Dear friends,

 

 

The Progress Party has urged Israel to open up Gaza for humanitarian workers and the media.

 

 

Let me stress one important thing: war is horrible. Many Norwegians know this; Norwegians who still remember when our country was at war. Being attacked in your own country, like Israel is experiencing. 9000 rockets and grenades have been fired at Israel over the last five years. Israel has the right to defend itself and it is doing so now. It is brutal. Of course it is. The situation in the Middle East is brutal. For everyone.

 

 

Wouldn’t we all have done what Israel is doing? Defend ourselves when someone is attacking our family, our home, our country? In the words of Barack Obama: “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.”

 

 

This is what Israel is doing now. They are defending themselves with one aim only: to disarm Hamas, a terrorist organisation which the Norwegian government, as one of few governments in Europe, has not put on a list of terrorist organisations.

 

 

Last year, I personally experienced Hamas’ attacks against civilians when I visited the small Israeli border village Sderot. I met the mayor and I heard his story. It was a story of desperate yet proud people. These people experience rocket attacks from Hamas on a daily basis. Thousands of rockets. Rockets that can hit anytime, anyone and anywhere. Can you imagine how it must be to live like that? I saw photos of the victims of the rockets and I was told who they were.

 

 

Of course it is horrible to see photos of people injured and killed as a result of this conflict. I cry inside when I see Palestinian and Israeli civilians being killed. It is brutal and heartless when Hamas is using women and children as human shields by hiding weapons and ammunition in schools, hospitals and mosques. The result is that civilians are hurt by Israeli rockets aimed at an organisation financed by Iran. Both have the same aim: to eradicate Israel. Sadly, the international community has overlooked Iran’s support to Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations operating in the Middle East and elsewhere.

 

 

The media claims the Progress Party supports a massive Israeli military operation, but we don’t. Of course we want peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. I don’t support a massive use of military force. What I do support is Israel’s right to exist and it’s right to defend its people.

 

 

Some say Hamas came to power through democratic elections and therefore must be recognised as a legitimate political force. My response to that claim is this: democracy is more than free elections! According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Hamas was guilty of war crimes and breaches of human rights during the coup in Gaza in 2007.  The Palestinian media, owned and controlled by Fatah and Hamas, has been publishing anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic propaganda for years. This doesn’t create peace and reconciliation.

 

 

Hamas doesn’t recognise Israel. In their political charter Hamas supports genocide against Jews. How do you negotiate with someone who doesn’t recognise your right to exist? It is hard to be tolerant with the intolerant.

 

 

The situation in Gaza is disturbing and both parties must bear the responsibility. I say: Let him who is without sin, throw the first stone. One thing I can assure you is that the Progress Party is unified in the hope that this conflict will be short-lived, that few lives will be lost and that this might lay a foundation for lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis, in two states, side by side.

 

 

Tonight, there will be marches for peace in the Middle East all over Norway. In Oslo the march will start at 7.p.m. at Youngstorvet. The Progress Party backs this initiative because it is in support of the victims of the war in the Middle East, in support of a cease fire and in support of lasting peace. We all want a peaceful end to the conflict in the Middle East.

 

 

We all want the war to end. We all want an end to the suffering and deaths. And we all want Israel to be able live in peaceful co-existence with its neighbours. This requires mutual recognition and respect, from all countries and organisations, both in the Middle East and in the rest of the world, including Norway.

 

 

I encourage you all to take part in the march for peace tonight at Youngstorvet!