Is it Christmas or am I mellowing? I'm not sure but I'm going to give Mr Singer a little gold star for effort for this latest piece. Sure the Israeli/Palestinian conflict remains the 'Jewish/Arab' one under his pen and the 600,000 illegal Israeli settlers become '600000 Jews', but the use of these terms has reduced by 90% compared even to the article just before this.

Of course we have yet to see any recent use of the term Palestinian people but I'm going to give him credit for 'Palestinian diplomats'. It could well have been a slip but we will take it.

Naturally his call that Australia should have made the morally bankrupt decision to join the United States and a few other countries in voting no to observer status for the Palestinian state and its people is self serving, disrespectful to our nation, the will of our people, and to common decency.

One is reminded of the ubiquitous drunken uncle at the Christmas party. We are grateful if he only spills a little wine this year although we remain wary of giving him a pat on the back lest he further stains the carpet.

Same comment whenever this Zionist raises his head above the parapet: RETURN and DEMOCRACY are the answer. Exiles return to their homeland, settlers return to theirs, secular non-racist democracy for all Palestine from the sea to the River Jordan. One can see why the Zionists are spitting - bit by bit the world is losing patience with their troublesome racist enclave, leading sooner or later to an existential cliff.

As the Singer, embodying the Xmas spirit, wraps the knuckles of nations which didn't vote against the Palestinian victory in the U.N, nations like Australia, he shows contempt for many Australians who deplore what the rogue nation of Israel has done to the Palestinians since 1948.

His mission, as always, is to apportion 100% of the blame for the occupation/blockade of the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians. That is clearly a sign of his Jewish fanaticism and deranged thinking.

Please do not comment on this deplorable article because that gives it a status it clearly doesn't deserve.

I hear with some fellow-feeling David G's proposal not to give this Zionist spokesman oxygen by commenting on his racist outpourings, but I did make a pledge to myself to hit back every time he puts his head up from the trenches, just to let him know repeated racist demands will be immediately answered by repeated anti-racist truths.

To #David G

You state:

"Please do not comment on this deplorable article because that gives it a status it clearly doesn't deserve."

What do you personally find deplorable about it?

What facts do you dispute?

Do you disagree with my analysis and conclusions - and why?

What I find odious are the Jew hating comments directed at me personally as evidenced by this latest pathetic bleat from you:

" That is clearly a sign of his Jewish fanaticism and deranged thinking."

Is anyone who points out that:

1. the Palestinian Authority refuses to return to negotiations without preconditions,

2. the Palestinian Arabs have rejected proposals to partition Palestine in 1937, 1947, between 1948-1967, in 2000/1 and 2007,

3. The Palestinian Authority has now abandoned the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap

4. That the decision of the United Nations on 29 November has already
had adverse consequences on resolving the Jewish-Arab conflict

5. The two-state solution is dead and buried

6. The United Nations decision - if ever implemented - has signed the eviction notices for 600000 Jews living in their ancient historic, biblical and legally sanctioned homeland

7. The idea of a Jew free state in the West Bank is racist and reeks of apartheid

- guilty of Jewish fanaticism and deranged thinking?

You are certainly in the vanguard of making such comments.

It is these kind of remarks that you should be seeking to end and you should be the first to do so.

There are less than 10 people on OLO who continually adopt your tactics of wanting to shoot the messenger and ignore the message.

It says a lot for the commonsense and intelligence of the rest of OLO's readers - for whom personal abuse of the author is absent.

People like Emperor Julian still ignore your call for silence.

He admits he gives me "oxygen" by commenting on my "racist outpourings" - but can't drop his poison pen.

Silence can indeed be golden.

Thanks for the oxygen anyway.

Bet none of you can resist the temptation to continue venting your hate-filled spleens.

"Argue not with fools, frauds and fanatics. Seek better companions!"

This maxim is my Xmas gift to everyone who is part of the OLO membership but is not a member of the three forementioned categories.

I hope that most of you can see the sense of it!

Cheers!

#David G

Guess I was proved right again.

You just could not resist having another go. I thought you said no one should comment any further.

All the fools frauds and fanatics who enjoy shooting the messenger and ignoring the messages contained in my articles need a new avenue to express themselves.

Perhaps singing Christmas carols will engender a feeling of goodwill at this festive season and serve to blow away any thoughts of personal hate and ill will.

