So according to Mr. Sabit, Israeli civilians, targeted by Hamas rockets for over 8 years, aren't victims because not enough of them are killed? Remember that Hamas' charter specifically calls for the destruction of Israel and the extermination of the Jewish people - genocide, right there in the charter.

With regard to the "democratic" election of Hamas, let's remember that offices and positions they did not win, they took over in a bloody coup. Let's also note that Hamas has killed over 75 Fatah members in Gaza during the current offensive. That's not democracy, that's a terrorist dictatorship.

Mr. Sabit writes in response to poster:

"Palacios7
One of the great fallacies of the origins of the Arab-Israeli dispute is the suggestion that it is a dispute over religion, it isn’t, it is a dispute over land, and it remained so until the ousting of the PLO/Fatah, which was a secular organization, in 2005. I would submit that one of the reasons Hamas is in this position of leadership of the Palestinians is as a reaction to Israel’s policy of Jewish exclusivism, that is that only those who are Jews may become its citizens. This is the major obstacle to a one state solution to this dispute. With one or two exceptions most of the 22 member states of the Arab League are governed by secular laws, with Shariah, religious law only affecting marriage, inheritance, etc."

Mr. Sabit in this response is clearly demonstrating the roots of the conflict.

The Arabs and Mr. Sabit are denying the fundamental fact the Jews are an ethnic and a religious group.

As such their founding of an ethnic based state is not unique in the world.

Israel is an ethnic state with a pluralistic secular government, in contrast to Mr. Sabit's distortion.

In fact, there are 22 ethnic Arab majority states.

The one state solution that Mr. Sabit extolls is the destruction of Israel by demography (i.e. a one state solution) that the Arabs so desire for religious as well as nationalistic reasons.

Israel is not an exclusivist state, as anyone can apply for citizenship under the laws of Israel. In fact, Hamas killed an Ecuadorean immigrant to Israel recently, because they thought he was a Jew.

What Mr. Sabit objects to in reality is a Jewish majority state in the Islamic/Arab Middle East.

This is the root of the conflict, and Mr. Sabit has admitted it here.

He has also acknowledged the distortions about Israel common in the Arab world.

How can this conflict ever be resolved if even educated Arabs and intellectual Arabs spread distoritions and reject a Jewish majority state in THEIR Middle East?

How truly sad for the Arabs... and the Israelis!

"Civilians tend to harden their determination when subjected to a constant diet of explosives, as the Germans learned during the London Blitz in WWII"

Congratulations Mahmoud, you learned your lessons well from your ideological archetype Josef Goebbels. After all, propaganda has always been one of the most effective weapons against the Jews.

And I can assure you that the Germans (including my grandparents), who are of course the correct analogy in this case, learned their lesson from Dresden, and rightly so.

Unfortunately, this thousands-of-years-old conflict will likely never be solved. The original solution would be called genocide today (israelites told to wipe out the locals, which they failed to do).

Democracy is an unlikely answer, with populations illiterate, childish (easily offended and emotional), and violent. There is no "elite" in control of the populations, so a negotiated settlement is unlikely to hold.

And as long a a large group of people desires martyrdom, the violence will likely contine, and perhaps worsen.

Most long-standing democracies today had their civil wars, and resolved major differences. We prohibit that, so expecting young democracies to be mature is silly. They are at best a mechanical mixture of voliatile parts.

Finally, Marks was half right, religion is the opiate of the people, but it is also their poison.

I am grateful that you all took the time and trouble to write a comment to my article, In the interest of debate I have answered to as many comments as I can. While I may not agree with many of you, I certainly agree to disagree with those who have a differing point of view.

VultureTX
Prior to 1967 Egypt recognized that Gaza was part of pre-partition Palestine, and as such it was not in their power to grant independence to a separate sovereign region.
As for aggression, well I think when an aggressive occupation, which habitually contravened every conceivable Geneva Convention on the treatment of civilians in territories gained by military action in disputed areas. When such an occupation is imposed on a civilian refugee population for decades, it is inevitable that these civilian refugees will become radicalized and will fight back. Hamas is not the problem, it is merely the most recent symptom of the fundamental problem which has so far eluded a solution, an eventual just and equitable peace for all parties.
The Arab League position in 1947 was against the partition of Mandate Palestine, in their view Palestine should have remained as a united sovereign region with differing ethnic and religious populations, at no time were they advocating any sort of ethnic cleansing, they were against additional Jewish immigration, which they believed were against the interests of the majority population, the Palestinians.

AFITTPACBELLNET
Yes this ‘hiding behind civilians’ is a very old and rather timeworn propaganda device. It was used in the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the Lebanon War of 2006, it has in the past been alleged that the ‘Palestinians kill their own refugees,’ ‘dug up bodies from cemeteries and planted them in the ruins’ etc. etc. The hard numbers belie this sort of mendacity; 1982 Lebanon; 17,500 dead civilians as a result of Israeli military action, and this was a conservative estimate. 2006 Lebanon; 1,000 dead civilians as a result of Israeli bombing. Just yesterday 40 civilians slaughtered in a clearly marked UN school, the UN has already made statements denying that any armed militants were in the vicinity. No doubt the Israeli military would much rather have any opponents to their policies assemble themselves in a large empty space so as to more conveniently mow them down.

AENEASAEQUUS
The armistice lines or Green Line which constitute the boundaries between Palestinian and Israeli territory are not sovereign borders, they are originally cease fire lines. At this time, Israel has not yet defined its borders. Both communities should have security from military action, it must be bi-lateral not uni-lateral, so far both communities have been subject to armed attack, Israel has its IDF to defend its interests, the Palestinian Refugees should also have a protector, no one in the international community has stepped forward to protect their security, hitherto they had the PLO, now they have Hamas, and it is one of the issues that must be addressed through an overall settlement, mutual guarantees of security.

Mediocrates1
The German/London Blitz analogy was to illustrate the point, which was that when civilians are subjected to constant aerial bombardment they usually rally around their leadership, and become determined in their cause. There are many other analogies to illustrate this point, but this is the one that came to mind when I wrote this. Perhaps you might wish to elaborate on the ‘little warrant’ my comment suggests, and my lack of logic in the analysis. As far as propaganda is concerned, I would like to point out that I live in the Egypt, we are subject to the politics of the region, extremism affects us directly, an accurate assessment of what is happening and how best to rectify it is far more in our interest, therefore ‘shameless propaganda’ is not an option.

INFO60
The most effective expedient to end this situation, is to peacefully settle this thing once and for all, for all parties. Military solutions have a nasty habit of perpetuating conflict.

DFS1
Actually Postglobal is an international forum, and writers such as myself who are from Egypt participate, and give their opinion, from their perspective, from their part of the world. This is to encourage debate and discussion on issues that affect us all.

HONESTVIEWPOINT
Hamas whether we like it or not are today the negotiating partner on behalf of the Palestinians, my point is that they have been brought to this position of authority because in the past the Palestinians have had to face Israeli counterparts with very similar characteristics, virulently anti-Arab, with a long history of denial of the very existence of the Palestinians as a people, or of Palestine as a former inhabited territory, disproportionally vengeful in their reactions, Hamas are in many respects a mirror and a reaction of the way the Palestinians have been treated.

LSCALZO1389
In your language in describing Hamas, you can just as easily describe Israel’s leadership, that if Israel wants peace with the Palestinians, they need to sit down and work out that peace through negotiation, instead of hurling high explosives at their communities, by denying the emergence of a Palestinian state for decades the Israeli leadership is quite implicit in its commitment to destroy the Palestinians as a people. The Arabs countries have offered a definitive peace settlement through the Beirut Declaration of March 2002, so far, for almost 7 years now, Israel has not addressed this significant offer.

Redsox11
I respect your point of view but I don’t agree, and at the moment most of the world will not agree with the point you are making, you might want to review media coverage outside of what you are normally exposed to. Either the entire world has succumbed to Palestinian propaganda, or they are suffering from mass delusion, or very possibly they may be right.

Dangs
The Beirut Declaration of March 2002 is a good starting point, it offers a normalization of relations between the Arab countries and Israel, in exchange it requires that Israel withdraw to the pre-1967 ceasefire lines, and in addition request that these ceasefire lines become Israel’s officially declared frontiers. If various points are unacceptable, then these should be addressed through negotiations, wherein all parties compromise, at this time this offer has not been addressed by Israel. Israel today is a nuclear power with a formidable army in the Middle East, it enjoys a special relationship with the USA, she is already at peace with her strongest neighbour, Egypt, she has all the advantages of making a good negotiated peace for herself with the Palestinians and her neighbours, the cards for a negotiated settlement are in her hands. Despite these advantages her unwillingness to enter into a peaceful settlement over a period of years, puts her in the wrong. The bullying of a small, almost defenceless people to accept their own extinction as a national identity, makes this doubly so. I really don’t see any irrationality here, I would also submit, that there are many Israeli’s who would agree with me.

TIMSCANLON
The opinions expressed here in my comment are very much based on exposure to this conflict over a period of over 40 years, we, who live in the region cannot afford to be uneducated about what is going on in our midst, when we are so affected and so open to the consequences of events at our doorstep, being uneducated is really not an option.

