UN chief urges PA government to meet expectations of international community

"Israel is our of territories: Sinai and Gaza Strip. This meets resolution 242. Any additional withdrawal will take place at Israel`s choosing, but not because it has not already met this resolution." Sooooo, the invader gets to choose how much of the land that has been seized it is willing to give back. It is the invader's perogative, and no-one else's???? How, Avi, can you POSSIBLY square that with "Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war"???? The only way to reconcile those two is to suggest that the missing "the" was deliberately done to allow wriggle-room for mutually-negotiated border adjustments, NOT for unilateral annexation of land by Israel. Any other reading of 242 has to be done in bad faith, coz it requires ignoring that preamble. Of course, Lord Caradon has said he had mutual land-swaps and border adjustments in mind when he drafted that Resolution. But, hey, what did he know; he only wrote the damn thing.

If you have a problem with the type of arms the Palestinians have then perhaps we should get them better arms, one,s that meet your acceptance. I am sure they would still be labelled "Terrorists" in any event. Targeting Civilians? would that come under the Israeli version "Collateral Damage". Try not to be too disengenuous. It is very tranparent. Israel is an Apartheid and Rogue State and in contravention of more UN resolutions than any other.That is quite a record you have aquired but it is deserved. #Have a nice day.

Israel has continued to demonstrate it,s ongoing unwillingness to Make peace. Peace and expanding settlements dont make good bedfellows. However it is cathing up on them,(Government of Israel)and the goose is nearly cooked. Better make peace soon or it will be "One State Solution Time" and we all know what the result of that will be.I am not sure if many of the posters on here do.They keep supporting it. Have a nice day.

Avi your statement re 242 is incorrect. Visit www.icj-cij.org look up ICJ Summary 2004/2 page eight. States quite clearly that the Territories are under "Belligerent Occupation". Now perhaps you can demonstrate which Territories they left. On the issue of Israel,s right to exist. I need some help again so if you can demonstrate which Israel you are referring.Would it be 1948/1973/1967/2007/2067????.

SAR, WHER DO YOU GET THIS NONSENSE FROM ?? THE DRAFTERS OF 242 SAID ISRAEL WAS NOT EXPECTED TO WITHDRAW FROM ANYWHERE EXCEPT TO DEFENDABLE BORDERS !! 40 YEARS HAVE PASSED AND NO ONE HAS MOVED TO FORCE ISRAEL TO WITHDRAW FROM ITS TERRITORIES ! FURTHER THE GENEVA CONVENTION DOES NOT APPLY ANYWHERE IN ISRAEL WHOSE BORDERS ARE WITH JORDAN !!

Umm Jordan and Egypt reached agreements thus why we still own Jerusalem. Syria has not followed resolution so well no Golan back. The refugee problem? For achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem; They never had a state so well there still a problem and terrorists now. So the use of Un res 242 is useless to you Palistinians as you never had a state or a country. Education before inserting foot in mouth. Lavy.

I don't see how the Palestinians could not see this by now. The main reasons I heard cited for Hamas's victory were corruption from and failure to acheive results by Fatah. But their intransigent political platform is a disaster for the Palestinians hopes of acheiving an actually realistic goal of an independent country free from occupation. People may argue Israel is the party blocking peace. This argument would fail to see how much Hamas helps them. If Fatah acheived almost nothing, Hamas is even worse. If they stubbornly refuse to budge, they keep the Status Quo. If they return to violent resistance, Gaza will be reinvaded. The best opportunity the Palestinians had was when they recognized Israel's right to exist and cracked down on terror in the 90s. This enabled a Labor Prime Minister to get elected in Israel and got them to Final Status talks. The talks failed but the differences are bridgeable with international help. Instead, Netanyahu is popular again

You are crazy! So you are saying that the french or jewish resistance in ww2 should have worn uniforms distinquishing them to the nazis? Human shields? The IDF has consistently used Pals youth as human shields...is that terror? It has dropped 1000 pound bombs in heavily populated areas, a war crime, sound like terror?

