O’Malley: Both Sides Share Responsibility for Violence in Israel.
'Israel and the Palestinian Authority must take steps to end the recent surge in violence across Israel and address the underlying cause of it, Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley told a group of Arab Americans in Michigan on Friday.
During a speech to the Arab American Institute’s national leadership conference in Dearborn, Michigan, O’Malley addressed the recent flare-up of violence in Israel and the West Bank, comparing the victims of both sides without issuing a strong condemnation of the Palestinian violent and terror activities.
“Like everyone here, I have been deeply concerned about the recent developments in Jerusalem and cities across Israel and the West Bank,” the former Maryland Governor said. “We’ve lost 50 Palestinians in recent violence, many of them teenagers – their entire lives before them. We’ve lost 8 Israelis, including an American couple shot in front of their young children. Some people in this room have family members who’ve been affected, no doubt, some of them for generations… all of them are brothers and sisters, and all of them leave behind bereaved families with holes in their hearts.”
“This senseless violence produces nothing but tragedy and more distrust, and it does not move the people and the parties closer to a peaceful and long-lasting resolution,” said O’Malley. “Both sides have to take steps to end this violence and address the underlying cause of it. Both sides have to make the resumption of discussion, talk and dialogue to include a fair, safe and adequate access to sites in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Provocative actions on either side must be avoided.”
“We can never give up on peace, especially when it seems hopeless, and especially when it seems like there will never be a breakthrough,” he stressed. “I am a strong supporter of the two-state solution, which would meet not only Israel’s critical security needs, not only affirm the dignity of the Palestinian people to live as a free people in an independent state of their own, but it is also in the best security interest of the United States of America in this world all of us share.”'
http://jewishinsider.com/4543/omalley-both-sides-share-responsibility-for-violence-in-israel/
