, people displaying the Star and Crescent don't like to be thought of as terrorists and violent jihadists?

SO, let's further distinguish between said terrorists and jihadists and a democratic nationstate of 6 million souls, who represent a broad cross-section of religion and ethnicity, and which those terrorists and jihadists regularly vow to destroy, and have regularly attacked.

That would be a big help.

It would also be helpful if, even as the Israeli people and worldwide Jewry have accepted ample blame for our share in the suffering of the Arab people, a similar response were offered to us.

Any takers?

[Colorado Blue]

6. I think people are forgetting something.

Israel hasn't been at war with the Palestinians for all these many decades.

Israel has been at war with the entire Arab world.

So, these boycotts should maybe include the 22 Arab states, who've been keeping the Palestinians in cages, and using them as pawns, so they can point the accusing finger bone at Israel for causing all their problems.

Unfortunately, it is difficult for an oil-saturated economy to boycott people like the Wahabi and the Sauds.

[Englander]

9. Said Mr Straw;" I would never compromise with terror."

'Did you know - The Old Bailey Bomb

IRA terrorists set off a large car bomb outside the Central Criminal Court during the afternoon of 8th March 1973. A large number of City officers were engaged in shepherding the public towards safety. Detective Constable Dale Wilkinson of the City Police, who had just taken photographs of the suspect car, and Constable Malcolm Hine were both seriously injured. Many City Police officers were among the 238 people injured in the blast. Many nearby buildings were badly damaged and "The George" public house, only just cleared by the City Police, was completely wrecked. The Old Bailey suffered considerable damage with the windows blown in and glass embedded in the internal walls.'

http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/didyouknow/baileybomb/baileybomb.htm

______________________________


'Last week the official, or rather some of the official, British and Irish government documents were released under the ‘thirty-year rule’.

1974 was the year of the short-lived Sunningdale power-sharing executive; the Ulster Workers Council strike when unionist so-called parliamentarians and loyalist murderers joined forces; the Dublin and Monaghan car bombings; the capture of IRA escapee Brendan Hughes with an alleged plan to raze many parts of Belfast; the burning of Long Kesh prison camp; the Birmingham pub bombings; and the IRA Christmas ceasefire which in 1975 became an extended truce and a major bone of contention within the Republican Movement.

1974 was also the year that Michael Gaughan died on hunger strike, and that four young people convicted of the 1973 Old Bailey bombing – Dolours and Marion Price, Hugh Feeney and Gerry Kelly – went on hunger strike demanding repatriation and were subsequently force-fed for 206 long and gruelling days.

The papers touch on many of those issues and more, and are of forensic interest for their insights into the contemporary thoughts, recollections and perceptions of various protagonists. Of course, one has to appreciate that the authors were hardly guided by the hand of God and had their own views and prejudices which could interfere with their assessments; or they wrote with an eye to history and how they would be judged.'

http://www.dannymorrison.com/articles/alongwar.php

_______________________


One of the Old Bailey bombers,Gerry Kelly,is now
a senior Sinn Fein member,part of the Northern Ireland
Assembly,& part of Sinn Fein's negotiating team;

' Born in Belfast in 1953, Gerry is a leading member of the Sinn Féin negotiations team and party spokesperson on Policing and Criminal Justice. He has been to the forefront in encouraging dialogue and bringing for solutions to the problems of attacks at interface areas.

In promoting the Peace Process he has been involved in talks with Nelson Mandela, the current South African President Thabo Mbeki, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He has been to the forefront in securing economic investment for North Belfast and is working to achieve a resolution to the area's housing crisis.

He first became involved in politics during the civil rights campaign of the late sixties. He was imprisoned in England in the mid 1970s and was force fed while on a 60 day hunger strike campaigning for repatriation to the north. He was transferred in 1976. He escaped from the H-Blocks in 1983 during the mass escape of 38 Prisoners of War. He was recaptured in Amsterdam three years later and extradited following a lengthy court battle.

Since his release from prison in 1989, he has been an enthusiastic and energetic Sinn Féin activist, playing a central role in the establishment of the Peace Process. Along with Martin McGuinness he took part in protracted secret negotiations with representatives of the British government from 1990 until 1993. All of these meetings are documented in the Sinn Féin booklet "Setting the Record Straight".

http://sinnfein.ie/elections/candidate/48

__________________________________


Maybe the next time that bLiar or Peter Hain(the Northern Ireland
Secretary) meet the Sinn Fein delegation,they can pass along the
message from Jackie that the British Government 'would never
compromise with terror'.