Exnerd
I quite agree, hate and ignorance are a bad combination, whether I am guilty of this is another matter. I would suggest that you might want to review a real hate and ignorance filled commentary and compare it to mine, you will I believe, understand that mine is quite moderate. In addition you would also find that if more Arabs would read a history book without historical revisionism they could well become more educated but far more hate filled.

Petersuares
The Palestinians in Gaza are dispossessed refugees from places like Ascalon, the coastlines and southern regions of what was formerly Mandate Palestine, they are not native to Gaza, for the most part they are descendents of shopkeepers, farm owners, farm labourers, as well as the professional classes. The fact that after 60 years of having been reduced to a state of utter destitution, under a brutal occupation without hope for the future as a result of a denial of their very basic rights they have been driven to a state of desperation. This desperation has resulted in the suicide bomber, the election of a hard line leadership, and the self-destructive acts of sending garage made rockets into Israeli territory. The scandal here is not that they are sending rockets into Israeli Settlements, the scandal is that they have been driven to this state of despair. You might want to review the long list of as yet un-enforced UN Resolutions on this subject, dating back over a period of decades.

Palacios7
One of the great fallacies of the origins of the Arab-Israeli dispute is the suggestion that it is a dispute over religion, it isn’t, it is a dispute over land, and it remained so until the ousting of the PLO/Fatah, which was a secular organization, in 2005. I would submit that one of the reasons Hamas is in this position of leadership of the Palestinians is as a reaction to Israel’s policy of Jewish exclusivism, that is that only those who are Jews may become its citizens. This is the major obstacle to a one state solution to this dispute. With one or two exceptions most of the 22 member states of the Arab League are governed by secular laws, with Shariah, religious law only affecting marriage, inheritance, etc. Egypt for example has been governed by secular laws based on the French ‘Code Napoleon’ since the 1870’s. Many Muslims and Arabs are familiar with their history and their traditions, their version of events and their opinion of their own faith is also not subject to the revisionism, disinformation, distortion and mendacity that the version you must have read suggests. Extremism of any kind, any religion, and any ideology is a contagion that affects all of us.

nageela
Your comment suggests that anyone proposing a differing point of view must be a terrorist is a sad state of affairs and a reflection of the information available to you in reference to this issue. What I get out of writing this commentary is the possibility that this dispute in our midst, for those of us who live in the region, is settled in as peaceful and equitable a way as possible for all concerned, be they Palestinians or Israeli. As for my English, well many of us in the region speak English, and some of us even eat with knives and forks.

Only comment I have to the mideast Arabs is that as long you allow a fascist regime with the help of USA to kill you at will, you will be slaughtered like sheep. Your so-called leaders can come together and come up with a strategic plan to stop the US-Israeli domination of mideast. Immediate options at your disposal: stopping all oil tanker traffic thru Suez canal; going to UN and asking for a vote in security council for immediate trade embargo on Israel, and any nation opposing that will receive zero oil from mideast etc (learn how Putin is taking care of Russia's interest in dealing with US puppets like Georgia and Ukrane who are collaborating with US to encircle Russia with Nato expansion towards Russia's borders).. Obviously it's a pipe dream now; but history is full of surprises; maybe there is another Saladin getting ready to take over Egypt, and unite all Arabs to confront and defeat the Israeli threat to all mideast nations!

Honestly, the expression of so much inhumanity on PG makes me feel utter despair. Please allow me to try and contribute as positively as I can to this discussion. This is from Nobel Wole Soyinka’s Reith Lectures, delivered at Oxford, “Climate of Fear: The Quest for Dignity in a Dehumanized World”. *

“There has to be a guaranteed zone of the sacrosanct, even among the self-righteous, a zone that, when breached, draws down a sustained universal response. The one of children is one such, and remains beyond expediency. Acceptance of any such violation makes moral cowards of us all, and leaves us in complicity with other cowards of any struggle who lay siege on the helpless….

… this assault took place under the nose of the United Nations… If we have to look for defining moments of despair and desperation within the Community that embraces the Palestinian people, its consciousness of the disdainful dismissal of its worth in international opinion, this surely must rank as one of the foremost --- and there have been, alas, uncountable numbers…

The time for tergiversation is over, it is time for a holistic confrontation of a global dilemma.
No Community, true, dares succumb to an arrogation of power over the lives of its innocents, and the doctrine of “There are not innocents” must be strategically and morally repudiated. To do less is to surrender our self-esteem, deny ourselves all dignity, diminish our own humanity, and indeed forgo our fundamental right to existence.”

----

“I consider it perhaps of some value, however limited, to co-opt… the following excerpt from a letter I recently received… “I am glad that for once I can send good news from Palestine… Reading your Reith Lecture “The Quest for Dignity”… was certainly an uplifting event and certainly an evening where the dignity and nobility of man reigned supreme… You might be interested to know that a relative of ours… sent your article to the commander in chief of the Occupation Israeli forces in our area.”” (Wole Soyinka, Introduction, May 2004)

Let there be hope.

*

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2004/lecture4.shtml

I guess I am sick of not finding any objective read on this issue so far. Mr. Mahmoud, I am sorry but you are obviously biased. And I don't blame you for that, and there lies the things that we are seeing today.

Should Israel have a right to exist as a state and have security within their borders? If you say yes, then they are justified in their actions. If you say no, then they are not justified.

It's very sad that history and conditioning have prevented all parties involved in this tragic family blood feud to be denied the peace and prosperity their children and grand children deserve.

The leaders of both sides should do something more courageous than dieing and fighting for their cause. Forgive each other and make peace. The more horrible the atrocity - the greater the sacrifice of forgiveness.

I feel the necessity to clear something up about AIPAC. IT IS A LOBBYING ORGANIZATION, CONGRESS FORBIDS IT BY LAW TO PAY ANY OF THE CONGRESSMEN OR EVEN PAY FOR LUNCH FO THEM OR THEIR STAFF. The organization educates congressmen to make their choices, it does not have "America in it's pocket" and it stands to benefit both nations.

Please leave Judaism out of these discussions, this problem is not directly influenced by it and the government is separated from religious figures in Israel.

How long before Hamas gets a dirty bomb? They are certainly in Iran now, asking for nuclear material is a given the way their people are being killed.

This is the Washington Post - a well investigated, well documented, historically accurate, factual point of view??

More Palestinians, especially Gazans, women, children and especially journalists have died at the hands of Hamas and other previous and current terrorists organization - than from the present bloody Israeli assault

It is only when Israelis kill Palestinians that their deaths and horrendous plight are disdainously noticed by the Western and Arabic press alike.

When Gazans families and children are hurt, maimed or die from the failed rockets Hamas shoot, day in, day out for years, to hurt, maim, of kill Isareli children and civilians, NOBODY cares.

The Gazan reporters trying to report are shot execution-style (2 in August 2007). And this is all Israel's intransigeance? Israel used to buy the famous Gazan tomatoes, and many groceries, gone now that Israel gave Gaza "back" to one wonders whom,
an monstruous entity that utterly even fails feeding the children of Gaza (70% malnourished).

Under the Israeli government, at least they ate fresh bread from the Gazan bakeries and vegetables from now destroyed plants, groves and greenhouses that also lack fuel.

A failed society "who hates Jews more than it loves its own children" is bound to self-destruction. The law of physics say as much and this cannot be re-written by Mr. Sabit, unlike his distortsion of the facts.

Here is a picture of the orginal leader of the Palestinain terror on Israeli civilian, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during WWII with a group of friends in Berlin where he spend the war inpsecting his friends proudly displaying their Schutzstaffel (SS) uniforms in the SS muslim unit. Remember, that was even before 1948.

Have a look (Quote from the mufti .. "considerable similarities between Islamic principles and national socialism". This does not represent Islam, but it sure represents the values of Hamas terrors and consorts; as shown by the company they keep.

http://jimball.com.au/Features/Mufti-Nazi.jpg
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/muslimssunit.jpg

As a reminder, the SS were
Active 1923–1945
Country Germany
Type Paramilitary
Size 38 Divisions (1945)
Commanders
Notable
commanders Julius Schreck (1925–1926)
Joseph Berchtold (1926–1927)
Erhard Heiden (1927–1929)
Heinrich Himmler (1929–1945)
Karl Hanke (1945)
The Schutzstaffel (help·info) (German for "Protective Squadron"), abbreviated SS- or (Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the Führer's "Praetorian Guard," the Nazi Party's "Shield Squadron" and a force that, fielding almost a million men, (both on the front lines and as political police) managed to exert as much political influence as the regular German armed forces.
<

I have been ashamed of America standing by while Israel kills hundreds of innocents in Gaza. Palestinians are being slaughtered in a land they cannot escape. To me, for most their only crime is to be born in the wrong place. Those actions breed hatred against Israel.

However, radicals want to escalate the conflict. Israel giving the Gaza strip to the Palestinians was an olive branch. Radicals are using the land to launch attacks and draw attention to their cause.

With time, the radicals efforts are causing the conflict to escalate. History tells us that war continue until the entire population sees they re only killing people and get so fed up they demand a stop. As horrible as things are now, they are still not bad enough to have everyone involved call for peace.

I am sick and tired of Israel.

I am sick and tired of USA politicians as they waste their time reviewing if a signiture is in place to swear in a Senator from Illinois. All the time Washington DC is run by Jewish Lobbies
(AIPAC to name one).

I am sick and tired of Clinton talking about liking a rug at Bush's office while school children are killed by his favorite country...USriel!

