Israel's goal is to destroy tunnels and hopefully buy a few years of peace. What else can they do, just let Hamas fire rockets? They can't negotiate since Hamas doesn't want to negotiate. And for all of the talk of "Hamas being sympathetic", there hasn't been a whole lot of "Israel is evil" compared to say, 2006. Of course it will always exist out of standard "Third World underdog" crap, but I think it's been somewhat muted.
Why do we continue to support a terrorist even though we know his views on us? http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/07/netanyahu_america_is_a_thing_y.html
Israel's goal is to buy a few years of doing nothing while the situations in Gaza and the West Bank continue to deteriorate. They are doing the same thing they accuse Hamas of: provoking violence to gain political support. The rockets are almost completely impotent, and everybody knows it. They certainly don't justify the airstrikes and ground incursions that have cost thousands of Palestinian civilians' lives. Tightening the siege on Gaza will only strengthen support for Hamas or other, possibly worse, radical groups. Hamas plays right into Bibi Netanyahu's hands when they fire rockets into Israel. They are right about one thing, though: all these ceasefire agreements are completely one sided. Israel has no accountability, and there's no reason to believe its leaders will suddenly reverse course and work towards creating, rather than obstructing, the conditions that will make a Palestinian state possible.
The General's Son If you really wanna understand what's going in Gaza right now, listen to Miko Peled who's the son of a famous Israeli general and a former solider in the IDF. This is a very captivating lecture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOaxAckFCuQ I also recommend that you read his book '' The Genreral's Son''. Synopsis : In 1997, a tragedy struck the family of Israeli-American Miko Peled: His beloved niece Smadar was killed by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. That tragedy propelled Peled onto a journey of discovery. It pushed him to re-examine many of the beliefs he had grown up with, as the son and grandson of leading figures in Israel's political-military elite, and transformed him into a courageous and visionary activist in the struggle for human rights and a hopeful, lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. http://www.amazon.com/The-Generals-Son-Journey-Palestine/dp/193598215X
First, where the hell did you pull thousands from? The Guardian, needless to say not exactly a source of pro-Israeli propaganda, states that the Palestinian death toll is currently 548. Now as for the rockets: does Iron Dome intercept the vast majority of the rockets? Sure. Does that mean that the rockets have no impact. Absolutely not. There are major economic and psychological costs which no other state in the world would tolerate living under but Israel. And for all the talk about how these strikes will empower worse radical groups, how are these supposedly radical groups so much more radical? "We REALLY REALLY REALLY want to see Israel destroyed, unlike Hamas which just REALLY wants Israel destroyed." And the Israelis gave the Palestinians a state of Gaza, and Palestine/Hamas promptly used it to attack Israel? Why the hell should Jews of all people trust anyone?
We need to dispense with this myth. Israel pretended to give Gaza to the Palestinians. They did not actually give all of Gaza to the Palestinians. They have kept the Palestinians from the most fertile of the lands. They have not even aloud Palestinian fishermen from Gaza to fish there. What Israel actually did was trap and imprison the Palestinians there. They've forbid any aid from going there, they've restricted their movement, and don't allow supplies from Palestinian areas of the west bank to be moved to Gaza which isn't really sustainable on it's own even with the fertile lands which the Palestinians don't have access too. It's why in the ten year cease fire proposal Hamas has set access to those lands as part of the conditions.
I had one land 400 m from me (but wasn't intercepted because it was in the sea) and fragments from the Iron Dome intercepts wreck my rooftop. Easy to say when it doesn't happen to you and not looking out the window like Malcolm and telling your dog to stop barking. Everyone here ultimately shows their cards when they admit their idea of acceptable collateral damage. Then there's the small minority of us that would prefer to have none.
I have said it many times as an Israeli- Stop fighting already, both sides, its just so stupid and sad. Golda Meir, our previous prime minister said these powerful words: "When peace comes, I can forgive the Arabs for killing our children, but I can't forgive them for forcing us to kill their children" We don't want this, believe me, we don't. It hurts me so much to see innocent people die, it really hurts, I can't even explain how much. But its a war of civilizations, that's why its so hard for you to understand, you know only one side, you know the side that cherish life, and prosperity and education. You think everyone is like that. You haven't met the side which declares a Jihad war on all non Muslims, who says that the Christians in Iraq and Syria have 2 options: become Muslims or have their heads taken off their necks. The side which abuses woman, and preach for ignorance, violence and a world Jihad. This is the side that has taken over Gaza, there are a lot of innocent people living in Gaza and i pray for them. I pray that they will understand where Hamas is taking them, towards hatred and violence and Jihad. I pray they will understand that Israel is here to stay and there is no other choice but peace and co-existence. Peace out.
Thank you Nivos. Sadly, we have some people here on the forum, like adeelsiddiqui, trustme, etc., who hate so much that they are blinded. They are fanatical. They are no Bacha Khans - they are online jihadists.
You don't steal someone's land and talk about there's no choice but peace after you steal it. It's perfectly reasonable and rational for people to fight for land stolen from their fathers. This is a war between two scumbags not a war of civilizations.
So you think it is "perfectly reasonable and rational" for Hamas to shoot rockets at Israeli civilians?
So you think it is "perfectly reasonable and rational" for Israel to back away from a political process when they had all of the cards, and commit to savage urban warfare in one of the most densely populated urban areas on Earth?
All of the things I have read about this situation over the years has just left me more confused as to what a solution could be. It's comical that this is supposed to be the most holy place on earth and it is also the most violent.
after the invasion. Hamas-Fatah unity government got Israel irrationally angry. Hamas was about to possibly concede to new elections, elections where they stood a huge chance of losing no matter how many rockets they fired (though you may have noticed the place going up exponentially once Israel decided to enter the Gaza Strip). They had already seemed to give up a lot of power to Fatah. this bloodshed is not only a disaster, but an early Christmas gift for Hamas. Likud hasn't been putting their thinking hats on.
