[GushShalomPress] Only end to occupation will dry up suicide bombings

[Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)]

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/
                         
Press release 
[translation from Hebrew version sent to Israeli press]                   

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Nineteen new victims fell on the altar of the occupation
Only the end of the occupation will dry up suicide bombings
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”Yet another nineteen innocent victims have today fallen on the vain altar of 
the ongoing occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip” says Gush 
Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc. “The occupation regime, which has lasted 
thirty-five years – nearly two thirds of Israel’ total history – is the hothouse of 
despair and   hatred, from which suicide bombers originate. The ongoing 
denial of basic rights to a population of three and a half million drives some of 
the occupied population to a despicable means of responding -  the random 
killing of Israeli civilians - which deserves all condemnation and which plays 
directly into the hands of  Sharon and the extreme right. Despicable as they 
are, there can be no military means of ending the suicide bombings, no way 
forward by main force: neither bombings from the air nor incursions and 
invasions on the ground. “Operation Defensive Shield” in April failed to put an 
end to the suicide bombings, and the same will prove true of the even more 
extensive and brutal operations envisioned in the IDF contingency plans and 
fervently advocated by the settlers and the extreme right. The “Separation 
Fence”, recently proposed as a cure-all by some circles, will prove no real  
solution. The retaliatory and punitive raids by the army, of which some more 
are expected tonight, do manage to intercept some potential  suicide 
bombers – but the very same raids and incursions, by demonstrating the 
brutality of the occupation, also increase on the Palestinian side the 
motivation for   reribution and help the recruitment of new suicide bombers.  
Only an end to the occupation by political means, allowing a fair expression 
of the basic Palestinian aspirations, can dry up the suicide bombing 
phenomenon at its source and provide new hope to the desperate young 
Palestinians from whose ranks the bombers are recruited.

For further details: 
Adam Keller, Gush Shalom spokesperson, 03-5565804 or 056-709603