Israel says incursion will continue until Hamas rocket fire ceases

Tuesday 06th January, 05:49 PM JST

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kkoobcam at 08:00 AM JST - 7th January

Palestinians are pushed to collective punishment because Israel wants to punish resistance movements and national liberation movements. Israel is not a normal country, it is an occupying, racist colonial country and the native people of Gaza are under siege. . When colonial nations occupy other people´s country, siege has been used as a weapon to collective punnish an entire people. Siege is a military action at the beginning of war. Now the Palestinians are being killed by bombs in refugee camps by the oppressing land stealing colonists who caged them there.
shiuu at 08:05 AM JST - 7th January

Why am I so confident that if North Korea started lobbing rockets into Japan the "Israel hits back too hard" crowd here would be singing a different tune?
Molenir at 10:25 AM JST - 7th January

Shiuu, thats because you're in touch with reality, and not an idiot. Think about it, if France started lobbing rockets into England, or vice versa, what do you think the response would be? But of course everyone would blame the victims like they're doing here with Israel.

Oh, and that school that got hit, those kids that got killed. Interesting how there was mortar team set up right next to it, firing on Israeli positions. Yes, no doubt the terrorists didn't even think about the possibility that Israel might return fire. They certainly didn't try to evacuate the school they were firing from.
Molenir at 10:27 AM JST - 7th January

All those bodies I see on TV, truly make me sad. But what really infuriates me, is that none of them would have died had Hamas not been shooting off rockets. None of them would have died had their parents not supported Hamas, and none of them would have died had their families made honest attempts to flee from the war zone. Yeah, tried to cross into Egypt to get away from the fighting. Oh wait, Egypt isn't opening its borders to refugees. Hmm, wonder why not?
HonestDictator at 10:42 AM JST - 7th January

No kidding Molenir, the armchair pacifists rarely comprehend that you can't get peace if just one side stops the shooting. Heres looking at you Hamas...

Considering how easy it is to make things worse for the other is good old propaganda. Oh a school was hit with a rocket from Israel! Totally ignoring the fact there was a hostile militant group using it as a position for launching their own artillary. Why not ask why Hamas didn't evacuate the area if they were going to use it for warfare? Because they know that super simple soft hearted people will make things harder for their enemy if you make it appear the enemy is the one constantly in the wrong.
Betzee at 11:18 AM JST - 7th January

Now they have opted for action, and it looks like the Israeli regime really has finally snapped over this constant showering of hit and miss rockets, then I submit they must go all the way and eradicate Hamas completely from Gaza. If not, simply bombarding them was an utter waste of time as it will only bolster the fundie cause. I now brace myself with a flak-jacket and ultra-resistant ear protection for the comments that are sure to follow this post.

Not from me, Adverts. You are certainly right from a strategic point of view. The question comes, then what? I've been reminded repeatedly, "The Israelis want peace while the Palestinians want to pick a fight."

The thing is, when you have everything else of course you want peace to formalize the status quo. The "peace dividend" is a lot less meaningful to those with little or nothing else.

Curiously, the American public is not strongly supportive of Israel (in contrast to the leadership of both parties) on this. I can only conclude it's because the same voices who claimed we needed to invade Iraq for our own safety are insisting this assault on Gaza will bring security to Israel. Bill Kristol claims Israel will be successful here when it failed miserably in Lebanon, an assault he supported at the time incidentally. He also predicted Iraq would be a cake walk. Well, what if he's wrong again?
Molenir at 11:45 AM JST - 7th January
I really don't see any solution to this morass. Hamas and the people of Gaza are brought up to hate Israel and the Jews. They are taught that the best thing they can do is to die as martyrs. So even if Israel succeeds in stopping Hamas this time around, you know the cease fire will only last until they can make, or smuggle in more weapons. But then you can't blame Israel for wanting to stop the rockets.

As far as I could see, there are really only a few ways forward, and only a few of them are acceptable in any way.