All of Washington DC is for sale. It is looking like another term for Bill Clinton. Obama apparently was for sale too.

I supported Obama but the only change I see is the amount of dead Palestinians falling on Washington DC blessings!

Oh how great that foreign lobby money feels in their pockets. Blood money to destroy countries and bring the hate of the world upon the USA.

It really looks like IDF agents are quite busy filling up all the Comment sections of major US media reporting about the Gaza conflict...No one can deny that Israel is way ahead when it comes to controlling western public opinions, particulary the US one, whihc remains so out of touch with political and social realities of the rest of the world...

Oh yeah and do not forget Gaza is no more than a large concentration camp...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7817019.stm

I think people should really boycott the American Media for their one sided bias (not only in the coverage but also in the Op-Ed). Read this article and do not ask the question ever again.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html

What will happen when Iran puts a nuclear bomb in the hands of Hamas? That is the question.

Excellent analysis of the truth of the situation.

To those who say Hamas should try "not shooting rockets": they did try exactly that for six months. In that time there was no move to loosen the embargo; indeed, it only tightened. Not shooting rockets is a losing strategy for Hamas and the palestinians as long as Israel and Egypt maintain the blockade.

To those who say Hamas' purpose is the destruction of Israel: political organizations change purposes all the time. Show them that they can do better by making accomodations with Israel than by maintaining that nominal purpose, and they will change.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, at a 2002 speech in the US, likened Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to the Apartheid he experienced in South Africa. In Tutu's actual words: "it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa ... the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about".

The world banded together to end Apartheid in South Africa, and we must do it again to show Israel that it's elitist and cruel policies against its neighbors are wrong. AIPAC has deep pockets, but can Americans' morality really be bought?

Everyone who is saying the problem is the rockets/missiles is a LIAR.

Israel just want to punish people for electing Hamas. Rockets is the excuse in Gaza, but West Bank is no better.

Israel does NOT want peace it wants piece(s) of Palestinians land. Look at all the agreements, accords initiatives, security resolutions, etc. They broke them all.

60 years ago, 40 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago Palestinians did not have rockets, and yet they were killed by Israeli blood thirsty army and settlers.

Yes they have most of the media on their side today, but remember cry wolf story. It will not last forever, and people will know that their support for criminal Israel was their greatest sin.

I remember the main reason Israel gave years ago, for not wanting to withdrawal from the occupied territories was because they served as "buffer zones" against rocket and mortar fire hitting populated areas within Israel.

It would seem their fears were well founded as Hamas is now using Gaza to launch rockets into Israel.

Knowing full well what would occur once they pulled out of the occupied territories, the Israeli's risked their safety in an attempt to show their willingness to pursue peace. Forcing Jewish settlers from their homes was not a pleasant task for the Israeli government.

I have yet to see the Palestinians make such a significant overture on their part. Instead, they respond by welcoming Hamas as their leaders, and supporting the rocket attacks on Israel.

BTW, the Arab outrage can't be too significant, I mean after all, we don't see Hizbolla jumping in to help Hamas in their fight...now do we? Unless providing a safe house counts, you know, from which Hamas leaders can fight back to the very last Gazan.

Mahmoud Sabit - there is A SIMPLE ANSWER to your article. STOP FIRING MISSILES AT ISRAEL. If HAMAS stops firing missiles at Israel, the war will end. If it does not, HAMAS's got to go.

I consider myself a pro-Israel activist, however I do have to agree with some of the comments directed towards Israel. The final goal is unclear because in all honesty, you cannot truly know how well exterminating Hamas is going to go. However I do think that it is fair enough to say that taking action is better than letting one's citizen's die. If one looks at the casualties attributed to terrorism in Israel, over the years the number of civilians who have died is disproportionate to amount who now, unfortunately have died in Gaza. Just to be accurate though, the death toll in Gaza is unclear because although the doctors may say one thing, even the UN has not confirmed those numbers. Regardless, the Beirut Declaration of March 2002 had many conditions including giving up east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights; it is necessary to include such a thing if one as eloquent as yourself actually does want to be accurate and not a propagandist (honestly though, if you are going for propaganda, you are just right on target).

What astounds me the most though, is that when the Arab's "Muslim Brother's" were dying by the hundreds of thousands in Sudan, no one came to the rescue. Estimates of 300,000 deaths and yet countries wouldn't even take orphans in. Calling what is happening in Gaza genocide is atrocious, and comparing this to ethnic cleansing is even worse. The warehouses in Gaza are overloading with food (http://www.dakotapolitics.com/getForumPost.asp?ArticleId=315109) and Israel has been taking in injured people as well as those who are ill. Last time I checked, that does not constitute neither genocide nor ethnic cleansing. I will not defend every action that Israel makes as correct, because I do not support the killing of civilians, however I do believe that the overall goal is just, and that this article biased.

Let's look at the big picture. The reason Iran are holocaust deniers is so we cannot 'use' the argument that the Jews have to go to Palestine/Israel, because Hitler was so bad to them, and killed 6 million. After the war, the remaining Jews went to war against innocent people in Palestine, to take over a place they felt a historical bond to. At that time, a few hundred thousand Arabs were moved from their homes. Now there are a few million Arabs in Palestine. You would imagine/think that Saudia Arabia, and Egypt could have assimilated every one if they were really concerned about the poor uneducated masses. They were not concerned. They want a riled up populace of sullen losers to strife and grumble and be willing to blow themselves up to get back great grandpa's homestead, which is now a medical school producing Nobel Prize winners, but never mind the reality.
So.. How about taking all this into account? Let's offer VISAS, to every Jew, religious or not, in Isreal. We had the chance, pre-holocaust, you know. Sec of Interior Ickes proposed using Alaska to receive the European Jews, in 1940. The Senate voted not to.
We have another chance. We have millions of acres of land in the west which is not used except by cows and a few of Bush's friends who own the current mining concessions. We can give Israel back to the U.N. Make it a protectorate again, and make both sides find homes in receptive lands, for all the millions of Arabs and Jews, and only have 900,000 people there, 450,000 Jews and 450,000 Arabs, about like just before the English gave it up to the Jewish revolution. ALL the rest would have to be relocated, Arabs to Iran, or Egypt or Libya, and Jews to the USA and the Anglo-Commonwealth empire. Even the Aussies and New Zealanders would have to open their doors to a few thousand Jews. Imagine that. No more war. No more bad Anglo-American-Israeli empire. Peace, in our time.
Just open your hearts and minds. Imagine that.

I have said it before, I will say it again--Until ONLY MOTHERS who truly love their children and do not want them killed NOR to kill other people, are given total control over the negotiations, there will never be any peace that at least any of us will ever see. Surely, there are 12 wise mothers in Israel and 12 wise mothers in Palistine who could sort this out.

Let the women judge and the men do as they say.

My father always said you need big gun if you are going hunting for a grizzly bear. Shoot it with a BB gun and you'll get killed. Simple. His grizzly is mounted and stands 10 feet tall.

It seems the Palestinians missed that lesson. Quite unfortunate for them. In their quest to gain favorable public opinion, anti-Israel opinion as desired by Iran, they are getting mauled.

Fortunately for them, Israel has a cooler head than a grizzly.

Mahmoud Sabit, are you braindead?

You wring your hands searching for an Israeli rationale that fits into your narrative, but it's very simple.

If rockets are fired at your home, you stop them.

It is not an etiological problem, chicken or egg, whether Hamas started or Israelis started this mess. Right now, there exists an educational, comfort/prosperity contrast and gap in that region between the Israelis and the rest...Maybe because of the occupation or despite that (I know which but let's not go there).
If the world would have the opportunity to invest in that region "wisely", Israel would have gained much more security and understanding. We cannot change people by bombs and oppression. we can kill them of course but may not be able to stand its dire consequences. Especially when we claim that we have been victims of oppression and holocaust.
I also find it funny when some folks blame Iran for the rockets. Iran is at best just riding the wave not causing it. Either we don't know the realities on the ground in that region or we have Iran-bashing agenda irrespective of this mess. Even if it is true, it does not serve solving the crisis, the root cause is somewhere else, dating even before the Iranian Islamic revolution.

Some posters are just robots, repeat without thinking Israel lies.

The killing can be stop on both sides only if Israel is willing to pay the price. What is the price? Stop attacking Gaza, and stop the blockade on food medicine and electricity. These two simple things can avoid the bloodbath but Israel seems enjoying it.

Example of Israel lies:

#1: Hamas broke the ceasefire.

Why it's a lie?
Israel on Nov 4th (For Americans it was the election day so they did not pay attention) Israel killed six Palestinians. Palestinians launched projectiles in retaliation and Israel attacked again and killed six.
It is Israel who broke the ceasefire not Hamas.

#2: The blockade is because Hamas took power in Gaza.

Why it's a lie?
Hamas was elected three years ago, the Israelis were already blockading Gaza. The Palestinians had to appeal to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and James Wolfensohn, the president of the World Bank, to pressure Israel to allow even a few score of trucks into Gaza each day. Israel agreed, then reneged. This was before Hamas won the election. The whole Israeli claim is one big myth. If there wasn't already a closure policy, why did we need Rice and Wolfensohn to try to broker an agreement?

Israel simply a rogue state habitually violates international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction and practises terrorism - the use of violence against civilians for political purposes.

