Scores die in Israeli air strikes

I'm pro- Israel and very saddened to see innocent children killed and maimed by Israeli bombs. My kids were actually sickened by the Sky news scenes.

Hamas were pushing for this on the full understanding that their children were nothing more than Page Ranking fodder for YOUR comsumption.

THAT is the difference between our cultures.

As Golda Meir said 'When the Arabs love their children more than they hate us...then there will be peace'.

there is zero difference between your cultures. Each of you is as good as the other. You want to be classed as civilised, as Western, but in reality your government is acting just like a bunch of savages.
 
Remember - the Palestinians are still under occupation, and not by choice. This is just not a historical problem, it's ongoing.

Oh yes, undoubtedly that's true. I only brought up the point about history because you mentioned it.

I get uncomfortable when I keep hearing in these discussions mentions of 1967 borders etc. In my opinion, it's best to forget things from so far back, and start from the situation we find ourselves in now. Admittedly where we find ourselves is in a pretty shit situation for everyone, but a situation that is made even harder to solve by constant references to decades old events.
 
For all you anti-Israel posters, what should have been Israel's right response to Hamas' one sided breaking of the cease-fire?

a more moderate one. Killing hundreds of people in response to a few rockets isn't acceptable. It's like shooting dead someone for throwing a stick at you.

Don't forget, the ceasefire wasn't really a ceasefire - both sides routinely flouted it. Israelis kept up the blockade, and rockets kept being fired. Israel also attacked some tunnel in November. So there wasn't really much to break there.
 
Bollox. They want to destroy Israel. The suffering of the Palestinians is Hamas's goal.

let me ask you a question: if a country killed thousands and thousands of your countrymen over years of unequal fighting, would you not want to destroy that country too?

Or would you just lay down your arms and say 'here you go, we are stopping'?

Maybe if _you_ stop killing Palestinians they would stop wishing your destruction?
 
a more moderate one. Killing hundreds of people in response to a few rockets isn't acceptable. It's like shooting dead someone for throwing a stick at you.

Don't forget, the ceasefire wasn't really a ceasefire - both sides routinely flouted it. Israelis kept up the blockade, and rockets kept being fired. Israel also attacked some tunnel in November. So there wasn't really much to break there.

Perhaps you should come up with an imperial measure of 'response'. I'm not sure what 'moderate' means.
 
I don't think the Israelis want to kill innocent people....the problem with Terrorism is terrorists hide among civilian populations who willingly or unwillingly give them cover....

I'm not condoning anything here....but how do you just not retaliate when rockets are raining down on your citizens?

there is reasonable retaliation, and then there is the killing of 300 people in two days. The reaction is disproportionate.
 
let me ask you a question: if a country killed thousands and thousands of your countrymen over years of unequal fighting, would you not want to destroy that country too?

Or would you just lay down your arms and say 'here you go, we are stopping'?

Maybe if _you_ stop killing Palestinians they would stop wishing your destruction?

Let me answer it since you have as much knowledge of both the region and it's conflict as a tree stump.

It is Israel that has constantly been attacked by the Soviet backed Arab states who started three stated genocidal wars and have continued to bully Israel via this palestinian proxy.

Thats why Iran and Syria are supplying Hamas & Hezbollah. Thats why saudi are funding suicide bombing etc
 
I'm not sure what the proper response is to rockets landing in your cities. :confused: The rockets were fired in response to what Hamas feels Isreal was not doing to uphold it's end of the cease fire. So couldn't Hamas have found another way other than fire rockets? It's like when someone calls you a name and you then throw sticks at them.
 
In my opinion, it's best to forget things from so far back, and start from the situation we find ourselves in now.

Any negotiation should be based on 1967 borders. Military power should not be a criteria for land grab. They're stealing land on a regular basis. They'll not stop until they wipe out the Palestinians from the face of the earth. It's not in Israels' interest for peace as that would jeopardise their chance to steal further land.
 
Perhaps you should come up with an imperial measure of 'response'. I'm not sure what 'moderate' means.

Let's say the amount of people you injure in retaliation is similar to the amount of people you lost in the action you are retaliating to?
 
Any negotiation should be based on 1967 borders. Military power should not be a criteria for land grab. They're stealing land on a regular basis. They'll not stop until they wipe out the Palestinians from the face of the earth. It's not Israels' interest for peace as that would jeopardise their chance to steal further land.

