Outrage at Palestinian executions

[Colorado Blue]

Human rights bodies have urged Palestinian authorities to outlaw the death penalty after it executed four convicts in Gaza on Sunday.
A European rights watchdog said the penalty was unjust, echoing concerns voiced by Palestinian activists.

But Palestinian officials say the death penalty is needed to curb lawlessness.

The executions were the first since new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged to end a three-year moratorium on the death penalty in February.

Four men who had confessed to murders in a Gaza court were killed on Sunday - three by hanging, one by firing squad.

snip

Rene van der Linden, head of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly, said: "The death penalty will not help to curb violence."

"Death is not justice and will never be", he said.

Raji al-Surani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights also attacked the policy of executions.

"Executions cannot solve our security and social problems," he said.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4088788.stm

[drdon326]

1. Outrage ? You want to see outrage ?

you should see the OUTRAGE here at i/p.....oh....never mind.

[drdon326]

2. BTW...Presidency of the European Union really was upset....

he came right out and said forcefully that he was

"dismayed".:eyes:

[dr.zoidberg]

3. Shocking...or not.

Is anyone really surprised that this is going on? Both sides have been trying to wipe each other out for awhile and God only knows when it is going to end. Wait, I know how it's going to end. It'll end when one side wipes the other one out.

[Colorado Blue]

4. I truly hope you're wrong. There is no rational basis for this

ongoing horror. There is room enough for everybody in this huge region known as the "middle east". There are so many challenges, so much creative work to be done. People need water, they need modern agriculture, better educational systems. Women and children need full rights, religious and ethnic minorities need full rights and people need to be able to vote, to speak out without fear of reprisal, and to grow intellectually.

And, there is so much richness in diversity, it's a tragedy for anybody to try and stamp it out.

Yet, we are seeing ongoing sectarian violence all over the place - now, a bunch of people were killed in Iran, just as they prepare for elections. Some are blaming the Sunni supporters of Saddam although there is no proof as far as I know. This would be a disaster because things have been relatively quiet between Persian and Arab since the LAST horrible war, which killed maybe 1,000,000 people.

It is infuriating and discouraging.

The same applies to the planet as a whole. We are wasting our damn time trying to kill each other off when the planet is in deep shit. We need to get a grip on our environment, invent new means of maintaining our hi-tech society (or go back to the horse and camel, which I don't think is possible with our burgeoning populations.) We need to find ways to integrate and encourage individuals into our political systems, in order that both should flourish.

In other words, we are facing terrestrial challenges and we need to work TOGETHER.

Sometimes I think people are a) nuts b) too stupid to survive or c) both.

[dr.zoidberg]

5. I truely hope that I am wrong

I agree with waht you have said. You're also right in saying that the Middle East is big enough for everyone. At the same time, I get discouraged when you see the thing that Israel did to the Palestinean settlements and what the some of the Arabs have said about driving Israel to the sea. It makes one wonder if they could ever get along.

I'll be honest with you, I don't think humans will ever stop killing each other. Mainly because humans are pests and because it's fun :). Care to guess who I got that from?

[Colorado Blue]

6. Humans are pests?:)

My old man would tend to agree with you.

Where DID you get that from?

[dr.zoidberg]

7. George Carlin. n/t

[Colorado Blue]

8. Oh - I should have known.

He's the best:)