This is by far the best analysis of this tragedy that I have read. Many thanks. I can understand your sense of indignation. It is difficult while people are suffering unnecessarily to deal with the spin, the awful tit-for-tat commentary, and the childish taking of sides. It is sobering that Bush, a man who has watched thousands of people die at his command from American prisoners to Iraqi civilians, American soldiers and now Palestinians, would sit idly by and say that it is one sides' fault. This strategy, punishing the Palestinians for the sake of certain factions in Palestine, has been used by the Israelis for some time. The other mystery for me is why Bush would, at the very end of his tenure, go along with it.
No matter who you 'support' we should as decent Americans support both sides in keeping the peace. Israel is and has been the aggressor in the main, and yes it is ridiculous to compare homemade rockets to 1,000 lb bombs. Probably most Americans don't realize that the Israelis have been blockading and harassing the Palestinians for many years and conducting torture in Lebanon. They prefer to see the conflict as a kind of football game from the comfort of their armchairs. And this is what the Bush administration has brought us to: spectators of war.
The American President has a clear duty to insist that the conflict be halted. If the Israelis refuse then all US aid should halt immediately. Certainly it is now time for an arms embargo against Israel. First there was the destruction of Lebanon, and now this. We simply cannot afford to take any more risks with them.

Oh please what is this willingly simplistic view of Gaza and Hamas? Why start at '67 so you can ignore that Egypt controlled gaza yet did not grant it independence? Or how about the 40 years of declaring war on Israel? Should that have consequences?
As for the aggressor when is a war crime justified. Please explain that Hamas has the right to routinely commit such by the thousands. As for Israel never forget that 1 million arabs (descendants of palestinians mostly) are Israeli citizens and do not suffer military invasions. But those who succumbed to greed and thievery and their descendants are the ones in Gaza today. Hell even the West Bank PLO crowd is lining to sign a deal with Israel now that Arafat is dead. But we are talking about Gaza and hamas and their charter of death to Israel and their continuing war crimes aggression.

But mostly I must decry Sabit's claim that Israel can not benefit from this? Strange it reminds me of a typical Arab cry that once again the animal Jew has deceitfully won against a muslim as stated in the Koran. Evidently Sabit is a historian with the inability to see beyond the crisis of the moment and can not note that Israel has been slowly winning and slowly creating an end game for the palestinians. One to Israel's advantage.
Just think how much better off the Palestinians would have been if in '47 they had accepted the two state UN proposal instead of declaring an ethnic cleansing war against the Jews.

Believe I understand the arab mindset, I also understand mental illness. And I have acted to treat both. The similarity is in the inability to understand consequences to aggressive acts.

The three protagnists, Hanas,Hezbollah and Iran
would mislead us about placing their civilians in the dying line, while the leaders of these groups hide and feint behind woman and children.

How many times will Hamas and Hezbollah fire from crowded civilian buildings in the middle of a war inviting the death of their own people for propaganda reasons.
Are any of the leadership people ever killed in these set-ups, was their a leadership person or leadership family member in the UN School?

If not we can safely conclude another propaganda triumph for Hamas and Hezbollah by inviting the deaths of their own innocent civilians as a cheap ploy.Hamas and Hezbollah leadership creates war deaths intentionally for media propaganda and their own political ambitions.

I am concerned about over zealous Israeli behavior but no country can stand still against rocket attacks or the vitriolic calls for Israel's destruction by the joining of rocket attacks from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.Israel should be worried and has no choice but to hit back.
Hamas killed PLO people when they chose to attack in Gaza.And they killed PLO people in Gaza this week.

I thought the article was very biased and had poor analysis. The comparison of Germany bombing Britain to Israel responding to Hamas' rockets is one of the worst comparisons I have heard on the Washington Post. Even if Israel were in the wrong, does it have ANYTHING to do with the history referred to? The article has very little warrant and the logic full of holes. It's not a story or an attempt to make sense of the fighting-- it's a shameless attempt at one-sided propaganda. Terrible writing.

what terror the poor people of Gaza must be feeling right now brought on by the fanatical sub humans within their own midst...(not the Israelis) It's amazing how supporters of the Arab cause fail to mention or downplay that rockets have been raining down on Israeli towns daily. Even though few Israeli's are killed in relation to the Israeli response, what are they supposed to do...wait until the rockets get more accurate and more deadly....Pro Arab sentiment should get real and honest and start helping to change the mindset of people stuck in another time. No rockets/no need to respond...what more do you need to understand? Keep pushing Israel into a corner and they will drop a bomb one day that will wipe the slate clean....Iran take heed! Thank G-D at least one Arab nation is waking up...Go Egypt!

There is almost no point in speaking. Mr Sabit asks a practical question - what is the goal? - and rebuts various possibilities. Blowing people up isn't going to make them more peaceful and accommodating. It just deepens their hopelessness, rage, and faith in extremists. Instead of addressing anything Mr Sabit says, the readers just repeat the same memes that emerge from them regardless of input. "There is no limit to self-defense: kill them all! What is Israel supposed to do, join hands with their killers and sing Kumbaya? Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel", and so on, and on. Pure reflex. An utter inability to think even for a moment: what is the objective, and how can it be accomplished? "Kill! Kill! Teach them a lesson in blood!" Nothing can even make an impression on their thoughts let alone change them. Very well, let's revisit this in 40 years, and see if "Yes but ... what does it do but further entrench hatred and subjugation?" was answered.

GOOGLE USS LIBERTY read it all, you will see ISRAEL MURDERED 34 UNITED STATES SAILORS, just for the sake of taking a few miles of land, L B JOHNSON let them get away with.AS i care not what happens to BEN LADEN, i could even care less what happens to ISRAEL.Them,,, our leaders in washington are controled by israel,as israel can make or break them. lets hope that OBAMA grows a pair and stands up to them, if he would it would free up 17 to 20 million dollars a day badly needed here .

Those who call for a proportional response from Israel should take note:

Hamas has declared every Jewish civilian a legitimate target and denies Israel’s right to exist.

Using that standard a proportionate response from Israel would result in the speedy obliteration of every living soul in Gaza -- which would be an easy task for the IDF by carpet bombing Gaza a la Dresden.

By sending in ground troops Israel is sacrificing it’s own sons to limit civilian casualties in Gaza.

The WP should be ashamed to have published such nonsense as this article.

Dear Friends in Egypt,

We would like to thank you and appologize for winning Gaza from you using the "rules of war", it was nice to have the land for the past 60 years, but as a token of the new millenium, we grant you full ownership of the land. Please accept our gift. Also, if you happen to talk to our friends in Jordan befor we do, please let them know we are getting tired of the west bank also. We would like to keep a small token of our past dances and are going to keep jerusalem whole for historical value.

Again, thanks for the fun we had.
Israel.

--- who does a thief goes to when the property he stolen is stolen from the thief? ---
--- Gen. 12:7; 13:15,17; 15:7,18; 17:8; 21:13; 26:3-4; 28:13-15; Acts 7:1-47 ---

I am amazed at the extreme ignorance of so many "people" who posted comments on this article.

Mahmoud Sabit wrote a thoughtful and factual piece with an inordinate amount of care for *balance* - something that nearly every poster before me - except for a handful, completely ignored.

The fact is, Palestinians have every right to their land. Israel wants it, the Palestinians own it. One poster here even suggested ethnic cleansing as a viable option! How sick is that?

Hamas did not just spring up out of nowhere. As Samit points out, Israel created Hamas. The occupation preceded Hamas by *two decades* - Israel originally nurtured Hamas as a counter-weight to Arafat but when Hamas saw Israel had no intention of ever letting Palestinians alone, in fact spreading more "settlements" than ever before, they had the temerity to fight back.

When the US *insisted* that Hamas be able to take part in elections, instead of abiding by the outcome, both Israel and the US worked hand in hand to overthrow Hamas, freely and fairly elected, and drive them from power.

They did this by throwing elected legislators in prison with no charges, withholding Palestinians own tax money, and initiating a cruel siege upon the civilian population of Gaza, in itself a crime against humanity.

About the latest ceasefire, Haaretz wrote that not only did Israel routinely break the ceasefire, (and kept those violations as low below the radar of media as possible), they quite fully and outright broke it on November 4, 2008 when they entered Gaza, killed six Palestinians, and all over an alleged "tunnel."

The occupation of Gaza never ended. That is perhaps one of the most cruel myths being applied to this latest carnage. Gaza's air, land and sea was blockaded *for years*.

Sharon's "disengagement" plan made clear that Israel would retain complete control and the most basic fact of all is Gaza is not an island, it is not separate from the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

All of them are part and parcel Palestinian.

There are UN resolutions dating back 41 years that make this fact plain.

It is the occupations stupid.

International law must be upheld by all states, and it must be imposed evenhandedly against all who seek to ignore it, and Israel will not be able to always thwart the will of nations because at some point, the majority of Americans will and are starting to get a glimmer of truth from media outside the bubble of control that is the current state of news reporting in the US.

Once that veto is gone...

I am not just saddened that so many people glorify in Israel killing hundreds of Palestinians and wounding thousands in an attempt at might makes right, I am disgusted that there are any people who would praise it and demand yet more of it.

exnerd

Contrary to Zionist propaganda, the UN did not create Israel; Israel was created when Jews declared themselves rulers and claimed statehood unilaterally after the Mandate ended even though they represented only a very small percentage of the population at the time.

