"Reach Out To Israel, Arabs Urged"

I don't think everybody needs to be told as to what is going on in Palestine. Our mothers are being raped there this very second, and another one of our brothers just got shot in the head.

But I can't believe that Arab countries are being asked to reach out to Israel! Below is the article from the BBC

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called on Arab nations to reach out to Israel.

Ms Rice was speaking in Jerusalem after three days of meetings with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders.

She said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to meet every two weeks.

Ms Rice also said there was a "path of co-operation" with the new Palestinian unity government.
The secretary of state was speaking on the eve of the opening of an Arab League summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

'Complex' issues

Ms Rice urged Arab nations to take a more active role in regional peace efforts, although she said the presence of the militant Hamas faction in the Palestinian government made the issues "more complex".

"The Arab states must be reaching out to Israel... to show Israel that they accept its place in the Middle East," she said.

Ms Rice said there could be co-operation with the new Palestinian unity government but stressed again that Hamas must renounce violence.

Hamas has refused to adhere to three key international demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and honour previous peace agreements.

Ms Rice said Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas would meet regularly and that she would attend some of the meetings.

"They achieved something, which is the very regularised meetings between the two of them, in which they will not just talk about their day-to-day issues, but also about a political horizon," she said.

Ms Rice said it was "not inconceivable" for a peace deal to be reached before the end of US President George W Bush's tenure.

But she added: "We're not yet at the... [stage] of final status" negotiations.

I can't believe this - it's like they're saying "why don't you Arabs do more? - it's all your fault".

Yes the Arab nations should do more - they should help their Palestinian brothers and sisters by forcing the Western countries to see that they can't be paid up (as so many of the arabs have already) and that they want Israel to no longer exist - everyone can live in Palestine in peace. If it was possible in the past then surely it is possible now.

The part that really made my blood boil though was when Condoleeza Rice said:

"The Arab states must be reaching out to Israel... to show Israel that they accept its place in the Middle East," she said.

Israel is murdering innocent people day in and day out. The only crime of the Palestinians is that they are Palestinians.

But how do we stop this? How can we end the killing of the Palestinians?

The answer lies in our mental ressurection. We shouldn't stay oblivious to the butchering of the Palestinians. It's our foreign policy (along with America's ) which allows Israel to get away with murder.

Change the foreign policy, then you change the future of the Palestinans to something that they can look forward to.

Our mosques and our MPs have too long allowed injustice to prevail - now we have to hold them to account and show Allah that we are Muslims who do care and want to please Him.

If we politically activate then we can ensure that Palestinians get the justice that they deserve.