Palestine

I would like to quote a couple of remarks Jonathan Freedland makes in his article 'Israel must reach out' in the Guardian Weekly of June 2-8, 2006: 'The moral objections to ... and the whole international policy of denying aid to the Palestinians are obvious: it punishes Palestinians for their democratic choice of Hamas in free and fair elections; and it's hard to explain a world where sanctions are imposed not on the occupier but the occupied'. I would add that the requirement of the US and EU as spelled out by Israel, that negotiations cannot take place before Israel is recognized and the military actions stop are such that no country occupied during 40 years can accept. Why? Firstly because in international conflicts, negotiations during hostilities are common (a.o. Northern Ireland, Africa), secondly, the requirement of recognition of the State of Israel is not required of Iran, and thirdly the fact that Arafat and Abbas did recognize the State of Israel has not helped Palestinians in any way. Israel goes on provocating retaliations.