Write your MPs and ask them to condemn the Hamas government spokesman who described the killer of the religious students in Jerusalem as a hero.

Come on, Clare, show a lead!

your articles aretoo long and lack a punch.....

perhaps u can write one for them if u know how to do it better...much more beneficial than being critical

To stop the killing, you need peace on both sides. If I hit a dog with a stick I will get bitten. Likewise, if someone attacks a sovereign nation they will get attacked. Hamas has to stop attacking Israel. Once Israel feels safe negotiations over a proper UN-backed Palestinian state can proceed. If Hamas will stop the rockets, there will be no fighting, no killing and peace talks. I can only assume Hamas does not want this outcome.

It is interesting that Oxfam does not suggest that the Gaza / Egypt border, which is self-evidently under the control of Egypt, should be used to transport the materials the Gazans require. Has Oxfam done some deal with the Egyptians not to mention this? Could that be related to the $1million counterfeit notes spent in Rafah recently by the Palestinians that has impoverished some Egyptian shopkeepers?

It also omits to mention that UNRWA shipments in the last months have been used to attempt to smuggle in explosives.

It is interesting that it asserts that Israel retains responsibility as occupying power. Interesting because responsibility is meaningless if not accompanied by authority. It would suggest that Oxfam and others believe that Israel has all the rights as occupying power to control space and the activities of the population as international law allows. This of course ignores the fact that Hamas the legitimate Palestinian government claimed that the Israeli withdrawl was a consequence of its military activities. Surely if the legitimate government has asserted that the occupier has been driven out then the occupation is at an end. Further Hamas as the legitimate government has a primary obligation to further the interests of the Palestinian nation and its people. If Hamas chooses to prosecute a war against Israel it is acting the name of the Palestinian people and they must bear the consequences of electing Hamas into power and the pursuit of this policy. It is entirely in the hands of Hamas to end the rocket attacks on Sderot and seek a negotiated solution with Israel. To achieve this Hamas will have to change its fundamental policies, but that remains a matter for Hamas and the Palestinian people.
We all need to recognise that the Palestinians for the want of any alternative elected a fascist party into power. A party which claims the mantle of Islam while promoting ideas which are diametrically in opposition the the values of Islam. The fact that only Hamas and Fatah stood for election is evidence of the political oppression that the Palestinian people have experienced at the hands of both these organisations.

The Oxfam document basically demands that despite having voted for existential and genocidal war that the Israelis allow the Palestinians to pass freely into Israel, to seek work in Israel, to source key industrial products in Israel and to have the Israelis provide health care. This absurdity illustrates the incoherence of thinking amongst key policy makers.