quote:
Originally posted by waterboy
They have asserted that Israeli operatives may have fired the rockets in an effort to promulgate a crisis and take advantage of the dead time between US presidential leadership. They insist that they have never proclaimed the cease fire to be ended. Knowing the past history of the region its not too far fetched. Israel can work with a government such as the west bank that doesn't espouse their annihilation, but the democratic election of Hamas for Gaza leadership cannot be tolerated.
Step 1: agree to peace and abandon settlements in Gaza. Step 2: sneak in to Gaza and lobbed rockets at their civilians, then orchestrated rallies in Gaza, got the Egyptians and Saudi's to essentially abandon Hamas. Step 3: profit.
I don't get it. What have their gained from all this effort? A few hundred dead Israeli's, dead Palestinians, financial cost, a destabilized region, and international hostility. Doesn't sound like they are coming out ahead.
It seems MORE likely to me that the group whose state goal is the inhalation of the State of Israel has been lobbing rockets at their stated target. Recall that the entire reason Hamas is labeled as a terrorist group by everyone (this includes Saudi Arabia and Egypt ffs) is because they are terrorists. They basically invented the suicide bomber and pride themselves on the ability to kill hundreds of people on buses, pizza parlors, or market streets. They hold rallies with wonderful chants and supply placards that read: DEATH TO ISRAEL. Literally, the stated goal of their organization is to wipe Israel off the map. Then they act SHOCKED when they get accused of launching rockets from territory they control into Israel (rocket trails are not hard to spot, FYI).
Frankly, I don't care if they declared the ceasefire over or not. Every time you announce that you want to destroy a country, when rockets are consistently fired from territory you control at some other territory, you have ended the ceasefire. Unless you have some support or reason for the notion that the Israeli's abandoned their settlements only to sneak in and rocket their population centers in order to (insert some goal here)... it sounds like BS.
And why is it so shocking that Israel has a problem working with a government that calls for their destruction? Seems rational to me. Why would I do anything to help a group that wants to destroy me? Fatah is not a desirable group but has not called for nor attempted to destroy Israel for a decade and thus, is left alone.
Realistically, a brief period of extreme violence is what the region needs. In the long run it will be much better for all than a prolonged conflict.
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And on the big picture: no one in the Israeli situation is in the right. No one. Very few people have an exclusive claim to a "homeland." Nearly every group killed or chased away the previous group, who usually now lives nearby.
In this instance, the Israeli's were there first thousands of years before Islam was a religion (by killing off the previous men residing there, throwing children from the ramparts and enslaving women in the name of God, before being conquered themselves several times, then reclaiming the territory), they were then conquered by the Romans, who got beat out by several groups who then the Arabs conquered the territory in the name of God, who were beaten out by the Christians (in the name of God), reconquered by the Arabs (in the name of God), until the Ottoman's ultimately claimed control. The British took the region over after WWI, who were taken by the Germans during WWII, only to return after WWI. Israeli political pressure and terrorism eventually got them a "homeland" and the British et. al. gave them the territory they held.
Clearly this did not sit well with the conquered people. Who attacked Israel as soon as they could (anyone know when the Arabs started hating the Jews? Historically they got along OK), and lost. Each time the Arabs attacked they lost and more land was taken by Israel. Eventually land was traded back for peace... the latest deal being Gaza and the West bank for peace with Fatah and Hamas. And that has worked out well.
Basically... the native peoples got a raw deal. But this is nothing new. Currently the Israeli soldier bombing Gaza and the Palestinian about to the blow himself up are both born to parents who were both born there. Hard to convince either one of them that they are not "native" to the region or have no claims to it.
Historically both groups can make a claim because they conquered the previous group. Neither is leaving and neither is giving up. So until they calm down and learn to deal with it there will be war. And so long as there will be war Israel (the side at least making lip service to not intentionally blowing up school buses) may as well take it to them instead of waiting around for more rockets (the purpose of which is to terrorize and kill civilians, the rockets used lack accuracy enough to be of much military use).
Most Israeli's and most Palestinians want exactly what you and I want - a steady job, a nice family life, a few coins in our pocket, and some leisure time. Unfortunately, there is a significant minority population among the Palestinians that want to KILL ALL Israeli's, which makes coexistence rather difficult in spite of whatever concessions Israel might make (like giving away 85% of the territory they once controlled).
It is well worth noting that there is a minority in Israel who think they should reconquer all possible Arab lands - but I contend the land trades show that their influence is less effective than the "kill all Israelis" lobby on the opposing side.
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More to the point, Gaza is under naval blockade. Any vessel not authorized approaching the coast will be confronting and escorted away. I do not see a conflict between the two stories: she attempted to enter waters restricted by the Israeli Navy, the Israeli Navy stopped her. Sounds like a coherent, and predictable result.