You have the Right to Remain Silent

Yesterday the new Palestinian Unity government held its first meeting. Some members were present physically, some by video conference and some not at all as they are still held captive in detention centers across Israel. The new government has ministers from the two rival factions of Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas' (Abu Mazen) Fatah. Brutal acts of agression between the two are slowly dying down and hopefully this will be a pre-cursor to the full cessation of violence between military members of both groups. The situation in Gaza has seen some bloody days with rival members shooting and killing each other for 'infringement' of the others turf. At least now, Prime Minister Haniya will be seen by some as not the leader of an underground rebel group, as the media has enjoyed portraying him as, and as a person commited to getting the rights and freedoms that the Palestinians deserve but have been denied.

Which brings me to a comment made by a US department spokesperson, and shared by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, after Haniya stated that he will continue to fight the occupation. The objection is to the new unity government's "reference to the right of resistance" and that it is "disturbing and contradicts the Quartet principles of renunciation of violence". Actually what is happening is that the Israeli government doesn't have a clear cut excuse this time, and the smoke screen machine is on the fritz. What they essentially mean, or what this translates into, is that they are equating the renunciation of violence to the act of resisting an illegal occupation. A renunciation of violence to the normal person refers to the act of indiscriminate killings, seizures and torture of people (the exact definition is yours to debate, I'm just trying to prove a point). The Israeli's would like it to mean that the act of resisting an occupation is illegal. Imagine that.

I'm relieved to see that the situation didn't spiral out of control as these 'matrix masters' tried to turn Palestine into another Iraq, to be left in turmoil while having it's oil syphoned off. Russia, France and Norway have all given green lights for recognizing the new government. Let's see if Canada reclaims its soul after cutting off funds to the Palestinians, although PM Harper has taken other actions that keep him from gaining anymore respect amongst local Canadians.