:: The Bitch Girls ::

:: Sunday, November 03, 2002 ::

Procrastinating? I was doing reading for one of my classes tonight and I thought "Hey, why don't I check my e-mail, and see what's happening on the news groups?" I know I was procrastinating (as I still am), but I found a post on one of the newsgroups that really caught my attention. This story came out on the AP on Friday, and someone chose to post this article on the newsgroup. Since I am interested enough in this area of the world to make the study of it my major, I thought I'd go ahead and read through it. I have to say I have long agreed with the position Human Rights Watch seems to be taking on this issue, I've just never been able to articulate it very well.

"The people who carry out suicide bombings are not martyrs, they're war criminals, and so are the people who help to plan such attacks," Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based group, said in a statement. "They clearly fall under the category of crimes against humanity."

This is entirely my view on the issue of the suicide bombers. These men and women are not martyrs, they are terrorists. They are violating the human rights of these innocent civilians when they prepetrate their crimes of terror. These people are almost always retaliating for something prepetrated by the Israeli Defense forces. The situation is a very complicated one, mainly because the Palestinian people have no real leadership, and no military with which to answer military attacks. The report from Human Rights Watch points out the Arafat has not prosecuted those connected with the suicide bombings and he should be held in part responsible. This is very true. However, as it is the Palestinians have a very ineffective governing body. I really cannot see Arafat having the power to actually go after these people. The terrorist groups seem to have more popularity than Arafat's government does, especially after peace talks stall and fall apart time after time. What really needs to happen is for the Palestinian people to have a stable government that is actually able to keep the militant groups in check, and be willing to negotiate with the Israelis. But then I guess I'm living in a dream world because I know that will never happen. For the entire 170-page report go here. I plan on reading it once I have some free time. As it is I still need to finish reading a book so I can take a mid-term a little late (I had a migraine the day of and the night before the mid-term so cut me some slack). Interestingly enough the book I need to finish reading is Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, which shows how pathetic I am... even while procrastinating I am still doing things relevant to my studies. I really need to stop that.

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:: Anonymous 10:41 PM [+] ::
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