Please Sultan - tell the thread what claims the Palestinians actually have without beginning your response 'Everybody knows...'
 
Let me answer it since you have as much knowledge of both the region and it's conflict as a tree stump.

unfortunate to you see that you turn to insults as soon as your 'argument' is challenged.

It is Israel that has constantly been attacked by the Soviet backed Arab states who started three stated genocidal wars and have continued to bully Israel via this palestinian proxy.

Israel has given back as good as it got, and much, much more on top. Don't forget the Suez crisis, the two Lebanon wars, the massacres of 1948, the last 8 years (when Palestinian causalties were many many times the Israeli ones) etc etc

[/QUOTE]Thats why Iran and Syria are supplying Hamas & Hezbollah. Thats why saudi are funding suicide bombing etc[/QUOTE]

let me restate my question (which you failed to answer): if you had thousands of your countrymen killed by an invading power, would you not fight back? Or would you just say 'oh well that's ok, we surrender' like you expect Hamas to do?
 
Any negotiation should be based on 1967 borders. Military power should not be a criteria for land grab. They're stealing land on a regular basis. They'll not stop until they wipe out the Palestinians from the face of the earth. It's not in Israels' interest for peace as that would jeopardise their chance to steal further land.

Okay, lets assume that you're right that Israel's primary concern is to enlarge their country (I'm not convinced, but anyway...); why does Israel want to keep further extending it's territory? Is it out of necessity because of overpopulation? Is it out of desire for a valuable resource in the acquired territory? Is it out of a basic instinct for expansion? Is it out of some sense of retribution? etc.

If we know what the primary motive, so to speak, is; then we can try to accommodate their needs and concerns better in any negotiation.
 
I'm not sure what the proper response is to rockets landing in your cities. :confused: The rockets were fired in response to what Hamas feels Isreal was not doing to uphold it's end of the cease fire. So couldn't Hamas have found another way other than fire rockets? It's like when someone calls you a name and you then throw sticks at them.

it's a bit more than calling someone a name: the Israeli/Egyptian blockade was creating real problems in Gaza, with many people suffering greately as a result.
 
Please Sultan - tell the thread what claims the Palestinians actually have without beginning your response 'Everybody knows...'

Unlike the majority of present Israeli's, the Palestinians great grandfathers were born in that region.

Proof enough
 
Not an occupation by any agreed legal standard. Look it up please.

who are we kidding here... no one in the West Bank can lift a finger without Israel's say so, because if they misbehave, Israeli forces will be there in no time.

De facto, they are still masters in the West Bank. And in Jerusalem, they still control it.
 
let me restate my question (which you failed to answer): if you had thousands of your countrymen killed by an invading power, would you not fight back? Or would you just say 'oh well that's ok, we surrender' like you expect Hamas to do?

The questions wrong.

Israel never 'invaded'. It gained Gaza from Egypt and the west Bank form Jordan - who both attacked Israel. Look it up.
 
Not an occupation by any agreed legal standard. Look it up please.
Legally, the Gaza Strip's "ownership" is ambiguous rather than belonging to either Party.

In 1983, on the Tsemel Case, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled:

The ‘effective control’ test has been
interpreted by various courts. In 1983,
the Israel Supreme Court decided
the Tsemel case which arose during
the occupation of southern Lebanon.
It ruled that occupation forces do
not need to be in actual control of
all the territory and population,
but simply have the potential
capability to do so.
This ruling is in
accordance with decisions of other
courts, including the Naletili and
Martinovi case in which the Yugoslav
Tribunal referred to an occupant
having “a sufficient force present, or
the capacity to send troops within a
reasonable time to make the authority
of the occupying power felt.”

http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR26/FMR2608.pdf

Since Israel retains control over Gaza's airspace, is this the case?

Land warfare only covers physical land occupation - but we're not dealing with lots of soldiers like in previous World Wars - we now have flight. When you occupy a city, you don't necessarily have troops inside it - you could have a significant air and sea presence to assert authority over said land - which is what occupation refers to.
 
Unlike the majority of present Israeli's, the Palestinians great grandfathers were born in that region.

