Need to remember larger issue at stake: Shashi Tharoor on Israel-Hamas conflict

Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor said that though the Hamas attacks on Israel should be condemned one needs to be aware that there is a larger issue at stake here and one needs to take note of the dehumanising occupation continuing at various places in PalestineWhile we understood the Prime Ministers standing up for Israel and showing solidarity at this time of great grief and this horror at the same time we felt that his statement was incomplete Tharoor said while speaking to ANI on WednesdayWe felt that at the same time we needed to remember that there was a larger issue at stake here and the reason behind all of this which is that there is a dehumanising occupation continuing at many places he addedCondemning the Hamas strike in Israel that has killed over 1200 in Israel Tharoor said The entire situation has been provoked by the surprise attack by Hamas during a national holiday in Israel It was done in the cruelest possible wayIt was a terror operation They killed innocent civilians children elderly people youths attending a music festival It was almost impossible to accept any justification of what Hamas did and I certainly join in on the condemnation of the terrorist act the Congress MP addedSpeaking about the poor living conditions of the people at Gaza Tharoor said The people at Gaza have felt imprisoned in that strip for a long time The people of West Bank have a wall which is interfering with their normal freedom of movement and conditions of lifeOn the settlement buildings that have been on the rise in Palestine he said It is a difficult situation for the Palestanians especially since settlement buildings construction of new homes for the Jewish settlers in the occupied territories has been continuing unabated all these yearsTharoor said that the peace treaty that the Palestine Liberation Organisation PLO agreed upon has failed given the poor living conditions of the PalestiniansTherefore the grand bargain under which the PLO gave up the way of the gun and chose the way of peace and dialogue and the world was heading towards a twostate solution that has essentially been completely stagnant For the last twoand a half decades there has been no progress on thatCondemning Netanyahus firm hand against the Palestinians Tharoors said Israel has had under Prime Minister Netanyahu a very tough government that has made no compromise towards the Palestinians but has also been continuining what the world considers illegal settlements in the occupied territoriesExplaining the reason why Congress has taken a slightly different stand on the IsraelHamas issue Tharoor said For us in the Congress party and traditionally for India our position is very clear We want both Israelis and the Palestaninans to live in peace and dignity behind secure borders and conditions where neither has to fear for their lives any timeOver 1200 Israelis have died and 2700 have been wounded in the conflict that broke out in Israel on SaturdayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever