Have you ever noticed that whenever Hamas or Hizbullah shoot rockets into Israel, these are normally said to be hitting ‘settlements’ and ‘villages’ but when Israel shoots into Lebanon, or Gaza or wherever, and no matter how densely populated, these are always ‘targets’.
Look at the kill ratio, its usually at least 3 to one in favour of Israel, and the latest shocker is the cars of refugees being hit killing two familes, 18 more dead, its said that the Israeli military is ‘investigating’ the incident…yeah riiiiight. just like it did when some of them shot unarmed protesters a few years back and no-one was brought to court, or when that British peace campaigner, waving a white flag, dressed in orange and rescuing children from the path of Israeli armour was coldly and deliberately shot through the neck, if it hadn’t been videotaped, and if it had not been for an inquiry in the UK that determined this person was unlawfully killed, the Israelis would have done nothing about it, and four years detention is hardly a realistic punishment for shooting an unarmed man with his hands in the air.
Since 2000 around 600 or slightly more, Palestinian children have died directly as a result of Israeli shooting, not through disease or accident, but by bombs, bullets etc
In the same period around 4000 Palestinians have died, the numbers of wounded are horrifying, well over 20,000, and yet there is supposed to be some form of peace ?
Torture of detainnees is so routine that Israeli courts have ruled on what it decides constitutes torture, and has ruled that in future torture of certain types should not take place, what the heck kind of judicial system is this that will allow ‘moderate physical pressure’ of the type that routinely breaks bones.
What is more disturbing is that it took years for the courts to make any ruling at all, even so, any number of reputable organisations still contend that torture still takes place as a matter of routine.
I do not imagine that hitting grain silos is going to hurt Hizbollah more than it will hurt the civilian population, and striking at the north end of Beiruts port, where the Christian Phalangists are currently settled is not going to win any allies there.
I do not have the answer about what the Israelis should do, but given that Hizbullah got 35% of the vote, what does Israel think its going to do when it says it will destroy that organisation ?
Are they really contemplating eliminating their support ?
Are Israelis gaining support in the places where it really matters, on their borders ?
Does anyone believe that their current tactics are likely to gain them more support, or perhaps provide ever more justification to the armed Arab groups ?
The British in India, and Ireland, and other countries did not manage to eliminate terrorism on territories they occupied, the Russians couldn’t do it in Afghanistan, the US/UK force in Iraq don’t seem to be able to stop terrorism with force, does anyone here seriously believe that the Israeli use of forece will reduce terrorism ?
The reason that the twin towers were destroyed has its roots directly in the way the US is precieved in the Arab world, the bombings in London were a result of that, and you can go on to Bali, Madrid, and now Mumbai.
It would be marvellous if the Arabs would simply disarm, if they would stop shooting rockets into Israel, but does anyone think it will happen as a result of Israeli incursion ?
What should be done ? Well tanks, bomb and guns will simply not work, if only it were that simple.
But I’m certainly amenable to discussing and debating with anybody who’s prepared to look straight at the issues, such as Paul