1 Israel drives the people of Gaza into Egypt. This leads to war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria again, but would eventually lead to peace. Though the casualties on both sides would be horrendous.
1. Israel is destroyed. If the US pulled its support from Israel, eventually the surrounding countries would unite and destroy Israel. Again, the casualties would be horrendous.
2. Hamas is forced, somehow, to accept peace. Rather like Abbas has done. This would doubtless include a Palestinian state, and eventually open borders.
There are probably other solutions as well, though the third option is obviously the best for all parties. Unfortunately, Hamas is not inclined towards peace. They obviously don't care about their people at all, and since their reason for existence is the destruction of Israel, it doesn't seem likely that option 3 will ever happen.

The only way I can see out of this, is if there is significant and continuous loss of life on the part of the Palestinians. Forcing them to rethink their support for terrorism.
Loki520 at 04:19 PM JST - 7th January

kkoobcam, obviously you've never read the Hamas Charter. THEY call for the elimination of all Jews...

It's NOT us making this up... it is in their organizational charter.
Zenpun at 07:07 PM JST - 7th January

When will they stop killing each other? Never! Blood shed promote hatred. Hatered promote revenges. It is a never ending cycles of tragic story.
Madverts at 07:19 PM JST - 7th January

Betzee,

The IDF are attempting the peace through superior fire-power thing. Right or worng they must go all the way now and remove Hamas from Gaza, or risk further bolstering the fundie cause - not only through all the horrific images we're getting 24/7 on the telly, but because if they stop now Hamas will claim a "win" like Hezbolla did back in '06, and the rockets and broken cease-fires wil continue.
Shichiman at 08:06 PM JST - 7th January

I posted this on another page but it's all relevant:

They're all mental. Someone drops a bomb, someone retaliates, someone retaliates, someone retaliates.... It's a never-ending cycle. I know I'm MASSIVELY generalising but so many atrocities have been committed by both sides over the years that it's impossible to place the blame on either.

Palestinians have done horrific, immoral, murderous things to innocents. Israelis have done horrific, immoral, murderous things to innocents. They're both as bad as each other. It's a conflict that's been going on for 1500 years.

I don't think this is a situation that will be resolved by fighting or talking. If they stop the fighting for a generation or two the hatred between them would be eventually neutralised.

Every post argues one way or the other. I'm sat here thinking "Palestinian sympathy, must be a Muslim/ Isreali sympathy, must be a Jew". This whole conflict is the only proof you need of the damaging power of religion.
AlfGarnett at 08:14 PM JST - 7th January

The 3 hour a day ceasefire and opening up of a route for aid by Israel is a good start innit. Hopefully the genocide will also end shortly, it bledding should do.

The BRitish government has warned prominent Jews to beware of attack in retatliation of Israels attack. That is summink i predicted would happen, and someone called me a bigot amongst other fings!

I reckon it shows i use me loaf proper, and don't pick sides. I am entirley neutral in this dispute, so my posts can be read without anyone fearing bias. Strewthy, not like most from a certain country, on here like.
Molenir at 01:28 AM JST - 8th January

AlfGarnett - You obviously have no concept of what Genocide is. Maybe its because you are too young to remember Serbia and Kosovo. Now that was Genocide. The systematic slaughter of everyone, that is Genocide. This doing their best to minimize civilian casualties, this is so far removed from genocide, you would have to be either an idiot, or a uncaring partisan to call it such.
Molenir at 06:39 AM JST - 8th January

The person who claims 600 people dead, most of whom were Hamas, is genocide, mate.
WilliB at 02:13 AM JST - 10th January

Zenpun:

" When will they stop killing each other? Never! Blood shed promote hatred. Hatered promote revenges. It is a never ending cycles of tragic story. "

You suggest equality here. There is no such thing. Hamas is calling for the destruction of the Jewish state -- Israel only wants its citizens to go about their lives without being attacked with rockets every day. Unreasonable?