Sean, how am I taking a very blinkered , short sighted view? Hamas launch rockets and Israel responds.. What else is there to say?? Perhaps if Hamas stopped launching them, Israel would have no need to respond.(seems fairly logical to me) Tease the dog, you expect to be bitten. Malkie, what makes you doubt that Hamas launch rocket and mortar attacks from either within, or very close by schools and hospitals? If you look at a map of Gaza you'll see , there's plenty of areas away from the civilian population they could launch them from... But I bet my last penny, they won't use these areas.
DA, a simplistic way of looking at a complex problem. But Israel have said that if the rockets and mortars stop, they'll have nothing to retaliate to. Summat that seems lost on Hamas. Rocket and mortar attacks have nothing to do with protecting the Gaza Strip. As I said before , tease the dog, expect to get bit. Seems like Hamas thought they were teasing a shih tzu, before realising it was a rottweiler. Sean,, can you or anyone go back half a century (and further) and change anything?? Of course not.. Ask yourself,, "Why has it suddenly escalated in the last few months though?"
JJ a simplistic way of looking at a complex problem is to appreciate that the Jews were a persecuted people who suffered a huge loss of their people and who desperately needed a home. 'We' gave them a home. On someone else's land. Who were turfed out. Unceremoniously. And quite brutally. That was bad enough, but both sides sort of got on with it. These days, however, the Jews are hardly persecuted in that way, in fact they are highly involved in the top businesses and organisations in the world. And are quite nicely looked after, thank you very much. You will know, for instance, that it is a CRIME to deny the Holocaust?! (Frankly, it would make more sense to deny atheism, but hey...) But - whatd'ya know - modern Jews still want a second home in their 'promised land'. Like the West Bank. Well, no - you can f'off.
I'm guessing you are deliberately being provocative JJ - I find it very hard to believe anyone could be that naive perhaps if you educate yourself as to why the conflict started way back when, you might understand why Hamas and the Palestinians are not simply going to lay down and accept what the child murdering neighbouring Nation wants of them
Sean, you bandy emotive words around like confetti at a wedding. Perhaps the Palestinians (Hamas) feel justified, launching more rockets and mortars into Israel, but you'd do well to remember that these same rockets and mortars are just as easily going to kill a child or civilian where they land. Do you condone the rocket attacks as retaliation? We could debate this till the end of the world and still wouldn't find an answer.. As for saying Israel was originally their land and "we" took it off them and gave it away,, surely the bible (if it's true) shows that there once was a land called Israel.. You know the one,, where the Israelites lived in ancient times.. So I'm assuming that at some point in history, the Palestinians invaded Israel and took it off them?? (way before the late 1940's too) So historically, there is/was a land called Israel.
and you appear to have a rather unpleasant way of ignoring why this war is so protracted, and who are suffering the most watching the numerous TV broadcasts it strikes me how outwardly happy the kids are, surrounded by destruction, with little if any food and a reasonable chance that they won't see their next birthday - yet they appear not to lost their ability to play and smile, so perhaps there is some hope
JJ, I can understand the 'simplistic' viewpoint. The "all the Palestinians have to do is stop chucking these stupid rockets, and Israel will not retaliate. Problem solved." But surely you appreciate that these Palestinians have had their land stolen from them. By a much, much more powerful people. Try and imagine that for a moment. See that neighbour of yours - the one who makes too much noise, parks in the wrong place, tries to argue over the boundary line? Shouts and swears at your wife and kids? Throws his empty beer cans over your fence? Well, imagine him moving your fence when you're at work. A couple of feet per day. Over your garden, making it smaller. And his larger. And he peers over the top and grins at you - sneers. See that apple tree - the one that used to be yours? But is now on 'his' land? And it drops it's rotten fruit on your side so you crossly chuck it over 'his' fence into what used to be your garden? And it lands near his feet and makes him so cross that he climbs over the fence and clubs your child repeatedly until he is cut, bruised, broken and bleeding - and he looks at you and says - "stop throwing the ****n' apples." And he keeps moving your fence. And he then stops you going out your own gate without his permission. And... Well, that's a bit like what's happening over there. But all you hear is 10 killed there and 100 killed here. Numbers stop meaning anything. It takes an individual event, something you can relate to like when you read about that Palestinian doctor who doesn't move his home away from the border because he wants to be near his hospital so he can help his own people, and he's on the phone to an Israeli TV station trying to explain what it feels like - when the conversation is interrupted by an Israeli missile hitting his home and he walks downstairs - still on the phone - and he describes finding bits of his children spread all over their bedroom walls. Imagine looking over your fence and seeing a bunch of black-clad, block-headed, ringlet-sideboarded twits rocking backwards and forwards and chanting that this is their god-given land. I think you'd be cross.
DA, I fully agree with all that you say, but I'm ashamed to say that I must stand back and let you argue the case as you are much more eloquent than I am. I agree completely with you point of view.
Very eloquently put DA, but I see,,, no mention of Israel in biblical times. (conveniently forgotten then?? ) BTW, the latest ceasefire initiative was soon broken ,, by whom though?
A view to the history of Israel, not mine, I'm not clever enough. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Israel
Oh yes you are, you don't go paving over your neighbour's driveway and shove jumping jacks through their letterbox with your upturned clawed hands do you?
JJ, huge gaps in my knowledge too. And I ain't read the bible. Pretty certain that 'biblical' (as in any old scribblings from prophets...) writings were behind the choice of land to set them up, tho'. I think one can argue that that decision was made for the right - though, in retrospect, possibly misguided - reasons. I just don't know. How it was done is certainly open to major challenge. But that is all by the by. What we should really be looking at is what's been happening over the past, I dunno, 30 years? Perhaps 20. Not content with their lot, the Jews are still claiming persecution and god's will to bully their way onto more and more land. That just ain't theirs. There is a fundamental injustice at the bottom of this. And it should be taken into account when trying to decide who's winding up who.
2,874 rockets launched into Israel in July this year alone, clearly shows who's winding who up (In May this year only 4 rockets were launched)
Oh give it a rest, JJ, and just say what you want to say... Are these 'rockets' effective? Faced with a thuggish bully taking over your land and controlling your economy, what would you do? Let's face it, chucking these wee rockets is having the 'desired' effect - turning the world against Israel.
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