UN General Assembly Resolution 181 only made suggestions to the UN Security Council, but like so many UNGAR resolutions ignored by Israel to this very day had no power to take land from one group to give to another. The Security Council did send their envoy Count Folk Bernadette to Palestine to make suggestions, but he was murdered by Jewish terrorists before his report was completed.

It disturbs me how many of the Washington Post's recent pieces on the Gaza fighting are written by contributors with Arabic names. I mean, some such contributors are quite fine, but the large percentage of them (many writers I've never heard of before) raises severe questions about editorial bias. Quite frankly, I'd like to read an equal number of pieces by people named Cohen and Shapiro too.

I think it all comes down to when it is 'ok' to enforce military action on another province if they are perpetually attacking your women and children? Like picking a scab, Hamas has pushed Israel to the edge and forced this upon themselves. HOWEVER, it is NOT right for Israel to target a U.N. School and kill innocent children. The school was clearly market with U.N flags and they had co-ordinates. What isn't right is that innocent lives have to pay for the misunderstandings and disagreements. I mean what do those poor innocent children know about the politics of Israel and Hamas?. And since when has the art of negotiation been shoved aside and replaced with tanks and bombs?

The author and others protesting the Israeli attack in Gaza should take the time to learn a bit about Hamas before so quickly coming to its defense. They should start by reading the Hamas Charter, which is full of hatred and ethnic poison, wrapped in an Islamic cloak. It is virulently anti-Semitic and uncompromising in its goal of ridding Palestine of the Jews. Nothing in that document can lead the Palestinian people to peace and prosperity in the 21st Century. Hamas doesn't care that it brought the quality of life for the Palestinians in Gaza back 50 years. In fact, it seeks to bring it back 1000 years, to the time of the Caliphs when the legal system was the Islamic criminal code. Just two days before the start of the Israel air strikes, Hamas enacted laws with penalties that include blood revenge, amputation, and crucifixion.
Many of the people who are protesting the Israel attack on Hamas admit they do not like Hamas, but that Israel ought to have negotiated before attacking. Unfortunately, this was not possible. The Hamas charter states. "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors." Atlantic Monthly journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, author of “Prisoners” about the Israel – Palestinian conflict, said that the leaders of Hamas whom he had met in Gaza were not– and would never be - interested in peace with Israel. From their point of view, he has said, ‘this is a religious conflict and you can’t negotiate with God.'
Such intransigence and absolutism leads Hamas to reject any peaceful accommodation with Israel, to train its people - starting from kindergarten - to demonize and hate, to kill and rejoice in their own death. What a tragedy Hamas is inflicting on the Palestinian people of Gaza!

I am appalled at this obvious one-side article. Hamas has no track record to want peace, and in fact they have done everything to avoid peace. The Palestinian people, if they want peace with Israel, need to overthrow these bullies and seek peace with Israel in a peaceful way, not throwing missles at Israel and saying that they are committed to the destruction of the Israeli state. One only has to go back in history, and see that the Palestinian people, were used as pawns by legitimate Arab governments, to resist coexistence with Israel, after the 1948 UN Mandate. Israel never wanted to destroy the Palestinian population, on the contrary, they wanted to co-exist with their neighbors. What about 1967? What about 1973? If the Arab governments really wanted peace with Israel, they could have it tomorrow; why don't they reign in Hamas?

Thank you for a clear and honest assessment of the genocide being inflicted on the people of Gaza by the Israelis.

http://www.zshare.net/video/53615165ce62d17b/

Here is a video that sums it up. The media is not allowed to enter gaza, hence no full, appropriate coverage of the situation. What we see makes us believe we have an idea of what things look like on the ground. The other problem is that the media does not declare that it cannot cover Gaza,all the media do is to transmit to us what they receive from the israelis.

Why do the 'civilized' nations allow candidates to stand for office in Palestine, who are members of a group whose OFFICIAL POLICY is to deny the right of the 'host' state of Israel, to exist.
HAMAS' very 'constitution' denies the right of Israel to exist.
The rest is simple. HAMAS people receive missiles from IRAN which denies the holocaust and the right of Israel to exist. They fire missiles upon civilians. Israel pushes back and everyone is mad at Israel. REALLY? What about Iran and HAMAS trying to end Israel's very existence? ANY civilized states want to negotiate THAT STUPIDITY?

this article is biased pro-palestinian propaganda. what israel hopes to accomplish couldn't be more simple or more obvious to any objective viewpoint. hamas has been regularly blasting a barrage of rockets into israel free of international pressures to make them stop. israel was left with no choice but to protect itself, particularly given the recent escalation of rocket fire since the end of the cease fire (which hamas refused to renew).

the palestinian people have nobody to blame but hamas for the violence. not only have they continually initiated terror with rocket fire and suicide bombings, but when they come under retaliation for their provoking actions they hide in the homes, mosques, schools, and hospitals of their own people.

although i agree israel is very limited in their abilities to generate a long-term solution to protect itself from hamas' continuous rocket fire with its military response, it will at least help in the short-term. the long-term solution needs to come from the people in gaza themselves. i don't see how a sustainable peace in the region can ever be accomplished with an organization that's recognized across the globe as a terrorist organization, such as hamas calling the shots. hamas needs to be rejected by the palestinian people. if they reunite under the palestinian authority peace stands a real chance and meaningful negotiations can begin.

>>...I suggest that all arabs who are Muslim be converted to Christianity. This way they can learn the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill". It's a good commandment...<<

"Thou Shalt not commit murder", and "Love thy neighbor as thyself" are, of course, from Torah and not from Christianity. They are both good precepts and they long predate Jesus and Christianity. Which, in reality, added nothing of substance.

Christianity itself is another Triumphalist religion doomed to ultimate disappointment and failure.

If you want to suggest that Arabs and Muslims convert, there's a much better path, much closer to the source.

Hamas just today met with its leaders, Iran and Syria. If they continue the rockets, then it is because Iran and Syria told them to.

http://www.zshare.net/video/53615165ce62d17b/

The boundaries of Gaza have been fixed for years.Israel withdrew from this occupied territory to facilitate Peace.The result,has been Rockets and Missiles from Gaza killing innocent Israelis.There is no doctrine of proportionality when your homes and schools are struck by terrorists.When V1 and V2 rockets rained down on England,the British were not "Proportional" when they Fire Bombed Dresden killing Hundreds of Thousands.Unlike Gaza where Homes,Mosques and Schools are used to store and fire weapons,most Germans in Dresden were innocent victims of a war begun by Hitler.
The Gazans can have peace anytime they want it!!All they need do is recognize Israels right to exist,stop their terrorism, and come to the peace table.
Until then,any harm to Gazans by Israel is a result of the actions of Hamas,a terrorist organization.

Dear Friends, If history is the reason of the current conflict, let's have some historical facts:
1- Jews were in Egypt prior to migrating to Palastine. Let them go back to Egypt if they love history.
2- They were massacred in Germany and flooded to Palastine aiming to create Jewish state and replace the palastenins.
3- for years neither the UN nor the Arabs helped palastenians claim a piece of their own land.

Now tell me: what will you do if Mexico occupied USA for 50 years, will you forget your right?

Mr. Sabit, Israel is attacking Gaza because Gaza has been sending thousands of rockets at Israel for the last few years. It is as simple as that.
Sure, one rocket does little damage, but three years and thousands of rockets later, what is IsraeI supposed to do?
Many civilians die in Gaza because it is a densely populated area, and Hamas has not chosen to separate itself from the rest of the population. As a result, Israel can only do their best to target militants.
Additionally, you criticize Israel for refusing certain agreements, without explaining the terms of the agreement, but instead implying that the Israelis have no motive but to cause pain for Palestinians. You would have the world believe that Israel is to blame for everything bad in this conflict, which shows only a biased and irrational approach.

It amazes me how much whining people do about Palestinians suffering the consequences of their violence.

They rocket Israel since they took over, and somehow that was ok with everyone but the Israelis.

The Gazans elected this outcome, they're responsible for it, and to pretend otherwise is deluded.

Mr. Sabit, if you're so biased that you can't see what this about & the best you can do is to write that it's not very clear to you what's going on, perhaps you should keep your opinions to yourself until you can develop more educated ones.

Mahmoud Sabit, are you braindead?

You wring your hands searching for an Israeli rationale that fits into your narrative, but it's very simple.

If rockets are fired at your home, you stop them.

This is a totally biased article.

You get what you give. HAMAS killed innocent people in Israel with rockets and now its payback time.

This is not a gamble its sheer commonsense on israel's part.

It is true the bombing of Germany didn't dent the resolve of the people, but I think the brutal Nazi regime had something with keeping them in line. What is also true is once the war was over, the Germans got on with their lives and quickly forgot Hitler. I'm sure there are similarities regarding the relationship the Palistinian people have with Hamas. At the end of this, Gaza is going to be destroyed. Are the people of Gaza going to want to start this all over again once the war is over? Perhaps, but they and Hamas would be insane to resume hostilities. However, since this is the Middle East, anything is possible.