Proof enough

Thats not proof Sultan, that's nothing . Give me maps, sourced statistics, UN resolutions. C'mon!
 
Is it out of desire for a valuable resource in the acquired territory? Is it out of a basic instinct for expansion? Is it out of some sense of retribution? etc.

The above are good reasons. For further reasons/clarification, it's best asking Israeli's why they keep expanding.
 
The questions wrong.

Israel never 'invaded'. It gained Gaza from Egypt and the west Bank form Jordan - who both attacked Israel. Look it up.

'gain' and 'invade' are the same thing. Point is, Israel holds land that does not belong to it, with people in it who do not want it.
 
The above are good reasons. For further reasons/clarification, it's best asking Israeli's why they keep expanding.

Well, until you understand why they keep wanting to expand, then how can you even hope to accommodate their concerns in negotiation? It's going to take a desire to understand from both sides.
 
it's a bit more than calling someone a name: the Israeli/Egyptian blockade was creating real problems in Gaza, with many people suffering greately as a result.

Well rockets landing in your city streets is a real problem also. With that choice Isreals response was certain. Until both sides can start over and negotiate with real intention of peace this will not end. Given the deep nature of the hatred and the idealologies involved I can't see an end that doesn't include many many deaths.
 
'gain' and 'invade' are the same thing. Point is, Israel holds land that does not belong to it, with people in it who do not want it.

Gain and invade are too very different things and Israel holds land promised to it in 1922, 48 and 67. By the league of nations and the UN.
 
Lebanon was an occupation - no problem with that example.

Why?

Because it's a soveriegn state. Gaza is not.
"Occupation" does not necessarily refer to a country. It refers to any substantial piece of land - for example, a city.

When the Germans occupied Paris during World War II, that was an occupation, but Paris was obviously not a sovereign state.
 
"Occupation" does not necessarily refer to a country. It refers to any substantial piece of land - for example, a city.

When the Germans occupied Paris during World War II, that was an occupation, but Paris was obviously not a sovereign state.

They occupied France.
 
Israel dont seem to consider the human side of things when involving in such procedures.

Take the Lebanon war a few years ago as an example - Hezbollah capture a few Israeli soldiers, and in response the Israelis completely demolish Beirut.

The same thing has happened now. In striking back against a broken ceasefire, Israelis decide to ruthlessly kill 300.
 
The above are good reasons. For further reasons/clarification, it's best asking Israeli's why they keep expanding.

precisely. Settlements constatly keep being built, and encroach into Palestinian land. The Palestinian territory is constantly being eroded. And then they wonder why the Palestinians hate them and wish their destruction!

The sooner a two-state solution, along 1967 border lines, is adopted, the better.
 
Thats not proof Sultan, that's nothing . Give me maps, sourced statistics, UN resolutions. C'mon!

They've been done to death on here
 
precisely. Settlements constatly keep being built, and encroach into Palestinian land. The Palestinian territory is constantly being eroded. And then they wonder why the Palestinians hate them and wish their destruction!

The sooner a two-state solution, along 1967 border lines, is adopted, the better.

You might look at the Hamas charter. Something about the destruction of Isreal. Going to be hard to have a two state resolution when one thinks the other should be destroyed.
 
Israel, though, is an independent country that no one else in the region wants to exist and which is supported from afar by the world's most powerful nation. It has become much more than just a local or regional problem.

Its not a problem to me and I dont see any reason why it should become one. The 40 or so sane countries in the World for good humanitarian/economic reasons (idealism or self interest) want a peaceful world and see the solution as being based on

Israels right to exist without fear
Palestines right to be a viable independent nation.

(in short the two state solution)

Despite the protestations of the Israeli and Palestinian governments that they BROADLY agree with that kind of sanity.......neither has shown any real enthusiasm for it.
And even if they tried to go for it, they probably could not really deliver on it because of the Extremists within their own territories who would shout sell -out.

If the rest of the world shrugs its shoulders and says "well we tried but these two wont listen" then the rest of the world should just WALK AWAY.
If one or both nations gets obliterated that would be sad for the innocents but in the absence of an agreed settlement..........then both sides seem happy enough with a constant war........always controlled.
Sooner or later somebodys luck is going to run out and somebody is going to lose badly and more than likely BOTH will lose badly.
And not many people elsewhere will really care