WCC: Israel To Blame for Palestinian Plight

I couldn't agree more with blaming Israel for the stalemate in peace talks. It's practice of collective punishment, building settlements on land stolen from the Palestinian people, assasinating leaders with "collateral damage" of hundreds of innocent men, women and children is reprehensible behavior and to be condemned. The US political structure's support from both sides of the aisle makes them culpable for this disaster. Hamas' election is a statement about how inappropriate those policies have been. Their response? Put their head in the sand and cut off all aid until a hue and cry goes up about crumbling medical care. As Opinionated Voice puts it, “...the Palestine crisis is now more dramatic even than apartheid, but it is the victims who are punished."
On the other hand, Hamas' unwavering position simply creates no incentive for Israel or US to mend it's ways.
Jerusalem Post

Israel bears the burden of responsibility for the present crisis in the Middle East, the World Council of Churches has announced, following a meeting of its Executive Committee in Geneva from May 16-19. The Christian Left's leading ecumenical organization stated Israel's actions towards the Palestinians "cannot be justified morally, legally or even politically." The failure "to comply with international law" had "pushed the situation on the ground to a point of no return," they concluded.


The WCC condemned the killing of innocent civilians by "both sides" in the conflict and called for the Palestinians to "maintain the existing one-party cease-fire toward Israel" and asked Israel to base its security on "the equitable negotiation of final borders" with its neighbors. However, the present disparities between Israel and Palestine were "appalling," the WCC said. "One side is positioning itself to unilaterally establish final borders on territory that belongs to the other side; the other side is increasingly confined to the scattered enclaves that remain. On one side there is control of more and more land and water; on the other there are more and more families deprived of land and livelihoods.