Lorde’s dilemma and perspectives on Mideast
It is disappointing to see Lorde has cancelled her Tel Aviv concert, although understandable given the pressure. Surely a better and more ‘‘Kiwi’’ way to entertain her fans and try to bring a bit of peace and reconciliation to a very troubled part of the world would be to do her concert in Tel Aviv and then one in Bethlehem or Ramallah for the Palestinians with music invoking love rather than hatred.
‘‘Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred let me bring your love’’ are famous words from of old that spring to mind. Maybe Manger Square in Bethlehem would be a great venue? As a 16-time visitor to both Israel and the West Bank I believe it would be very well received by both sides. Stephen Greenfield Auckland Central
Pure alternative facts?
I entirely support GM Waring’s suggestion for Lorde to travel to Israel and Palestine on a private visit to have unrestricted access to Gaza and the West Bank and its political leaders (Letters, Dec 30).
I suggest Lorde also has unrestricted acces to fearful family members of countless victims ‘‘murdered’’ by Hamas, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority for having a different opinion, or simply for being different and infighting between the Palestinians. Also helpful for making that informed decision will be a meeting with Hamas real leadership, but Lorde will have to go further afield to meet Mashaal, Hanyeh, Sinwar in Teheran, Istanbul or Qatar where these modern-day Neros enjoy their amassed fortunes while keeping Gaza and the West Bank burning and making people like GM. Waring feel good about themselves.
Will GM Waring dismiss all this as pure alternative facts too? Frans Fleischeuer Cheviot
US acting like a rogue state
A few days ago the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted with 128 against, 9 for and 35 abstentions against Trump’s illegal and unilateral action to proclaim Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The world – including our New Zealand Government – clearly gave him and Nikki Haley the finger. America now sounds like a pathetic, deluded narcissist, exposed by its own blatant contempt for the principles it falsely espouses to uphold. The US is no longer a world leader and is behaving more like a rogue state whose delusional greatness is belied by its sordid acts of bribery, bullying and intimidation. Wherever one looks the US is digging its own grave. Tom Van Meurs Rolleston
Abandon two-state solution
It is way passed time that the Palestinians recognised that they have lost the war to Israel and attempt to negotiate a deal with the victors, as Egypt did many years ago. They are presently governed in Gaza by an Islamic terrorist group and in the West Bank is a corrupt police state. Neither option is likely to be part of the sort of prosperous future enjoyed by their Israeli neighbours. The Sunni Arab countries recognise that Iran is their great threat and that Israel can be part of the defence against it and are moving that direction. The Palestinians are a problem for this new reality. They should abandon the two-state solution and negotiate a Greater Israel governed by the Israeli parliament.
The policy advocated by the New Zealand Government has failed and needs to reflect the reality on the ground. Jim C Glass St Albans
Betrayal of Palestinians
The Palestinians will be betrayed again. The first betrayal – Sykes, Picot, Churchill et al promised two ethnic groups the same land. Second – in 1949 the Palestinians locked up in refugee camps by their Muslim brothers. Still locked up after several generations. Third – Jordan and Egypt not giving the Palestinians their own state between 1949 and 1967. The fourth – telling the Palestinians Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, will be their capital when it is already Israel’s. The fifth, and probably greatest, betrayal – the Palestinian leaders continue to milk their people dry and enrich themselves. The next betrayal – their erstwhile paymasters, Saudi Arabia and co, dumping them and cosying up to Israel.
The Kurds are about to be betrayed again. Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran continue to persecute them. They have a much stronger case for statehood than the Palestinians, since they have their own language and culture, unlike the former. The people of West Papua are betrayed again. Instead of granting them independence after WWII, they were handed to the Indonesians. Approximately half a million murders and a huge ethnic cleansing operation later, they continue to be betrayed. Who cares?
My points are: What makes the Palestinians so special that their betrayals deserves all this attention. If the 1967 borders were unacceptable then, what makes them acceptable now? The 57 members of the IOC, who control the UN, find it convenient to blame their inadequacies on the Jews. Silly people in the West go along with this nonsense. The Palestinians are pawns – betrayed, not so much by Israel but by the Muslim states and their own inadequate, greedy leaders. They are about to be betrayed again. Paul Grainger Merivale