-Livingstone: West makes terrorists
20 July 2005
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has blamed Western foreign policy in the
Middle East for creating the conditions for terrorist attacks such as the
July 7
bombs in the capital.
Mr Livingstone said that Western interventions to maintain control of oil
supplies in Arab countries, dating back to the First World War, had
produced the Islamist terrorism of extremists including Osama bin Laden's
al Qaida network.
He said that many young people in Britain were outraged by the double
standards in Western foreign policy, reflected in America's support for
Israel and detentions without trial in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in
Cuba.
The mayor said he condemned all suicide bombings, but indicated that he
understood why Palestinians may resort to the tactic in Israel.
He defended a photograph published in the Press, showing him with Omar
Bakri Mohammed and Anjem Choudary of the militant al-Muhajiroun group,
insisting that posing for a picture with them did not imply he agreed with
their opinions.
Asked what he blamed for the rise of Islamist radicalism and terrorism, Mr
Livingstone did not specifically mention Britain's involvement in the Iraq
War, which he opposed. But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think
we have just had 80 years of Western intervention in predominantly Arab
lands because of the Western need for oil.
"We have propped up unsavoury governments, we have overthrown ones that we
didn't consider sympathetic.
"And I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the
1980s the Americans recruited and trained Osama bin Laden, taught him how
to kill, to make bombs and sent him off to kill the Russians in
Afghanistan and they didn't give any thought to the fact that once he had
done that, he might turn on his creators."
He said that if British people had been forced to live in the conditions
suffered by the Palestinians in the occupied territories, they too might
have resorted to suicide attacks.
Mr Livingstone hailed Londoners' response to the July 7 attacks, saying:
"I think Londoners just weren't going to be divided. We aren't stupid.
Those bombs are there to create a backlash, to fuel inter-communal
violence, and that becomes a recruiting ground for terrorists."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/PA_NEWA6525041121845324A0?source=PA%20Feed
Israel’s embassy in London said comments made by London Mayor Ken
Livingstone critical of Israel are “miserable and unnecessary.”
Livingstone said in a press conference on Tuesday that he does not
distinguish between members of the Israeli ruling party Likud and the
terror organization Hamas, and called them “two sides of the same coin.”
The embassy said the remarks were “miserable and unnecessary, especially
coming from someone whose city was hit by terror attacks just over a week
ago.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said, “We regret that the London mayor did
not know to distinguish between murderous terrorists and those who are
trying to protect innocent civilians from them.”
Livingstone said he will welcome members of the Israeli government if they
come to London, but added, "I believe they have done terrible things
bordering on crimes against humanity.”
Livingstone said Israel has indiscriminately killed men, women, and
children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for dozens of years.
This was the first time Livingstone had spoken at a press conference since
the July 7 bombings that hit the London transport system, killing more
than 50 people.
Livingstone said the situation between Israelis and Palestinians is
unbalanced, and expressed understanding for the motivation of Palestinian
suicide bombers. “Palestinians don't have jet fighters, they only have
their bodies to use as weapons. In that unfair balance, that's what
people
use,” he said.
Livingstone has been criticized in the past for hosting controversial
Muslim cleric Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qara’dawi who has voiced support for
Palestinian suicide bombers and who has been outspoken against
homosexuals.
http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=10691
Livingstone: Likud is like Hamas
By HERB KEINON
London Mayor Ken Livingstone, whose city was devastated by Islamic suicide
bombings earlier in the month, lashed out at Israel Tuesday, comparing the
Likud to Hamas and accusing Israel of "crimes against humanity."
At a London press conference, Livingstone, who has a long record of
anti-Israeli diatribes, drew a connection between the London blasts and
the Middle East. He said Israel had "done horrendous things which border
on crimes against humanity in the way they have indiscriminately
slaughtered men, women and children in the West Bank and Gaza for
decades."
Livingstone expressed understanding for the motivations of Palestinian
suicide bombers, saying that since the "Palestinians don't have jet
fighters,
they only have their bodies to use as weapons. In that unfair balance,
that's what people use."
Livingstone, who in March wrote a piece in The Guardian saying that Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon was "a war criminal who should be in prison, not in
office," this time compared Sharon's party to Hamas.
"I think the Israeli hardliners around Likud and Hamas [members] are two
sides of the same coin; they need each other to drum up support, they
point to the excesses of the other to recruit and I don't make any
distinction because I believe the taking of human life is wrong. In
particular, when you think of the illegal invasion of Lebanon, the
illegal invasion of Egypt and Jordan in the Six Day War, all these
exercises of going into Palestinian refugee camps and indiscriminately
destroying homes simply because a bomber came from that area,"
Livingstone said. "I don't believe in an eye for an eye. I don't believe
in that punishment."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, in response to Livingstone's
comments, said, "It is a pity he made no differentiation between
murderous terrorists and between those trying to protect innocent
civilians against the terrorists."
Except for Regev's remark and a similar statement issued from the Israeli
Embassy in London, Israel adopted a pointedly low-profile approach to
Livingstone's comments, not wanting to give the mayor more importance
than officials in Jerusalem said he deserved.
"There is no need to start a debate with him," one official said.
"Everyone knows the man is an extremist, with problematic positions and
problematic attitudes toward Jews."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?
pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1121796127415
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