Friday, January 16/2009

Late night. Jewish MP Sir Gerald Kaufman is interviewed on BBC 5 radio. He´s so softspoken, so rational, so humane. So sympathetic and yet so totally opposed to Israeli policy that considers Palestinian lives as having no vallue, as they did Lebanese lives. Hamas is particularly unpleasant, but Kaufman blames both Israelis and Americans for having been unwilling to talk to Arafat and more moderate Palestinians until they were left dealing with Hamas. Sir Gerald´s perspective is interesting. He represents Manchester and points to the number of British killed by the IRA in Manchester and the fact that peace eventually came in Northern Ireland not via bombing or even British troops but by talk and negotiation. The other interesting aspect of his perspective is his family history. His grandmother was killed by German Nazis and he regrets what he considers the use of the holocaust to blackmail the world into accepting the unacceptable. So unacceptable that he believes that Israeli leaders should be tried for war crimes.