From: jake@bony1.bony.com (Jake Livni)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: Death Squads in Occupied Territories
Date: 7 Apr 92 23:23:43 GMT
Organization: The Department of Redundancy Department

In article <1992Apr6.174315.25246@ncsu.edu> hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem) writes:
>
>The following is an editorial from the Arab News (March 29, 1992):

Brad/Ali is preparing us for what to expect...

>Faisal Husseini, one of the main advisers to the Palestinian delegation
>to the Middle East peace talks, claims that 18 Palestinians have been
>summarily executed in the occupied territories in the past three months
>by the police and by Shin Bet, the Israeli security organization. Six of
>them were executed in the last week.

So that makes it 12 in 3 months followed by six more in just one week.
There appears to be some kind of pattern here.

>Moreover, according to Husseini,
>these are not random killings.

According to the pattern alleged by Husseini, obviously not random at all.

>Such claims are not new. Nor is it difficult to believe them -- the

At least not for regular readers of "The Arab News"...

>The question is not so much "Do they exist in the occupied territories?" as
>"Why shouldn't they exist there?"

When considering the remarkable victories Israel has had in some wars with
Arab states, it is reasonable to assume that some extra-terrestrial forces
have supported them.  We shouldn't be asking "Are there captured flying 
saucers in Israel?" but "Why shouldn't they exist there?"

Is this kind of logic typical of "The Arab News"?
I'm more used to seeing this in MAD magazine.

>The problem with death squads is that it is extremely difficult to prove
>their existence. 

The wonderful thing about allegations of death squads is that it is 
extremely difficult to prove or disprove their existence. 

>But that does not mean that an attempt should not be made to find out
>what is going on. [...]
>
>The United Nations already believes that the Israelis used death squads
>against their opponents in Lebanon in the early 1980s. 

Are you going to deny that Palestineans fought a major civil war 
against themselves on Lebanese turf?  Are you going to attempt to 
blame the thousands of Palestinean casualties there on Israel?
Are you denying that Palestineans kill Palestineans in Lebanon,
Egypt, Jordan and Israel, wherever the local authorities do not
stop them?  Are you simply ignoring the ugly truth?

>They are the only
>competent body which can investigate these particular claims -- and
>should do so.  The Israelis, of course, are hardly likely to cooperate
>in any such investigation, but the mere threat of one may go some way in
>stopping the murderous activities of the squads.

Sending the UN in on a witch hunt won't help you solve your real problems,
for example the disregard for human life so common in Arab circles.
Not just outsiders, but even human life in your own tight-knit circles.
Israel is light-years ahead of you on this one; investigate away!

>That needs to be demonstrated in the court of world opinion.

As Juan Rodriquez-Sero points out, the court of "world opinion" 
is a fine venue for a propaganda war, but has little to do with
justice for those Arabs who have been killed, irrespective of 
who the actual killers are.

-- 
Jake Livni
jake@bony1.bony.com
My opinions only - employer has no opinions.
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast