Religion Magazine

NEWSNIGHT: Oxfam's Ben Phillips and SodaStream CEO Talk West Bank Settlements and Scarlett Johansson (video)

By Gldmeier @gldmeier
Bam! They really rip into Oxfam and put him in his place..

I am not really sure what the boycott supporters and promoters want from Israel. What would make them happy? Israel should just pack up and leave? There are ongoing peace negotiations. they regularly pressure Israel to offer more and more, and Israel does. Israel has offered, on more than one occassion, almost everything the Palestinians have demanded, yet they have still refused to come to an agreement. At what point do the boycotters say that Israel is doing its part and let's let the process play out - and maybe even pressure the Palestinians to compromise a bit and accept an agreement?
Another thought, This guy from Oxfam is not so wrong. Even though he did not articulate it well, what he is really doing is looking at the forest instead of the trees. He doesn't care if 500 Palestinians lose their place of employment, because in his mind getting rid of the factory will bring the Palestinian Authority to rule, will give the Palestinians their own country, and overall it will be "good", even if for these specific 500 people, or 5000 if you include their families who have food on the table and clothes on their backs, or many more thousands if you count all the Palestinians who work for Israeli factories and companies throughout Judea and Samaria, it will be bad. I don't begrudge him that opinion, but he should really say it straight out - that he does not care for the individual Palestinians, but only for the greater good.
Another thought, I have found it interesting to see so many people post in support of SodaStream, defending them as promoters of peace and coexistence, and we need more initiatives like SodaStream that gives fair employment and wages and benefits to Palestinians, so Israelis and Palestinians can work side by side, it is this type of relationship that will found and allow the coexistence of Two States, etc... It is all true. The funny part of it though is how this indicates how much the consensus of the discussion has changed. Right-Wingers who would never talk about the possibility of a Palestinian State have been pointing to the SodaStream controversy and talking about it as the solution for the Palestinians..
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