Truth with consequences

"If you want to control someone, all you have to do is make them feel afraid," said Paulo Coelho.

Israel's psychological warfare tactics, imposed to pressure opponents who dare to speak out, are depressing, demoralising and disheartening, featuring a history of disinformation propaganda and heavy-fisted intimidation. According to J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami, "Many American senators and congressmen 'keep quiet' and refrain from criticising Israeli politics because they 'live in fear' and are 'intimidated' by pro-Israeli groups such as the Emergency Committee for Israel."

Compiled under UN mandate, the Goldstone Report on the 2008-2009 assault on the Gaza Strip concluded: "Israel had launched 'a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity to work and provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever-increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability."

Israel 's impunity from international law must end - not only to provide justice to its victims, but also to promote durable peace in the Middle East.

Now it's up to the quartet, led by US President Brack Obama, to lay down the parameters of a civilised peace deal based on human dignity and mutual respect. It should include 1967 borders with modifications, Jerusalem as the shared capital of Israel and Palestine, no right of return, and an independent, demilitarised Palestinian state.

Negotiations must be conducted in a non-confrontational atmosphere for the sake of future generations.

Charles Frederickson

Bangkok

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