But what if Israel just developed a missile shield so the rockets wouldn't be a problem in the first place? What if they built a wall along the border to funnel traffic through checkpoints so that HAMAS couldn't import weapons? What if they sent massive amounts of aid for the Palestinians to live better lives? What if they gave up land, even territories given to them by the UN?
Oh, wait, that's right -- Israel does all these things, and the world either turns a blind eye or calls it "terrorism".
The West Bank has plenty of checkpoints that serve no purpose at all, their existence serves to strangle the social cohesion of the community, impeded business, humiliate.
The Palestinians don't want aid, they want what they see as justice, their own state.
Oh. Let's get up to date, then. Here's what HAMAS has to say on the matter:
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3657.htm
You watched these films when they were uploaded, right, since they're so important to understanding the conflict and all?
Oh. Guess you didn't.
I don't recall ever defending Hamas. What are you trying to convince me of? The recent conflict has just reinforced the fact that they pose no existential threat to Israel.
But if today's campaigns to kill Jews is about them building houses to live in (the nerve!), what about the Jews who faced threats and violence in the area before Israel was even founded? Or the six million who died in the Holocaust? Or the untold Jews who were persecuted and killed before then?
Building houses is not all this is about. You still don't seem to grasp that idea. This is about taking land from the Palestinians. Wars have started over similar acts. Internationally, this is seen as illegal, the US included, Israel's biggest ally.
To pretend that Israelis are hated today because of something they've done recently is to ignore most of European and Middle-Eastern history.
History is full of wars and hatred. I don't hate Israel, Bob Carr doesn't hate Israel. The vote in the UN wasn't about hatred.
What an odd statement to make. Israel is building "settlements" (strange how that word seems to never be used for any building project elsewhere in the world, such as Russian housing in occupied Finnish areas
) in areas they intend to hold onto. They're not "expanding" anything, they're making use of land they won't ever give up anyway, as anyone else would.
See, that's the thing. If that land that is being settled now is land that Israel under Likud is never going to give up, it makes pretty well most of the West Bank the same. Which is what Israel's friends don't want to see it doing. The settlements is a term that is widely used, nothing strange about it. That is what they are.
The Arabs started a war to wipe Israel off the map, and they were defeated, and lost territory in the process. Sad for them, but that's how the world goes. Lots of other countries have gained and lost land in the meantime (such as Germany to Poland and Finland to Russia), but funnily enough, it seems most of them manage to move on and let bygones be bygones.
The Israeli's knew that war would start, for the same reason any similar war starts.
Europe has had enough of war for a while, after WWII and the Cold war. Polling suggests the majority of Israeli's and Palestinians also think the same.
Might be because Finland, say, isn't ruled by a bunch of crazed terrorists who swear to wipe Russia off the map...
It doesn't.
As they have, countless times. They make recessions, they give up land, they make peace proposals, they build infrastructure in Gaza, they send massive amounts of aid...
What concession. Netanyahu has boasted how he made sure Oslo would not work. He never made any concession, now he is the Israeli PM.
They're rewarded by hatred and murder.
Can you read minds now?
I can see actions, just as the allies of Israel can.
I don't know who Bob Carr is, and I don't give a damn what he says.
Sure. What does your Government say? They voted in favour of the motion, Australia just abstained.
Malnutrition is a huge problem in Gaza. It functions now as a huge concentration camp. Due to it's 'artificial' borders, there is a population there that is much larger than any farming can support. It's borders are closed off, so Israel can either feed the Gazan's, or watch them starve. Other Israeli leaders have noted the problem in the past, by keeping them in that state, Israel becomes responsible for them.
How are settlements in Israel making life harder in Palestine? I don't understand.
The settlements take land that is necessary for a viable state. They create a huge criss cross series of settlements, checkpoints, roads and barriers that make a normal civil life very difficult. They tell Palestinians that their home may be next.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Westbankjan06.jpg