HEY Sabit,The Israel people need to install a 104 acre,700million $,fort,"excuse",embassy in gaza like bush did in Bagdad.That will show them devils they are under control and that the Israeli's are real serious.Shove the fort down the throat of all concerned.If you have to borrow the money from China to pay for it.We the USA would help but we are broke.The US needs to keep out of it.If there is Hammas,al-qaeda,ahab the arab,or who ever,comes to the US and attacks,then we go to the old testement and LEVEL The whole country they came from.Todays gangbangers were yesterdys children.Actually if a threat is made,level them.The so called civillians are as bad as the gangbangers if they do nothing and above all back up the gangbangers.Ask egypt about the bangers from Pakistan.Why not GIVE Pakistan Egypt as Pakistan is kicking butt in Egypt?????
Egypt has been good to Pakistan so Pak.has a right to kill off Egyption people.Right???? There is tunnels and all kinds of stuff from Egypt to Hammas.Those rockets have to come into firing position from somewhere.Israel as well as its allies need to keep eyes on Egypt and put in a fort there also if they can borrow the money.

pak. has the right

This is a tragedy which is guaranteed to have at least one eventual and unavoidable outcome: nuclear weapon(s) delivered one way or another onto Israel. Another devastation attributable, at least in part, to religious triumphalism. The subsequent ascendancy of Islam can itself also be only temporary as all triumphalist religions are doomed to ultimate disappointment and failure.

Unless those religions can adapt themselves to the permanent delay or deferral of their respective never-to-be-realized Triumph, and live peaceably with their neighbors, the best hope is for the ultimate triumph of a compassionate and empathetic secular humanism. That this might occur in any foreseeable future is doubtful.

Israel was ideally a terrific idea, but sadly and tragically it was doomed to eventual extinction from the start. There is no way to avoid the eventual nuking and destruction of Israel. The USoA, of course, will also eventually be nuked, hard fission nukes, not "dirty" bombs. And, sadly, nothing can prevent this outcome either.

Let's put Hamas in perspective folks.

*They vow to destroy every Jew and the state of Israel.

*They attack from civilian positions so they can hide and therefore "blame" the Israelis for killing civilians.

*By doing the previous, they show no loyalty to their own citizens because they put them in the line of fire.

*They have attacked Israel with rockets and mortar fire for many months. They started this conflict.

*They represent terrorism and use terrorist methods. They are cowards at heart and fanatics in philosophy.

How would you feel if your "neighbors" lobbed grenades into your backyard everyday with the intention of killing everyone in your family?

How would you feel if they proclaimed that their main agenda was to kill all of your family and burn down your house?

What would you do if the police said it was your problem and criticized you for trying to protect your family and house?

What would you say if Hamas is that neighbor and Israel was the one trying to protect itself from terrorists?

Oh, but you say, Hamas "only" used rockets and mortar shells to attack Israel while Israel used jets to bomb Hamas.

So the alternative, I suppose, is to use smaller rockets to make everything fair?

When you start a war, nobody is counting or keeping track of what you use. If you are ignorant enough to attack a country, you reap the rewards.

God bless Israel.

Hate and ignorance are a bad combination and this author is guilty of both. Rather than use rhetoric let us look at history. The United Nations established Israel and a Palestine state in 1948. Rather than accept it the Arab states 7 of them attacked Israel.
Israel has tried repeatedly to obtain peace. The countries such as Jordan and Egypt that accepted it have made billions in peaceful tourism.
Isreal sends pamphlets to let the people know where the bombs will be. Hamas sends missles.
The people have not been raped or murdered by the Israelis. Two thirds of the Palestinians killed are killed by other Palestinians not Israelis.
Hamas is callling for the destruction of Israel. If Hamas had the weapons there would be another Holacaust in Isreal. Isreal only wants peace.
If you go to any Jewish temple there is a cry for peace. If you go to a mosque there are cries for a jihad.
So stop attacking Isreal with words and weapons. Read a history book instead.

Israel has been engaged in ethnic cleaning since it was spawned in 1948 by rabid Zionists whose goal was always to drive the indigenous population from Palestine. For proof of their sinister intentions one only need read the words of Zionist leaders such as Herzl who in 1897 claimed "We would spirit the penniless population (i.e. the Palestinians) across the borders" or those of David Ben Gurion who in 1943 boasted "After we become a strong force, as the result of the creation of a state, we shall abolish partition and expand into the whole of Palestine".

So I ask you, are those the words of victims merely trying to defend themselves?

I think not!

The comments comparing numbers of casualties completely miss the point. One Jew is worth dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Arabs, because Arabs are dirty and shiftless and uneducated, whereas Jews are God's chosen people, the Uber-race. Israel has a national and divinely-mandated need for Lebensraum. And as many commentators have noted, Israel's very identity as a Jewish state is threatened by the number of Arabs it is obliged to use for all the non-Kosher dirty work that needs to be done in any modern state. Clearly, Israel needs a modern, 21-st century Final Solution to its mounting Gentile Problem. Seen in this light, killing a thousand or so non-Jews to rout out some troublesome rocket launchers seems not only reasonable, but clearly a step in the right ultimate direction. Shalom.

Excellent article that highlights the true state of affairs. Quite ironical though is that hate mongers still think that everybody here is stupid and oblivious to Israel's full fledged effort on ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

It is sad to feel that we live in a Barbarian world still in 2009.To kill to destroy to occupy .for Israel to kill the people who are willing to give them a piece of their Land in the name of GOD . what happen since 5757 almost six millinium . Why fight now for acres...Live and let live at the END 1967 is the only answer , why keep the killing the hatred with your neighbor for ever.This was not a war , a war when people fight equally , why kill children ????this is a simple Barbarian act .The reason is despair.
Jesus Christ !why humiliate The USA again and again........It is not right it is not right

I commend Mr. Sabit for writing such a thoughtful article. It gives me hope to read something like this in the Washington Post. The Israelis are a rogue nation. The worst aspect of the atrocities, speaking as an American citizen, is that without our massive financial, military, and technological support this kind of barbarity would not be possible. It is odd to note that the average American citizen probably has no idea that we give the Israelis well in excess of 100 billion dollars a year. I am ashamed, horrified, and outraged that my tax money pays for the murder of innocent women and children under the utterly ridiculous pretense of "rooting out terrorists". What complete, total maniacal paranoid lunacy. Thank you Mr. Sabit for carefully pointing out how absurd it is to claim you are slaughtering innocent women and children in the name of "security". As far as I am concerned, the real tragic aspect of this is how the American people have been successfully manipulated by guilt and deception to support the paranoid delusions of the most extreme factions of the Israeli people. I suggest we end all funding and military support to Israel. As long as they insist on committing genocide we can at least stop paying for it.

What is Israel trying to accomplish? Stopping the Hamas barrage of rockets, destroying the tunnels Hamas is using to rearm itself, and stopping the rearmaments themselves. Simple three things; how strange you have overlooked them, Mahmoud.

Not Israel, Bush Neocons and NeoNazi GAMBLE
In reality, Israel is nothing but a puppet regime of Americans Neocons, who have joined hands with NeoNazis and Zionists of Israel-America to eleminate Palestinians and their homeland. Israel has proved beyond doubts that it is an outlwaed Regime, who can keep the bloody, inhumane and apartheid Occupation at ant cost and at any means. It is shocking that even Saudis, Jordians and Egypt and other dictators have joined this criminal gangs only to save their falling Empires.

Daily Life in Gaza is real tough!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4g1-HTJYEk

It's so funny to see a terrorist that speaks good english. I wonder if even he believes what he is saying.

This is an excellent article. The comments display why the arguments of the sane minority fail to come to the fore: those with an opinion tend to be polarized between anti-Semitic, anti-Arabic. Most of the remaining people are apathetic.

Sabit addressed most of the comments before they were written, yet somehow the most of the commenters seem to fail to actually read the article.

For the anti-Arabs: you seem to be unaware of what life in Gaza is like. It is an open-air prison; you cannot get in, you cannot get out. Israel cuts off nearly all imports. Egypt, because of its position in Africa, and having one of the less oppressive Maghreb governments, is a desirable destination for refugees from all over war-torn Africa. Their resultant policy is to keep their borders closed to refugees on all sides. This leaves Gaza in isolation.

If you were born in Gaza and treated the way Israel treats you, you'd be supporting Hamas too. I would. We all would.

No one with a shred of anti-Arabic, anti-Semitic, or religionist feeling can contribute anything remotely meaningful to this discussion.

We definitely have to keep a close watch on Canadians!

I too fail to see what they expect to get out of this expenditure of power. To cow Iran? to prove that they can wipe out a defenseless population? Because they just don't like the color of their neighbor's skin all that much?

I have noticed Israel lashing out more and more randomly and brutally at the Palestinians over the last few years, I have my own theory. Notably that the power brokers in Israel see their own destruction at the hands of a China-backed middle east.

Israel was able to manipulate and control the United States through an expert understanding of it's political processes. That is not possible with China(I'll be mighty impressed if they manage to make the conversion of sugar-daddies) as China has no real political processes. This control allowed the state of Israel to begin and to flourish, but China as it rises to dominance over world events is obviously backing the other horse in this race. AKA the ones with the oil.

These little missle-tantrums are just a political ploy to assuage their own people against the fate they all see coming.

Just as I predicted. The world (according to British Broadcasting, CNN, and the Arab press) is up in arms at the "aggression" of Israel. Oh, the "disproportionate" response, blah, blah, blah.

