Mideast conflict: different perspectives
In the effort to provide balanced commentary on the Middle East crisis, the Swiss daily Le Temps is publishing four very different points of view starting today - coinciding with missile attacks from Gaza against Israel. We publish excerpts from the first two texts.
Palestine must recognise Israel
Palestine must put its hatred for Israel behind it, write Joël Herzog and Jean Auguste Neyroud of the organisation Suisse-Israel:
“The Palestinians take pleasure in waiting for an impossible future while living off the enormous sums the UN and donor countries have been forking out for the past 70 years. ... If hatred for Jews and Israel is the driving force behind the Palestinian movement, one wonders whether this movement is in a position to found a state. ... The Palestinians may choose their fate: separation from Israel? Certainly. An autonomous state? A federation with another Arab nation? They must start by recognising Israel without any ulterior motives and putting an end to their culture of hatred for Israel and the Jews.”
Israel must end colonisation
JCall Suisse (a branch of Jewish Call for Reason) publishes an appeal primarily addressed to Israel:
“We continue to believe that this bloody conflict can only be ended by a political agreement on a two-state solution. We call on the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority once and for all to commence true negotiations leading to a fair and enduring peace. We call for an end to the occupation of more and more Palestinian territories, so that Israelis and Palestinians may live side by side in peace and security. If the current government chooses to pursue a fatal strategy of escalation that sets everything ablaze, we must show it a way to end the occupation and return to the negotiating table.”