Gaza Conflict

[cycloneye]

And the fight will continue.

Israel Rejects Truce

[cycloneye]

Lets see what happens about this.

[MGC]

The major TV networks as usual are portraying the Israelies as the bad guys. Media bias is so incredible these days that everything you watch on TV must be taken with a big grain of salt. What would America do if a country was firing rockets into the USA?....MGC

[vbhoutex]

I suspect Israel has grown quite tired of the lies and bombardment with missles. I would not be surprised if they go all out and retake the Gaza. I know it has a lot of political ramifications, but it would not surprise me. They are amassing troops and equipment in the area, so we shall see.

[Aslkahuna]

They've been fighting a lot longer than 60 years since the Arabs began dumping on Jewish settlers well before Israel became a nation. In fact, war has been a fact of life in that region for thousands of years and will be for thousands more-assuming that the Human Race has that long to live. If we had rockets being fired into the US we would probably roll over and give the people firing them what they want since it would be obvious to us that we didn't understand them and that they had a "legitimate" grievance with us. Beyond that, I'll say no more as it goes into the realm of politics.

Steve

[cycloneye]

This is the sad part of this fight as people dont know where to run from the flying missiles.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081230/ap_ ... ere_to_run

[Stephanie]

Until other Arab nations accept Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. will continue to shoot missles into Israel. What would those other countries do if missles were being fired into their country? There's no logic here what so ever, it's just pure hatred for Israel.

[cycloneye]

Israel says no to a truce.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast ... index.html

[canetracker]

I am glad that Israel rejected the cease fire. They need to be able to defend themselves against terrorism and a weak show of force is not the way to do it. As others have said on this board, if this happened to the U.S. we would defend ourselves as well.

Now the plot thickens as suicide bombers want to get involved:

Volunteer suicide bombers seek to attack Israel
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_israel_palestinians

[RL3AO]

If Iranian bombers show up in Israel, they might take it as an act of war.

[Persepone]

Someone recently likened Hamas sending rockets into Israel like having Mexico sending rockets into San Diego... How long would the US be expected to put up with this? Would we cede to demands for a cease fire if we believed that it would just begin again?

I am old enough (barely--I was a little tot) to remember when Israel was created in 1948--and immediately all the surrounding Arabs wanted to drive all the Jews out. They started in immediately and it seems as if they haven't really stopped yet. Enough already.

The Palestinians exiled themselves in the first place! The Arabs in Israel were never displaced when the country was created, but because the Arab rabble-rousers told them it was against the Koran, etc. to stay... So they voluntarily and deliberately left so that they could claim that they were "refugees." Notice that Egypt does not want them. Nor, apparently, do any of the surrounding Arab countries want them--because then they would not be gaining sympathy for their status...

There are an awful lot of people in America (my family among them) who were refugees and perhaps "unlawfully" displaced. I'm not sitting around on my fanny whining because some government upheaval tossed my grandparents out of their house, forcing them to leave. Yes, it was terrible, yes it was sad, etc. etc. etc. But the bottom line is that no one in the family sat in refugee camps for 40+ years and whines about what they lost (and yes, they lost homes, land, money, etc. etc.) And my grandchildren certainly have not brought up to think that they might be "entitled" to go back and somehow reclaim something based upon their great, great grandparents' former holdings.

The Palestinians need to grow up and get over it. They need to educate their children to be productive citizens instead of sending them out into the streets to throw rocks and to become suicide bombers and rocket launchers, etc.

Hiding behind the civilian population looks like a fair charge, by the way. If you surround your military targets with schools and hospitals and civilian housing to "protect" them, then the price is going to be civilian casualties.

Alas, the misery of the present population of Gaza is of their own making. They do not deserve sympathy. They need to grow up, renounce terrorism as a way of life, and learn to be productive citizens of the world.

As far as "humanitarian aid," there are zillions of places where that humanitarian aid would be better used and appreciated. It is unlikely to benefit the women and children (especially girls) anyway--medical supplies, food, etc. will go to the Hamas fighters, etc. first. I saw exactly ONE picture of a female being taken into a hospital--but no picture of her getting any treatment. I wonder if she did or if she was not because she was female... But the law of averages says that with that many wounded, etc. there would be some wounded women--so why aren't any of those in those hospital and ambulance photos? That sounds harsh, but somehow perhaps we should not just send humanitarian aid willy nilly...

[tranquill]

Israeli dissident analytic writes that IDF op in Gaza is already stuck, Israelis are bogged down, and basically that's the end of the war: http://samsonblinded.org/news/israeli-a ... entum-5424

[cycloneye]

Israel wants international monitors before any cease-fire.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28404637/

[cycloneye]

A Hamas commander was killed in an air strike while he was in a refugee camp.



http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast ... index.html

[Aslkahuna]

News stories said that they dropped a 2000 lb bomb on him-guess they wanted to be certain.

Steve

[Ed Mahmoud]

Good source of news/updates.

[cycloneye]

Day 7 of conflict has both sides not in a truce mode.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28404637/

[Ed Mahmoud]

THE day before a powerful blast sent his headless body flying out of his Gaza home, senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan predicted that the Islamist movement would defeat Israel.

[cycloneye]

Israel Nuclear Site can be reached from Long Range Hamas Rockets.

[Ed Mahmoud]

A rocket is launched from Gaza towards Israeli towns



Two days later, looks like an Israeli strike in the general vicinity.



AP has some photographers friendly with the terrorists, as this picture shows




More pictures...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/israel_and_gaza.html