Call in the Israelis! That's my plea to peace guru Ricky Haass as his Christmas deadline beckons to unmask a solution to Ireland's latest stumbling blocks in the political process.
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Since Israel was founded in 1948, it has endured wars, terrorism, suicide bombers, rocket attacks and economic sanctions, but the wee Biblical nation is still standing – so it must be doing something right!That started when the shepherd boy David kicked the ass of the Philistine giant Goliath, and the Irish conflict has rumbled on for just as long.
Following a chat with leading Israeli diplomat Yiftah Curiel during recent his Northern tour, quite a few parallels between the crisis facing Israel and the peace crisis in Ireland were drawn, so Mr Haass, please take note.
While Yiftah believes there will eventually be a Palestinian state, the real problem for Israel is who will be in charge of that state given the rise of Islamic terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Throw in a few spacers from Iran and Syria, and you have a very potent cocktail for trouble in the Middle East.
Take the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority, once a bastion for the Fatah faction of the IRA arse-licking Palestinian Liberation Organisation.
But now the PLO has been deposed by the more militant Hamas, which wants Israel wiped off the face of the globe.
The lesson for Haass is simple – make sure you are talking to the right factions in Unionism and Republicanism.
What happens if Big Doc Ally's Stoops cannot overhaul the Shinners again?
What happens if dissident Republicans successfully copy the Provos' ballot paper in one hand and gun in the other?
What happens if the Union Jack protests at Belfast City Hall ignite again and the North is engulfed in another contentious Christmas?
Worse still, what happens if the mainstream leaderships of the Loyalist terror gangs cannot prevent the emergence of a violent dissident faction within militant Protestantism?
Yiftah also made the point that if the world recognises a Palestinian state without an agreement with Israel, then that recognition is meaningless and damaging, especially if Iran and Syria go on the rampage against the Israelis.
So is the bitter festive pill from guru Haass that Dublin and London have to bring dissident Republicans and Loyalists to the negotiating table?
Maybe there would be more discipline and trust in Irish society if the entire Emerald Isle followed the Israeli example and every Irish and British citizen served a couple of years in the armed forces.
And just as Iran is the nuclear elephant in the Middle Eastern room, contentious parades provoke similar disputes in Ireland.
The " Fleggers " are not really that much of a major threat, now anyway. The previous Saturdays terrible turnout shows that. Expecting 10,000 people and 40 bands. 2 bands turned up, one of which is a notorious UDA band formed by the murdered UDA leader John Grugg Gregg. Was their appearance at the parade a sign of support from South east antrim UDA? After all they were carrying the UFF flags.
ReplyDeleteAround 1,400 people turned up. A stark contrast to the supposed numbers who were expected. If you care you will be there. Looks like most do not care.
As usual the PUP were there to exploit the situation for votes and help get the more naive in society to believe their human rights are being denied.
Seems that MI5 / Special Branch are the handlers of the main loyalist groups so I would imagine a loyalist breakaway would never happen. Most seem to be driven by money anyway. A bunch of gangsters for the most part.
Israel is a terrorist state. I remember even as a teenager watching footage of the Israeli military firing live rounds at children. Backed up by the worlds elite and funded by imperialism such as America. Israel stole and illegally occupies the lands that they continue to invade and steal.
a chara,
ReplyDeleteIs yer man for real? Israel as a example for peace! The state of Israel was a zionist conspiracy engineered by lord Balfour, Rothschild, Churchill and others. After the horrors of the holocaust when Europe should have nursed the jews, they gave them their own state based on an invisible god out of a fairytale book at the expense of the indigenous arabs.
Since the creation of this state Palestinians have been murdered ,up to four million of them scattered to Jordan, Egypt , Syria, Lebannon et.. Living in squalid camps all the while jews from anywhere on the planet can call Palestine their home. Those who are left in Palestine live in fear their land constantly being eroded while the Gaza has been turned into the worlds largest open air prison. would you not fight back?
As for the mandatory enlistment in the army all this achieves is turning a full nation into a hate filled, militarised entity. People such as Norman Finkelstein have explained this better than i ever could. Israel is like a dystopian nightmare a programmed people constantly at war with no option on negotiation of course you say this and your labeled an anti semite but i do not care what people label me.
Yer man must be at the piss take holding Israel up as a model nation.
I was reading through Gerard Hodgkins brilliant 2013 Brendan Hughes Memorial lecture(on TPQ 4/5/2013) recently, he pointed out two things in relation to Israel. Firstly he quoted Ronald Storrs the 1st Govenor of Jerusalem under British rule in the 1920s who explained British policy by saying it was about"forming for England a little loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism"
ReplyDeleteThe other point of interest was that the Palestine police militia formed to brutally enforce this view had a large number of ex Black and Tans and Auxies who had served in Ireland.
PS: Peter Robinson is a passionate supporter of Israel