I caught the tale end of an interesting program on UK TV Channel 5 this week week which I am sure will raise the Middle East debate level even further.
The TV series follows of a number of people who air their very personal opinions and views on various subjects which have included Michael Buerk railing against femocracy, Rosie Boycott criticising our addiction to public displays of grief, Cristina Odone bemoaning the collapse of religious belief, Jenny Murray of BBC Womens Hour fame on Voluntary Euthanasia and the program that I watched ‘The Real Friends of Terror’ presented by Professor Ted Honderich.
In ‘The Real Friends of Terror’, Professor Honderich asks “Can suicide bombers ever be justified? Taking what he says is the betrayal of the Palestinian people as his starting point, Professor Honderich pondered the thought that a number of people share the moral responsibility for recent acts of terrorism, pointing his finger at politicians (sometimes in very blunt terms) for their failure over the years to fix what he sees as the fundamental problem of the Palestinian issue.
Using interviews with a number of well know commentators including, Rt. Hon. Tony Benn, M.P., Mr Reg Kees, father of Tom, British soldier killed in Iraq, Baroness Helena Kennedy, barrister and human rights advocate and Dr. Ghada Karmi, academic and consultant to the Palestinian Authority to name a few (the full list and a complete transcript of the program can be found here) he (Professor Honderich) lambastes both Blair and Bush for not having the moral responsibility to tackle the core issue of the Palestinian problem and that these issues are part of the reason that 9/11 and 7/7 amongst other incidents, occurred!
One example for me that I cannot understand, is why when the ‘West’ pressurises the Palestinians to hold new elections and when according to all of the observers present, were carried out very fairly, refuse to accept the democracy of the vote because they (the West) do not like the government that was voted in and then refuses to provide any further aid. What are the Palestinians to do next when they seem to have followed all the guidelines ‘dictated‘ to them and still they are not allowed to have a voice or assistance in determining their own destiny.
I will be interested to see how a feedback program due to be broadcast on Channel Five on 26th September and presented by David Aaronovitch, journalist and columnist for The Times and The Jewish Chronicle deals with the content of (The Real Friends of Terror), which for me introduced many new issues and angles to think about with regards to the current War on Terror and how it would seem not to be solving one of, if not the very fundamental issues that contributed to it.
Other related links: Ready Steady Book, The Dossier.UKonline.co.uk
Tags: Palestinian Authority, War on Terror
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