Happy New Year
Posted by Menzies Campbell, MP for North East Fife, at 15:11, Fri 9 January 2009:
Hello and Happy New Year.
Thank you very much for signing up to this website. This is my first post and I will endevour to be as regular as possible.
You can visit my website www.mingcampbell.org.uk to keep up to date with what I am doing or if you are on facebook feel free to add me as a friend.
I would like to talk a little bit about the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
This latest situation in Gaza and the West Bank is extremely alarming yet not entirely surprising. The aggression between the two sides has been raging for the past 60 years and there is no clear end in sight.
The lack of decisive action from Governments and International Organisations such as the UN has only acted to compound the issue and America’s uncritical attitude towards Israel’s actions has not helped.
Israel's overwhelming use of force which results in the tragic loss of civilian lives is acting to radicalise opinion among Palestinians and indeed throughout the Arab world.
Israel clearly has the right to defend itself from attack, but bombing alone has never resulted in the defeat of a terrorist organisation.
By no means should Hamas escape condemnation and blame, but the only way to resolve these matters is through diplomacy and negotiation.
Best wishes
Sir Menzies Campbell MP
Comments
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Posted by Mrs Meldrum, 15:48, Fri 9 January 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I agree with what you say that it should be combined international condemnation but it must be all countries not just Britian and the U.S. Our soldiers are fighting in and dying in countries that have nothing to do with this country. I sincerly hope the goverment will not even think about sending our army there in any way or form. As you state this war has gone on for 60 years I think its time to take all the leader out and lock them in some where until they can come to some agreement. If not this war and reprisals will go on for another 60 years But Britian should step back their are no winners in this war.
Posted by ELIZABETH MARY SLACK, 17:34, Fri 9 January 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Thank you for your wise and reasoned comments on the Israeli-Palestinian situation. As you say, the only way to resolve these matters is through diplomacy and negotiation. Neither side is innocent but the heavy-handed Israeli response to the Hamas attacks and the way in which the Israelis have treated the Palestinians, ignoring property rights and stopping them from moving around freely, have exacerbated the situation and are encouraging the other Arab nations to get involved and defend the Palestinians. I can only hope that Her Majesty's Government will do all it can to put pressure on both sides to negotiate, possibly via the United Nations or with the help of other concerned national leaders, and to use its influence to convince the United States of America that it cannot stand aside and refrain from criticism of both sides and must also use its undoubted influence to persuade both sides to come to the negotiating table and be prepared to bring this terrible tit for tat slaughter to an end. It is useless to attempt to eradicate Hamas by force, each time its members are killed and, with them, men, women and children who are pawns in the whole Terrorist set-up,it makes it more certain that rest of the Arab world wll be inexorably drawn into the conflict.
Posted by Menzies Campbell, 12:29, Wed 14 January 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Many thanks for responding to this post. You may be interested in my response (below) to the Foreign Secretary with regard to his statement to the House of Commons on Monday about Gaza.
Best wishes
Ming
Sir Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife) (LD): But is not the blunt truth that while we discuss this the Israeli Government persist in disproportionate military action, using F-15s, F-16s, Apache helicopters and tanks at a terrible cost to human life? If any other democratic state were behaving in that way, would we not by now be considering what other economic and diplomatic steps were available to us? Are the Government considering any such steps?
Posted by ELIZABETH MARY SLACK, 12:56, Wed 14 January 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Well done, keep pressing.