Ok, we know that Hamas, a terrorist organization broke the cease fire and start lobbing bombs to terrorize and murder innocent Isreali citizens. Israel responds in self-defense and is accused of "disproportionate" aggression. "Proportionate" is not a metric where you compare body counts between Israel and Hamas. It's a moral response to acts of terror and murder.
Israel's response is in accordance with the Catholic Church's teaching on legitimate defense:

Legitimate defense
2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor.... The one is intended, the other is not."[65]

2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow:
If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful.... Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one's own life than of another's.[65]

2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life. Preserving the common good requires rendering the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. To this end, those holding legitimate authority have the right to repel by armed force aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their charge.[66]

How about this answer to your idiot gamble question.....To stop rockets from being launch by Hamas into peaceful Israel cities that are killing innocent people. If Canada started launching missles into Buffalo because of a territory dispute, I am pretty sure our response would be the same or stronger......

This article is kindof ridiculous.

It has been raining rockets in Israel for a very long time. It has to stop at some point, and not by Israel continuing to give and give until there is nothing left of it.

The Palestine Review should look at what ethnic cleansing really is in history, and how it is ACTUALLY carried out. The comment above is transparent. If Hamas wasn't encouraging people to educate their kids to hate Jews and using that same energy to keep the families of hostile people when they are a target of a strike, civilian deaths would be MUCH less. It is an ugly and sad fact, but you can't just let committed killers live because they hide behind their families, who are suporting the action, they will do it until they are lethal to Irael. Education of the Palastinian people needs to happen. They are in a deep and dangerous hole in this regard. I am very pro-peace. Israel is acting in defense, and it cannot be rationalized any other way, in reality. If there were not rockets and threat, they would not be doing what they are doing.

Hate is a business is some parts of the world. The poor are not educated enough to understand that.

I agree with the the author about what this is supposed to accomplish for both sides but maybe the Israeli response will accomplish this: I'm not going to take it anymore and you will pay some high costs. As for the palestinian civilian deaths they are all on hamas. When you hide behind civilians and shoot rockets this is what you get, and all that blood is on your hands. The author belittle's the palestinian rockets- it is like russian roulette, obviously most of the time they do no damage but who wants a gun to their head with a potentially fatal device? If Israel did that to the palestinians you can bet the world would have castigated them. Fair, never for the Jews. Why does not the author criticize the palestinians for not "going straight" after the Gaza strip was handed to them? Are they not to blame for that? Finally, the author makes a point of who will come to power if hamas is defeated, al quaeida or worse- well we all should hope not but the author's veiled threat is noxious.

Mr. Sabit's thoughtful and careful analysis would be compelling but for its failure to address the fundamental motivation of Hamas and its Iranian sponsor: Judaea delenda est.

It is in this connection that his citation to such authorities as the Israeli historian Mr. Segev to the effect that '"We shall have to talk to Hamas - they may be a terrorist organization, but they are also a political party, a social welfare movement and the elected representatives of the Palestinian people,"' overlooks Mr. Segev's own failure to comprehend the underlying motivation of the Hamas.

His having overlooked that motivation undermines his apparent argument to the effect that there is evil on both sides, and that the failure of the Israelis to agree to sit down and sing "Kumbaya" with the Hamas means the Israelis are at fault.

I don't buy it.

It is interesting that once upon a time David fought Goliath--and David was an Israeli, and Goliath was a Palestinian. I think what the Israelis would like to have happen is for the Palestinian to try "Not Shooting Rockets". A people (the Palestinian) who tolerate terrorists in their midst are the soil that grows them--those poor "innocent" Palestinians could always choose to "out" the terrorists--they choose not to--they are a major part of the problem. Israel was declared war on by SIX Arab states the first day of its existence. If the Palestinians hadn't CHOSEN to launch rockets the Israelis wouldn't have occupied a square inch outside of Israel. It is a curious fact that Palestinian "men" choose to hide behind women and children--I would bet they attempt to draw fire on women and children to get the press to salivate. Why the press is so supportive of a people who treat women like cr*p is a total mystery to me.

If a nation speaks with their suicide bombers and rockets, and not their voices, what is to be heard?

It is a career limiting move for any journalist to criticize Israel.

I love it when the liberals post that views other than their own are "extreme." LOL!

As I said before, the main goal of Hamas is to kill innocents. Israel's goal of self-defense is to kill Hamas while doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualities. Hamas recruits martyrs and human shields as well as places their weapon stockpiles and their military headquarters in civilian areas just like the cowards they are. The fault for civilian Palestinian casualties rests solely with Hamas, not Israel. No one else is to blame for the killing of innocent Palestinians other than Hamas, period!

There is no moral equivalency here at all. Hamas started this and Israel needs to defend its people. Thank God George Bush is not caving in to wordwide opinion, which is always against Israel. It's about time he used his veto power in the UN security council.

I guess to be fair and to give a proportionate response, Israel should just start lobbing bombs indiscriminantely into the Gaza strip in heavily populated areas?

No, Isreal is being very surgical in its strikes and is careful to minimize civilian deaths. This is just the opposite of what Hamas does. And only because Hamas uses their own people as human shields (they recruit for that very purpose) and deliberately set up their operations and weapons storage facilities in civilian areas, is there as much collateral damage as there is.

The world has gone mad. It doesn't see clearly what is really going on and who is at fault.

The call for a cease fire now being yelled across the media should have begun when Hamas began their reign of terror. Why was the world and the media silent then? Why are they still silent about that?

What is Israel supposed to do? Just sit back and let their citizens be terrorized and murdered?

There are no innocent Palestinians. They cheer on Hamas and will suffer the consequences. The dream of a Pan Arab Nation is gone. The islamists have risen and now giude the Arabs to their own destruction.
The answer is clear. If the Arabs and Islamists do not accept Israels right to exist, it appears, that in order to survive Isreal will eventually have to use nuclear weapons to clear out the murderous peoples surrounding them.

None of this crap will ever stop until mankind evolves to the point where everyone realizes that religion in any form is just superstition.

In the end, it all comes down to trust. Can Israel trust any Arab country who signs a treaty with it? With regard to Egypt, so far, the answer is "yes." With regard to Jordan, again, the answer is "yes." But Arafat had the chance for enduring peace right in his hands, and he threw it away. Can Israel trust Hezbollah? Hamas? It's hard to trust someone whose basic tenet is your illegitimacy and destruction. People who say they are just talking from a position of weakness, and will moderate given time, may be right. But, they also may be wrong. The years of "peace" between Israel and Egypt have given both the trust and confidence to engage in mutually beneficial ways. Maybe it will just have to take tentative steps, and years of trust building, before an enduring peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors can become a reality. What's more, trust which can take a long time to establish, takes seconds to dispell.

Regarding zipi's post:

It is for this reason that Israel defends itself so forcefully. Hamas believes that violence only will solve their problems. Any more questions?

What is a civilian? Is it a plain clothed person with a rifle? I saw a picture of Gaza, where several children were running with real rifles. Just for clarity - kids like that in the US end up getting killed.

No, hostilities will not end until all weapons are removed from Gaza, and all weapons smuggling ceases to happen. Otherwise, Hamas will just keep shooting.

With Hamas shooting rockets out of civilian areas to protect themselves; that puts a lot of civilians and their facilities at risk. And that is acceptable - seeing as how civilians have ready access to rifles, and can shoot at Hamas anytime they want. They can defend themselves. They know that Hamas is putting them in danger. They can stop the rockets if they want. They are not that STUPID. Even children have rifles.

To AndyfromVA
"...I deplore what I consider to be Israel's excessive use of force in this instance..."

When the Nazis killed innocent children in their bombing raids over London, what, in your opinion, would the appropriate response have been?

How do you fight an enemy who hides from your men and attacks your children instead?

How do you fight an enemy who fires on YOUR children while hiding behind THEIR children?

To All,

I don't think you should be worried much. Palestine will be Free and only will be free by fighting aggression(Israel, and Abas). Watch and See..Victory is coming.

Ummm...maybe next time Hamas will think twice before launching rockets? Wow. Betcha never thought of that one.

IN RESPONSE TO ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO DEFEND THEIR COUNTRY'S LAND AND THEIR PEOPLE.I WOULD ONLY SAY
IN THEIR DEFENSE THAT IF YOUR NEIGHBOR WOULD KEEP SHOOTING YOUR HOUSE WITH HIS FIREARM,WHAT WOULD BE YOUR RESPONSE?

Instead of instilling so much hate with an obviosuly tainted and biased article, why don't you invest your resources in objective, and thruthfull reporting with correct facts? Why help spreading lies and using your stand to confuse more the issue and your readers. Yes why should Israel even bother safeguaring lives of civilians if there are publications like yours.
Is it so difficult to realize that Israel's only objective is Peace for everybody?

Mahmoud Sabit,

1. It is interesting that you paralleled Israel's attack as WWII German Blitz. I would have thought it would be fair to also make the parallel of Grads raining like confetti into Israel with Germany's V1 and V2 rockets raining onto London in WWII.

2. Your article appears to suggest that the gamble was initiated by Israel. You fail to mention that the gamble was in fact started by the Hamas was the initiator of the gamble by resuming rocket firing into Israel; Israel had to make a call as to their response.

3. Casualties? Show me a war without casualties, in particular one where it is an urban battlefield.

4. It is interesting that you mentioned that Hamas was democratically elected by Gaza citizens. Given Hamas's manifesto as being 1st, the destruction of Israel, it means that the citizens of Gaza have signed off on this through the process of voting in the elections. Hence, can we say they are really any "innocent"?