I understand that he has a slanted view of the problem but he really should adjust his slanted perspective. :) heee heee

community. The international community has cosistently decried Israel's collective punishment techniques, its settlement activity, which are a vilation of international law (created by the international community) and it persistent occupation...ahhh but it is the Pals who need to do something...the weaker party...pathetic..I thought we made the UN irrelevant just a few years ago? Or is it just irrelevant for western powers?

like his predecessor, Kofi (My Monkey in Hebrew) Annan (Cloud in Hebrew). He actually works for a living.

A government in the Middle East has announced that it is considering a plan to deport thousands of Palestinians from their homes, forcibly uprooting them and compelling them to leave. It won't be the first time this government has threatened such a move - in fact, back in 1995, it carried out those threats, and sent numerous Palestinians packing. You won't be reading much about this in the mainstream press, nor will you hear nary a peep of protest from much of the left and its sympathizers over the cruelty and brutality of such a move. That's because the government in question - believe it or not - is Libya, which views this as a form of protest against the policies of the new Palestinian Authority (PA) government. On this see, inter alia, http://allafrica.com/stories/200703150740.html So where are the protests?

Seeing your previous comments to some other caller I am not sure if I should bother to try and explain this to you.But let me try. The Occupation is illegal and immoral.Suicide bombing was a response to that.It started specifically in Palestine after a fanatic Israeli killed 24 Palestinians coming out of a mosque and wounded several others. It was a response along with the intifada to Israel's unjust Occupation for more than half a century. As for the martyrs being fools,as you said, it is hard for someone like you to understand it.As I said earlier on to some other caller, you are used to seeing armed vehicles and soldiers standing behind their guns and shooting at defenceless people and then going home and sleeping well.I call them COWARDS,not heroes. And in regard to the futility of their actions,as a character in Shakespeare said:There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of your philosophy.

Israel never recognised any borders,and thus violated Resolution 242 even in that regard.To this day its violation continues. The Occupation is illegal. The right to resistance is enshrined in the Geneva Constitution.A defenceless people like the Palestinians used whatever they had. In your book wearing a uniform and standing behind armoured trucks firing at whatever target you see and dropping cluster bombs from the sky is WAR and therefore okay. You call whatever damage is caused to civilian life and property COLLATERAL DAMAGE. I call it TERROR.

during the latest conflict, that is the Six-Day War of 1967. Those territories included Sinai and the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Hights. Israel is our of territories: Sinai and Gaza Strip. This meets resolution 242. Any additional withdrawal will take place at Israel's choosing, but not because it has not already met this resolution. And Israel will choose, not before the other party decised to re-start the peace process with meeting the three demands placed before it by the entire international community.

If the suicide bombers are protecting people from the actions of the "Occupation", then why does the "occupation" only act in response to the bombers? And if the bombers ever did any good, then why are they still needed? They died futile, useless deaths. They're not martyrs. They're fools.

puppet. It is as simple as that.

The Geneva convention allows for resistance to an occupation, yes, but the resistance must adhere to the laws of war, which include wearing the uniform of an army, not using human shields, not riding in ambulances with weapons, and not targeting civilians. So it's not legal resistance the Pals are up to. It's terrorism. If the people around Israel weren't bloodthirsty for it's destruction, Israel wouldn't have to be so heavily armed. Educate yourself.

"Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force;" Sound familiar? It should. It's written right there in your beloved 242. Has it happened? No. It's not a resolution just targeted at Israel. It's also targeted at Arab Nations. That's why it hasn't been followed.

Refreshing to see a moral compass from the UN

Ban is focusing on internal reforms in the UN. In order to get his way there he is very careful in following the US line externaly. He is planning to farm out the mediator role so that he does not have to be at ods with some of the member countries. I think Jan Egeland is taking over that role. Until that arangement comes in to place, nobody realy takes note of what he says and does. Right now he is as important as the director of the WHO, except that more people know his name.

daniel,understanding 'matryrdom' is a difficult thing because we are so used to seeing people sitting in huge armoured trucks and killing people and dropping cluster bombs from a distance and then going back to their homes and sleeping well.Does that remind you of Hitler? Israel is the aggressor here with its military hardware.The Palestinians see the suicide bombers, as 'martyrs' because they defend them against a brutal military Occupation.

