UNRWA warns of growing extremism among Gazans if they don''t get justice

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 23 (KUNA) -- John Ging, the Director of Operations in UNRWA, on Friday warned that if Gazans don't get justice following the Israeli aggression on the Strip and if the crossings are not opened now, before a political solution is found, Extremism will inevitably grow among the civilians.
"We are now facing a big test. The extremists are telling the people here cynically that they should not expect to get justice through the rule of law and civilized processes. They are saying to them they should go with them. The only place where they will find justice is at the end of a gun or the end of a rocket. They are cultivating a violent mentatlity," Ging told a press conference via a video link from Gaza.

"Doing the same thing in the same way will get us back to the same place and nobody wants this to reoccur," he warned.

He noted that people are "increrasingly angry about what has happened here. That is perfectly understandable. But we want to channel the emotions now into something constructive and positive. We have to create a prospective," otherwise those who are bent on Extremism will follow their leaders.

To avoid that, he said, the "focus should be on the issue of accountability, so we have to restrore confidence that there will be accountability to the rule of law for civilians on both sides of this conflcit.

" "There is a lot of cynicism here that it will be achieved," he noted. "But if we don't, then we are defeated by the extremists. It's as simple as that." Focus, he added, should also be on restoring a dignified existence to the people, and the "key there is (opening) the crossing points." "Our message is very simple. There are political operations and security challenges to opening up the crossing points. But it is time to put the people's interest before all." This approach, he recalled, was called for by the Quartet last year and by the US three years ago, but "it was not delivered." "Access is the key to everything. Now we need that key turned so that the crossings are all open. It should not be distracted by the political debates of the last three years. They have had their time and have resulted in horrific failutre," he stressed. (end)
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1970841&Language=en

Let's hope there can be some quick moves towards peace that will give the people encouragement to choose a nonviolent path.