From: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: israel vs. the world
Date: 7 Jan 93 15:09:56 GMT
Reply-To: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Distribution: talk
Organization: North Carolina State University

In article <1993Jan7.141838.19960@cs.brown.edu>, dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny
Keren) writes:
> jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (Jeremy Henderson) writes:
> #dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren) writes:
> #~
> #~jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (Jeremy Henderson) writes:
> #~#dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren) writes:
> #~#
> #~## we still have you and Henderson to be our voice
> #~## of reason and compassion.
> #~#
> #~# It's certainly a sad day when people need to be 
> #~# reminded that shooting little girls is wrong.
> #~
> #~I think everybody knows that, and most people would agree the girl
> #~wasn't shot on purpose. I am also sure that before the British
> #~turned half of the German cities into burning infernos they took
> #~care that all the little boys and girls would be evacuated.
> #
> #Same old silly arguments. Do I have to repeat that just because I was born
> #in Britain I do not necessarily support, or bear any responsibility for, the
> #actions of people who happened to be born in the same islands several
decades
> #earlier?
> 
> Well, you and other Israel bashers seem to think that it is legitimate
> to blame a country for everything it has done during its history. So
> what's the problem?
> 
> #Or are you making some kind of racial generalisation here?
> 
> Racial? You must be really running thin on arguments.
> 
> #As for the little girl, I think that most people know that firing a
weapon in 
> #the direction of children is a criminally irresponsible act that in most
> #civilised countries would lead to a trial for manslaughter.
> 
> Some soldiers have been tried and arrested during the Intifada for
> using excessive force. But, again, you just don't know what most of them
> are facing. Drive a car with yellow plates into Gaza once and find
> out.
> 
> -Danny Keren.
> 
> PS - any chance of getting rid of the bloody "~'s"?
> 

I find that I must agree with Mr. Keren on this matter, to some extent.
It is not clear that the soldiers fired AT the girl or intended to hit
her. It is not clear that she was involved in any action that the
soldiers were responding to. Israel-bashers beware: what evidence do you
have that the soldiers killed the girl with intent or that they were
firing purposefully at her? Arab-bashers beware: what evidence do you
have that the girl was involved in any protest, violent action, or other
involvement in the incident?

It is not so much the individual soldiers who are to blame but rather
the occupation itself. The superiors who send soldiers into situations
where they are not needed and for which they are accomplishing nothing
but stirring up resentment and anger are the ones who are ultimately
responsible, in my opinion. It would seem that in most of the instances
where there are a great deal of Palestinian casualties, the soldiers
find themselves in a situation where they cannot think rationally.
Furthermore, because these soldiers are protecting no Palestinians (I
know that some will claim that they are protecting "collaborators" but
the cases of high casualties usually give no indication of this), these
soldiers ought not to be placed in these situations in the first place.

The Israeli government should end the occupation and should allow the
locals to police themselves. 

Brad Hernlem (hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast