The battles for control of the lands in the Mideast have waged on for centuries, and date back to to twelve tribes of Israel as outlined in the Bible and the Torah. Today’s air strikes by Hamas and Israel in the Gaza area, and now Israel’s land push into the area serve to highlight the volatile nature of this area of the world. Hmasa has been listed as a known terrorist group, and a provider of terrorist support in the Mideast. Israel has been condemend by some as retaliating against Hamas with a show of force not warranted. The United Nations met well into the night trying to reach a resolution and a statement of position in this present conflict. What is truly important is that if a cease fire is to be reached, it must be done in such a manner that it is designed toward reaching a lasting accord, not simply a bandaid to the present conflict. This by no means suggests that the results now will be the “end all” of the Mideast problems, albeit that would be a great outcome, but perhaps from this bloodshed can come a new foundation for future resolution in the region.
Recent Posts
- First They Came For……….. Kirsten Powers’ Anger at the Media over DOJ’s Trampling on Freedom of Press
- Pray for Oklahoma and Texas
- IRS Docs Show “BOLO” for Tea Party Groups: Docs “Didn’t Exist” for FOIA Request, But Did for IG Audit
- Life Under ObamaCare
- DailyMail(UK): Marines Break Code So Obama Doesn’t Get Wet (He’s Already “Washed Up”)
JAMES on Twitter
- RT @BradThor: The only question you need to ask about the health of the economy is what would it look like if the #Fed stopped printing mon… 6 hours ago
- First They Came For........... Kirsten Powers' Anger at the Media over DOJ's Trampling on Freedom of Press wp.me/pigvz-3ZT 17 hours ago
- Pray for Oklahoma and Texas wp.me/pigvz-3ZQ 18 hours ago
4 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 4, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Interested Bystander
JAMES,
Thank you for the thread.
I hope it draws some interest from others as well.
First I have to comment, that I have no personal interest in either side of this conflict.
I spent all night last night up watching the coverage from CNN International. They were live all night. “International” must not be under the same “constraints” as their US counterparts, because I found the coverage pretty fair to both sides.
I have read some articles on the current conflict also.
I’d like to start with the reporting that Israel broke the cease fire:
The Palestinians have not adhered to the cease fire since the first week it was instituted. The citizens of southern Israel have endured almost daily rocket attacks from inside Gaza.
Why is this not reported as breaking the cease fire?
Israel is a “legal” nation. It’s borders were drawn in the 1940′s. In the late 1960′s Israel was attacked on two fronts, and when they pushed back the attackers and a “negotiated settlement” was reached. Israel has endured hardship for not returning all of the land they siezed during the aggression they fought back.
This has been the basis of the “conflict” since then, at least in my opinion.
Israel has returned portions of the land in “agreements” with the Palestinians over the last couple of decades. It is pretty clear to me, that Israel would give back all of the “territory” they “won” in the conflict, if they could get “guarantees” for peace from the Palestinians.
In my opinion, this will never happen.
I can not understand the deep rooted “hate” the Palestinians and Jews have for each other. Or should I comment the “hate” the Palestinians seem to have for the Jews.
Every time I hear an Israeli official interviewed, they make what I would catagorize as reasonable demands from the Plaestinians. All they ask for is peace, and the ceasation of hostilities against them. I very seldom ever hear them say “terrorists”.
The Palestinians however use many “colorful” words to discribe the Israelis.
They state how the Israelis target “civilian” areas, but how much “rural” areas are in the Gaza strip? And they don’t even mention how they use these “civilian” areas to launch their rocket attacks.
Another thing I’d like to know is, what is “disproportionate” retaliation? Is this a new term? So what they are saying is if they kill ten people, then Israel could kill ten people?
If say Cuba were lobbing rockets on say Key West Florida, I believe our response should be to go and level Cuba, no questions asked. Flatten it.
So knowing that Israel has endured months of rocket attacks, and continually asking Hamas to stop the attacks, then the Israelis have given Hamas ample opportunity to stop them.
Seems when Israel starts it’s retaliation, then the Palestinians throw their hands in the air and go “We are being attacked, help us”.
The Israelis seem to adhere to the saying “Speak softly, and carry a big stick”. They ask and ask and ask, and when the stick comes down, the other side wants to cry about “disproportionate” retaliation.
What? That just does not compute in my brain.
The video is a good example of how the conflict progresses.
First the Palestinians start protesting, then they advance the protests to moving toward the Israelis physically, and when Israel retaliates, they retreat screaming “cowards”.
Did I hear one of the Palestinian supporters yell that they needed more “ovens”? My goodness, how much more hateful could you get? And did I see an Obama hat on one of the Palestinian supporters?
I hope this is resolved before Obama takes office.
If it isn’t, I hope Obama is ready to deal with this situation from day one. I hope he is keeping up with what is going on, and getting good advise as to how to handle this.
I’m not a doom and gloom type person, and I believe that this will be resolved in the long run, but it sure does seem like a stick of dynomite over there, and it seems the fuse is getting mighty short.
January 4, 2009 at 5:12 pm
JAMES
Our next Secretary of State will be handed a great deal of international turmoil. You are absolutely correctt that the Israelis do seem to follow Teddy Roosevelt’s philosophy of “walking softly and carrying a big stick”.
Land has been at the basis of the conflicts involving Israel for years, and it is time that the conflicts be resolved.
January 4, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Interested Bystander
Maybe people do not realize this JAMES,
Israel is smaller than New Jersey. About eight thousand and twenty square miles.
At it’s “thinest” part it is only about seven miles wide, at it’s “thickest” point, it is about fifty miles wide.
There’s not much land they can give up.
January 5, 2009 at 7:08 am
Interested Bystander
JAMES,
I saw the Palastinian representative (is he really an ambassador?, and if he is, how does a “non nation” get representation in the UN), on Geraldo last night and he continually called the Israeli’s “zionist aggressors”.
Can he not open his eyes? When pressed to call the people lobbing rockets on to Israeli towns, terrorists, he just kept going back to the “zionist aggressors”, and how they were killing civilians indiscriminately.
When pressed further, about the rockets not having a target, and falling on people’s homes and businesses, he “denounced” the rocket attacks, but still would not call them terrorists.
When asked directly, “Do you consider the people firing the rockets in to Israel, terrorists?” He flatly stated “NO”.
Geraldo instantly jumped on this, and said something like, “See that’s where you fall short, you almost had us and then you…….”
Israel is not the “zionist aggressors”, or “occupiers of Gaza”, because they like to flex their muscle to show who is in charge, they are doing it because for five months, their people have endured rocket after rocket being fired upon them even when there was supposed to be a “cease fire” agreed too.
The way I see it, the Israeli’s continually show restraint, until it is unfeasable to do so any longer. I am not sure if the “cease fire” has an expiration date, but I do know that Israel time and again told Hamas that if they didn’t stop the rocket attacks, they would retaliate, and Israel keeps their word.
When a group or groups of people will not be satisfied until you are eliminated, please tell me how you come to a “negotiated settlement”?
Until the group or groups realize that the nation’s “viability” is not on the table, there can be no “negotiated settlement”.
When an “Ambassador” denounces a “zionist aggressor” for defending it’s citizens, and won’t call their own people who are firing rockets in to populated areas, especially when supposedly under a “cease fire” agreement, “terrorists”, then the probelm will not be solved.
Until the Palestinians realize that they bring 99% of the aggression on themselves, by making unwise decisions, and making accusations that are simply not true, there will not be a solution to the conflict between them and the Israeli’s.