Sorry Avi,Resolution 242 calls for Israel to withdraw from Gaza,West Bank,East Jerusalem,Golan Heights. The Unity Government and indeed Palestine has not been recognised by Israel.This one sided imposition on the Unity Government is not fair. They have recognised Israel's existence, but the'right' of Israel's existence requires Israel's withdrawal.When that happens we are talking. As for terror, hundreds of thousands of people,including the elderly,women and children have been killed directly by the U.S. intervention in Iraq.You call that Collateral Damage.I call it Terror. And, the greatest Terror of all is the illegal Occupation of Palestine. And yes, the Geneva Convention allows for resistance to an Occupation just as the French Resistance did to the Nazi Occupation.Israel is the most heavily armed state in the region.Asking the Unity Government to give up their arms is not even accepted in international law where a country has the right to defend itself.Peace,with Justice.

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exist. Hamas has recognized the fact that Israel exists, but not its right to do so. Also, 242 did not call for Israel leaving "all the territories" it took over in a defensive war in 1967, it only called for the vacating of "territories", and that it has done. The PA "recognizes" the existence of signed agreements, but the new government has not agreed to adhere to such agreements and implement them, which of course it has not. The PA has not renouced violence and terror. Indeed, it has called its people to "resist", i.e. use terror, as it is their right to "free occupied Palestine", i.e. including the State of Israel. Whitewashing a very dirty laundry which is the PA will not do. Meeting the demand of the international community will be a step forward.

Prime Minister Haniyeh must take a decision now. Yes o no this is the question Mahmud Abbas is not an holly man but he understand that the peace will be a good step for everyone. Prime Minister Haniyeh is the one that "in the name of god" want martyrdom I cannot image how can a person wish his children became martyr. Those figures are even worst than Hitler.

At the Mecca Summit in February both Fatah and Hamas(now the Unity Government ) agreed to all 3 conditions: 1.recognise Israel as an existing entity.Since Israel had Occupied historic Palestine and violated U.N.Resolution 242 which calls for withdrawal,it is selective of Ban Ki Moon to target only the Palestinian PM. 2. The Palestinians have agreed to respect all previous agreements.These will constitute the basis of discussions in the upcoming Riyadh Summit on March 28.Ban Ki Moon is sending out the wrong message to the Unity Government.It is encouraging to see that France,Belgium,Italy,Spain and Norway and soon other EU countries have not followed Mr.Moon's example. 3.Renouncing violence.The Geneva Convention allows for resistance to the Occupying power,just as the French Resistance did to the Nazis. As soon as Israel recognises Palestine and withdraws as per international law and U.N. Resolutions,the Palestinians will remove the word 'resistance' from their vocabulary.

I just knew I was going to like this guy. He recognizes Hamas for what they are. He said, when voted in, he was going to take an active role in the ME.

"UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said on Saturday he had no plans to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh during his Middle East tour." Perhaps the UN is terrified Israel will boycott it too if it talks to the PM of the Unity Government.

that of the EU, will learn a leason from this to diplomat! The EU, together with Russia and the US, demanded of the PA government to adhere to three points which are at the core of all proper international relations: To abide by signed agreements, to recognize the right of a member state of the UN to exist, and to end terror. The PA government, as of today, has refused to accept these three matters in order to advance toward the next step in the peace process. If this is the response of the PA, why should any diplomat collaborate or even just meet any member of this terrorist government, why??!!

Ban Ki Moon is discriminating against the Unity Government.Last year Hamas was elected in a free and fair election,observed by many international observers and declared to be so.And then the E.U.,U.S. and Israel slapped a blockade on them,because they wanted Fatah. This itself was an immoral and illegal act.Now that Hamas and Fatah have joined to form the Unity Government,there is no reason for Ban Ki Moon to refuse to meet the democratically formed Prime Minister. At the Mecca Summit held recently, the Palestinians agreed to the Quartet's conditions,tentatively recognising Israel as an existing entity,until the Occupation ends, respecting previous agreements(until they are negotiated to a final status agreement with Israel and reseving the right of armed resistance should Israel give provocation.Israel is an armed Occupying power. It was not so long ago that Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress were labelled 'terrorist'.Today,South Africa is a model state.