5. Disproportionate response? So might Israel also fire Grads into Gaza be considered totally fair and appropriate? [ Okay I am ranting - you did not mention that ]

6. So what's the benefit or gain to be had for Israel? Simply to stop the terror. In real terms, it means destroying the stockpiles of Grads, cutting the supply lines of Grads, dismantling the terror infrastructure. In short, remove the weeds.

7. That said, for as long as the roots are not removed, the weeds will grow again. And future pruning can be expected. Will the world be able to remove the root of the problem? Seriously, where the manifesto of Hamas is the destruction of state of Israel, while Israel's goal is the continued existence of the state of Israel means the removal of either Hamas or Israel - you cannot have the cake and eat it.

I have to say, no one can defeat HAMAS. I don't understand why (countries) against it. It is an elected government by its people. The government in Ramallah not even a good government. People are suffering from Abas group. Hamas inshallah will win and show the people that is a fair good government.

My best Regards to the Qassam

Maybe if we remove the blinders and review the historical facts we will be able to see and understand that nothing can justify the killing of innocent victims regardless of what nationality they are and to blame Hamas only for what is happening in Gaza is the most simplistic and naive way of viewing the events in the middle east. You cannot oppress a nation and expect to live in Peace. The Palestinians are deserving of the same rights as all citizens of the Western World and a nation cannot be battered into aoccepting what Israel, and the US determines is a right government and their version of democracy. Stop the blockade on both the Eygptian and Israeli sides of the border and allow 1.4 million people to have the same rights and privileges that we of the western world demand and expect for ourselves.
This is a well written and very balanced article.
Although the rocket attacks are not the way to go, the loss of life which resulted from these attacks are significantly less than those killed either through bullets or starvation in the occupied territories.
Let us all stop being blind and buying the propaganda we all know to be twisted in favor of the Israeli government

To: marge9 who said:
"LEAVE GAZA OR DIE."

1. Israel DID leave Gaza. Don't you read the papers. Israel left Gaza, and THEN Hamas starting raining missles down on Israeli children.

2. Imagine if Israel had your attitude. Imagine if Israel ordered all the Arabs to move to Egypt or Jordan or they would be killed. The only reason there are Arabs in Palestine today is that Israel has shown great humanity and compassion. On the other hand, the Arab position toward the Israelis has from day one been just as you say: Leave or die.

Are you kidding? No country in the world would sit back while its citizens are bombed by an organization that is dedicated that that country's destruction. What is Israel's goal? An end to the rocket fire on Israel's citizens that has been going on for years now, both before and after Israel withdrew completely from Gaza.

Or perhaps Israel is simply tired of Hamas indiscriminately tossing projectiles into Israel with the intent of killing/maiming anyone unfortunate enough to get in its way. “It's not very clear as to what precisely all this (attempted) death and destruction is supposed to accomplish from a Hamas perspective.” The utter defeat of Israel? There's no consensus that this can accomplished by military means.” It hasn’t been working for them thus far. And I have to say; if someone tried attacking me or mine… like Israel, I would show a certain level of restraint… failing that, I would retaliate with complete force. My goal would be simple; attack me again, and you will already know of my response. Hmmm, perhaps that’s Israel’s goal.

The Gaza Palestinians may be "defenseless", but they can mount a war with thousands of rockets, tunnels full of weapons, and a strategy of guerrilla warfare from within their own civilian population. I'm not really sure whose definition of defenseless that is...

The GAza Palestinians would do best to be allowed to emigrate to Iran en masse, where they can live peacably with their "brothers."

A true negotiated peace would allow safe conduct (by both Israel and Egypt) of the Palestininan population to Iran.

Without that, there will be no peace.

Have we ever considered the possibility that the parties to this conflict simply are not interested in peace? Sure, the people of Palestine and Israel want to be able to live in peace, but the facts of the matter for the past 60 years show that the ruling regimes on both sides prefer war over peace! I believe the reason is that they are afraid that to have peace, you have to have justice.

Hamas does not acknowledge the existence of Israel as a sovereign nation and makes war upon it. Why are they surprised when the people they attack shoot back? Why the crocodile tears for the arabs caught in the middle? No country would tolerate bombardment. Hamas wanted war and so they have a war. Let the result of this war be a settlement that hamas will stick to.

For those of you out there who are not aware, arabs control over 75-80% of the former 'Palestine Mandate.' Its called Jordan. If you want to invent a nationality called 'Palestinians', then let them live in Jordan and simply rename it Palestine. Isn't 80% enough? OK - we'll add to that Gaza and West Bank. Isn't that enough? No? You mean Israel can't exist at all?

Well then we there will be war.

Why do so many Jews have so much difficulty relating to the Palestinians in Gaza?

Have they so quickly forgotten their experience in the Warsaw Ghetto?

A well balanced article. The comments are more extreme, and I understand that there is emotion on both sides. This is mostly a psychological warfare operation, on the US population in particular. The Bush/Cheney regime wants to make us tolerate genocide completely, so that Obama will not have to do anything about it, not even blame Bush. A population still willing to go on Hawaiian vacations and hug W as a gentleman amidst the slaughter of our tax dollars at work will have an easy time playing rounds of presidential golf.

I think this was a very fair appraisal of the facts. It's sad, but between the lines one reads "there is no solution," and that makes it even sadder. I suspect in the back of every Israeli mind is the haunting question, "What happens if we give everything back to the 1966 borders on a promise of peace and the Hamas invades Israel or launches new attacks against us from these heightened positions?"

I am shocked at the Egyptian and Arab community not coming to the defense of the Palestinian comminity's slaughter! This is nothing short of a holocaust. How dare the Israeli people kill these poor people and the USA sits idle controlled by the Israeli/Jewish Lobbies monies (esp. AIPAC).

Call Washington and Object to your tax dollars going to Israel; a country with one of the highest per capata (person) incomes in the world!
Millions per week & billions per year to buy all this war! Thank your politiciains in the USA for being bought by foreing lobbies.

Surprise! Surprise! Look who is from England working on this. No other than Tony Blair who committed apparent war crimes along with George Bush against the Iraqi people to the tune of hundreds of thousands killed, mamed, and refugees!

What an impressive person to have on a
peace settlement team. A proven racist and USA lap dog. I wonder if he gets lecturing jobs and support of AIPAC members and their businesses?

visit; www.normanfinkelstein.com
Dr. Finkelstein was fired by DePaul University for speaking up about the conditions in the Palestinian territories and Israeli's treatment over the years; taking their homes, extermination, and war on Palestine territories!

Explore JATO; Jews Against The Occupation and
know that all Jewish people are not in favor of this getto or this hollocaust!

1. It's not a "gamble". A gamble is when you don't know if you will win or lose. The Israeli people were ALREADY losing. Losing innocent men, women and children to Hamas missles.

2. What Israel hopes to gain is simply safety for its population from Hamas missles.

This is nothing but blatant and hateful propaganda. WP should be ashamed.

Why the gamble? I thought we all knew the answer to this one.

The basic cause of the on-going massacre in Gaza (almost 700 dead so far) is the Zionist ideology itself.

The price of Zionism is simply: the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians - and that's what we're seeing in Gaza.

The Palestine Review
http://palestinereview.com

This article, and the post by marge9 just prove how utterly clueless people can be about topics which exceed their mental capacity. Why should Israel even bother to safeguard the lives of civilians if they will be held responsible for the inevitable consequences of WAR?

While I deplore what I consider to be Israel's excessive use of force in this instance, I have no doubt that the primary obstacle to peace is Hamas and its supporters. No matter what peaceful moves Israel has made, pulling out of Gaza is one example, elements in the Arab/Muslim world have responded with hysterical threats (such as "An Iran with nuclear bombs can stop Israel's reign of terror and bring peace to the region") or violent attacks, whether by suicide bombs or thousands of rockets. Peace will not be possible unless and until the Arab/Muslim world is prepared to accept Israel's existence.

"It's not very clear as to what precisely all this death and destruction is supposed to accomplish from an Israeli perspective."

An END to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

LEAVE GAZA OR DIE....Israel, with the support of the US, is committing GENOCIDE and TERRORISM on defenseless, Palestinians civilians to drive them off their land, and kill the any potential peace agreement with them. Israel is deliberatively targeting and bombing UN buildings in Gaza that it knows Palestinian families are huddled in for safety purposes. Israel is sending a message to all Palestinians through its murderous acts that they cannot hide, and must leave Gaza or die. Israel informed the Bush Adm. and US Congress of its plan to attack the Palestinian people in June of 08. The Bush Adm. and Congress approved the plan and promised Israel unconditional support and assurance that the US would veto all action and condemnation of the UN Security against its attack on the Palestinian people. Israel's attack on the Palestinians was going to happen irregardless of whether Hamas agreed to a cease fire truce. Israel and the US have never dealt truthfully or justly with the Hamas and the Palestinians, and have gone out their way to deceive them and make their lives more miserable. It is for this reason that I support and pray Iran will get nuclear bombs to counterbalance those of Israel, and equalize the balance of power in the Middle East. Israel is a threat to the region and whole world, because other countries are drawn into Israel's war of genocide on the Palestinian people. An Iran with nuclear bombs can stop Israel's reign of terror and bring peace to the region.