Here are are few carols for you all to join in singing:

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Or this one might suit you better:

Once in royal Davids city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little Child.

David's royal city? Where was that?

Or perhaps this one:

This star drew nigh to the northwest
O'er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both Pause and stay
Right o'er the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

There you are - a Jew born in Bethlehem so long ago and sung about by hundreds of millions of people every year for the last 200 years or more - long before the UN Resolution on 29 November that seeks to deny Jews having any entitlement to live in any part of Bethlehem.

Do you regard those who sing these carols as all displaying "Jewish fanaticism and deranged thinking."

Start singing these carols instead.

Another miracle leading to a major change in your hate-filled lives could well be the result.

David Singer writes many pro-Israel articles in these pages .At times they make this reader wonder where the truth actually lies.

This time he writes that President Mahmoud "Abbas was a lapsed President whose term of office had expired in January 2009" - a situation that would never be tolerated in other countries.

That Abbas spoke as a “tyrannical despot” over a “territory he did not control” where “the people had no say”.

As I watched it on TV, David, I was struck by the fact that all United Nations countries accepted him, and a majority supported him . Also the joyous celebrations in Palestine convinced me that the people accepted him and were behind him. I also have trouble seeing little Mahmoud Abbas as a “tyrannical dictator.”

On the other hand I was utterly dismayed that my country abstained – that it refused to support a move towards Palestinian independence and eventual peace in the Middle East.

Peter Bowden

Summer Hill,

#To Peter Bowden

Firstly let me compliment you on wanting to question matters raised in my article. I am always happy to respond.

1. You state:

"This time he writes that President Mahmoud "Abbas was a lapsed President whose term of office had expired in January 2009" - a situation that would never be tolerated in other countries."

My reply:

(a) On 9 January 2009, Abbas term as president, at least as he was originally elected, ended. Abbas extended his term for another year, stating the Basic Law gave him the right to do so, so he could align the next presidential and parliamentary elections. Pointing to the Palestinian constitution, Hamas disputes the validity of this move, and considers Abbas' term to have ended, in which case Abdel Aziz Duwaik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council has become acting president.Abbas remains as the president even though his one year extended term has expired. (From Wikipedia)

(b) I did not use the phrase "other countries" but the phrase "these countries" meaning the democratic countries that voted in favour of the Resolution or abstained. Their votes - in my opinion - indicate an acceptance of a person claiming to be President that they would never accept in their countries.

2. You state:

" That Abbas spoke as a “tyrannical despot” over a “territory he did not control” where “the people had no say”.

My reply:

I did not say that. What I said was:

"It mattered even less that Abbas was purporting to speak on behalf of a territorial entity he did not control - even as a tyrannical despot."

Abbas does not control Gaza but purports to speak for it.

I did not call Abbas a tyrannical despot. I was likening his claim to speak for a territory he did not control to a claim which one might expect of a tyrannical despot.

(to be continued)

#To Peter Bowen (Part 2)

3. You state:

" Also the joyous celebrations in Palestine convinced me that the people accepted him and were behind him."

My reply:

Does that mean that Abbas's demand that 600000 Jews be kicked out of the West Bank and his refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish state are correct because they have the popular appeal of his constituency?

Was Hitler right because the Germans elected him to power and stood in the streets applauding his actions?

4. You state:

"On the other hand I was utterly dismayed that my country abstained – that it refused to support a move towards Palestinian independence and eventual peace in the Middle East.

My reply:

That move has already elicited responses from Hamas and Israel which directly undermine Palestinian independence and eventual peace in the Middle East.

All the democracies that voted as they did have contributed to what has followed since the Resolution was passed because they refused to vote "NO" and demand the PA return to the negotiating table rather than taking the unilateral action it did in violation of the Oslo Accords and the Bush Road Map.

If they were unable to foresee the consequences of their vote - then it says little for the competence of those Governments.

Julia Gillard got it right. Bob Carr got it wrong,

The ensuing chaos as detailed by me is offered as proof.

You can now add to that chaos the withholding of $400 million in PA taxation revenues collected by Israel to pay for unpaid electricity and water bills owed by the PA to Israel utility companies.

The threat of further conflict has been increased - not decreased - as a result of the vote.

That is my analysis of what has happened.

If you have a different view - I would be interested to hear it.

Please however do not twist my words or misquote me. Doing so only confuses readers and leads to my having to correct comments that should never have been made by you in the first place