bbc so show of hands as to who thinks this will be a successful event in terms of restoring peace and igniting the peace process. at best this is livni trying to show that she has bigger balls than bibi for the election in feb.
There is a LOT more to it than that. This was a truly massive operation and the scale shocked everybody (that wasn't involved in it).
Does anyone else just have this really nasty feeling about a lot more war happening in the world over the next few years? India and Pakistan saber-rattling. Israel and Hamas getting a lot nastier. Russia threatening or attacking Georgia/Poland/Ukraine/whomever. Venezuela arming up for what might be war with Colombia. It just scares me.
israel is a terrorist state and the only colonial power left in the world israel just bombs to kill some palestinians then stops bombing cause they know they will never defeat the stone throwing palestinians they have been trying for 60 years and now are on defensive and are out of options all palestinians have to do is persist and they have and will. israel won all the battles but is losing the war
yes it was massively grotesque and disproportionate. and just because it was big it couldn't have a huge component of political grandstanding? i don't see how this accomplishes much. this will only anger gaza. probably make west bank more sympathetic to hamas. and, unfortunately for us, even anger the pan-arab/islamic world to a degree.
The only way to win that war is to whipe them all out....and they won't do that, so what is the point? DD
I agree -- we just need a North Korean missile test over Japan to reach the saber rattling gold standard. Much instability and uncertainty in the world right now -- dangerous.
thats my point! and israelis are not stupid they know they cant go hitler on palestinians. so it begs the question why bomb palestinians like this from time to time? it has to be political cause israel cant defeat palestinians. we know that for sure and they know it too. they bomb from time to time cause of pressure on military to look like they are doing somethin israel is out of optionns
What should they do then? You can't just let Hamas/whoever constantly launch rockets into your cities. It's a difficult situation, and it has been for a looooong time. Periods of escalation seperated by cease-fires of varying duration. It's fine to be critical of Israel's operations, but you have to step back and look at the big picture. The way I see it Israel has two, often conflicting, obligations: 1) To protect its people. 2) To uphold basic human rights. The Palestinian leadership has for years made it difficult for Israel to do these things simultaneously.
The alternative might be much worse. There is still a significant portion of the Israeli population that supports forcibly transferring all Palestinians out of the country (including the West Bank and Gaza).
that would be a better option for palestinians, that way other arab states will be forced to fight on their behalf again i know its a mess iam not sayin its east but there is a diff between tit for tat violence with hamas and all out crazy assault to wipe out a bunch of poeple like now which will have no result other than intensify rocket attacks has israel learnt nothing from war with hezbollah? u bomb nonstop they bomb back nonstop. israeli intense bombing in lebanon and wiping out of entire villages got them NOTHING in the end but more katyushas destroying their cities and kiling there people whatever they can all go to hell cause they are stupid idiots
Its funny because The Bible specifically says Israel will be at war pretty much forever and as soon as they sign a peace accord and are no longer fighting, that will trigger the apocalypse.
Everyone hates the fact that Israel has the bigger stick than everyone else in the region. If things were in reverse and the Palestinians had the bigger stick, people would be calling the Israelis terrorists too. Israel has the right to defend themselves but c'mon this is way overkill. If they wanted to get rid of key Hamas security heads, the could have done it in other ways. This was Israel's way of saying to the rest of region, we still have the bigger stick so back off. I just don't know how this really is going to work. The U.S. has been showing it's big stick for 8 years and look what it's doing now. My point is, even when you are Militarily superior than all of your enemies, it is a lot harder to show restraint than to unleash your arsenal. As we all learned, war just takes the peace process back decades. There are families for generations to come that will not forget on both sides the deaths. All that is doing is fueling the fire for complete chaos for the rest of the world. I'm afraid this tragedy is about to set off a chain of events. As much as I believe Israel has a right to exist, I think their leadership needs to be questioned and pressured to stop. These actions are just sending bad messages all around the world. What's going to stop India from attacking Pakistan? Hey Israel did it, why can't we? This was a terrible mistake Israel made.
Yes, it was way too big to be motivated by grandstanding. Far, far beyond it. Regarding what it accomplishes, let's see. My hope on the Israeli/Palestinian issue is that enough exhaustion will kick in at some point on both sides and legit negotiations can begin and compromise can be found. This is very depressing.
We in the US could take a lesson from Israel. How do you expect them to keep on breathing,surrounded by Arabs ,who could not wait to wipe them off the face of this earth ,by being cowards? I have great respect for the courage of Israel!
Firing off missiles into cities is a coward move(on both sides). It takes real courage to lay down your arms and work for peace.
I agree. Quite a bit of our own homegrown neocon foolishness comes from synergy with the AIPAC types. Imagine Dick Cheney as Jewish if you want to get the mindset of the hardest of hardliners (especially now when even Bush is throwing Cheney under the bus, and Cheney still talks the same talk he did in 2001). Think of all the wrong-headed, counterproductive things the USA has done for the past 8 years, put it in to boil in the much more intense pressure cooker they are in and what Israel is doing doesn't seem quite so far beyond understanding. Specifically think of all the rhetoric about 'The War on Terror' being a giant, multigenerational real 'war'. They are in it for the long haul and they don't think accomidation with 'the enemy' is a real possibility. And when the Palestinians continue to launch rockets and talk tough, it just reinforces that mindset. Both sides seem to be doing the best they possibly can (unintentionally, I assume) to prevent the other side from gaining any hope that coexistance is a real posibility.
