This is beyond ignorance-this is ...

Palestine issue 'battle cry' for extremism, says British peer

Jonny Paul, THE JERUSALEM POST
Aug. 16, 2007

In a recent speech made in the British House of Lords, controversial Liberal Democrat Party peer Jenny Tonge claimed that the issue of Palestine was the battle cry of Islamists across the world. Now read what this agenda driven anti-Israel bigot spews:
"Ever since 1948, Palestine has been used as a battle cry and a propaganda weapon for Islamists worldwide," she told the Lords. "I have witnessed this in some African countries and, more recently, in Bangladesh. Palestine is what the West does to Muslims. That is the message. The Palestinians have been brought to their knees. A cultured and well educated society with high skill levels has been reduced to a third-world country. The statistics are there for all to see."

The peer also made the allegation that the IDF disrupted school exams in Nablus with a generation of illiterate and unskilled Palestinians emerging as a result.
"Even education is being destroyed as children are terrorised by raids on their schools. Exams in Nablus, for example, were disrupted only last week by the IDF. An unskilled and illiterate generation will emerge, capable of very little except low-wage labour. The economy cannot be rebuilt unless Israel changes its policies."
Dr. Jonathan Spyer, research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzlia, told The Jerusalem Post: "The argument that Israel is responsible for the rise of global jihadi terror is often-made by European opponents of Israel, such as Jenny Tonge.

"The attempt to hold Israel responsible for global jihadi terror betrays an appalling ignorance of Islamist movements. Radical Islam is a political idea, some of whose proponents use the method of terrorism. This idea sees world events as shaped by a struggle between the forces of authentic Islam, and those of the non-believers. It uses a long list of supposed Muslim grievances as a way to mobilise support. These of course vary according to the geographic situation of the particular Islamist group. Bin-Laden's group, for example, came into being in order to overthrow the government of Saudi Arabia as were incensed at the presence of 'infidel' US forces in the kingdom in the 1990s. Al-Qeda hardly mentioned the Palestinian issue prior to 2001. Other violent Islamist groups, such as the GIA in Algeria, similarly combine local ambitions with radical ideology.

"The idea that this trans-national idea - which feeds off many local issues - is somehow 'traceable' to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and would be settled by the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel - an outcome which the Islamists in any case reject - is an absurd one. It's used by people like Tonge in order to hold Israel to blame for radical Islam's war in the West, and thus simultaneously provide a sort of rationalisation for Islamist terror, and encourage the demonisation of Israel, who are 'to blame for why they hate us'."

Baroness Tonge was sacked as a Member of Parliament and as the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman in 2004 after expressing support for Palestinian suicide bombers. Last November, she stepped down as a trustee of the charity Christian Aid, suspected to be related to comments she made about the "financial grips of the pro-Israel lobby" at the Liberal Democrat Party conference last September.

Speaking to the Post, Daniel Seaman, director of the Government Press Office said that at a recent meeting in Jericho, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Prime Minister Olmert that the PA could not control Hamas.
"Any disruption is down to the extremists of Hamas who are operating in the area. Israel is operating in the area to protect its citizens. If exams are being disrupted this is unfortunate. However exams can be retaken, lives cannot be brought back," he said.

Tonge also questioned how things could get better. "The new government talks of rebuilding the economy in Palestine and of getting the Palestinians back to work, which is very welcome but how will they do that with road blocks, checkpoints and Bantustans divided by settler-only roads? How can an economy work in this situation?" she asked.

She then goes on to call Israel a racist and apartheid state and recommends sanctions and boycotts to bring about change.

"…How do we persuade Israel to change? We want Israel to be a secure and prosperous state, and I say that sincerely. How can anyone in Israel believe that the present situation will give them what they want, long-term security. I am not anti-Semitic, but I am appalled by the racist, apartheid state of Israel. I use the word 'apartheid' in its literal sense, it means separation, because that is what is going on.

"Policies of the western countries towards Israel must change. Israel must be made to understand. We must consider trade sanctions and boycotts, if necessary, to make that country obey international law. The present situation is a disaster for Palestinians. It is a disaster for Israel. It is a disaster for the whole world. It has to change."
Tonge was challenged on her use of language by Labour peer Lord Parry Andrew Mitchell, who said: "…The bit of her speech to which I take particular exception is her comment that Israel is an apartheid state. Perhaps we have all forgotten what an apartheid state was like. But, let me say just this about Israel: it has an Arab Minister in the Government and in the Cabinet. There is no ban on races mixing with each other. If you go to any hospital in Israel, you will see Arabs, Israelis and Druze whether they are being treated or whether they are doctors and nurses. In particular, the Weizmann Institute, of which I am the UK chairman, has Arabs and Arab professors who mix closely.

Apartheid is a very dangerous word; it has all sorts of meanings and it is absolutely untrue to say that of Israel.

Tonge responded saying: "My Lords, I explained that I used the word in the literal sense, meaning separation."

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