Roadmap to HELL - One man caught on a barbed wire fence ....

[Vlad n U 2]

Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

(And the Israeli people unlucky enough to be hit by rockets)

[Vlad n U 2]

Kind of hard to evacuate an area which is pretty trapped, no?

[Moonlit_Angel]

Well, at least they were polite enough to warn the people before blowing up their area.

(Seriously. WTF?)

[Vlad n U 2]

Those Israeli forces are so kind and considerate.

Read many more messages from that same Twitter account, ugh.

[sarit]

This sums it up:

https://twitter.com/nsheizaf/status/268806321153904642


On the bright side, at least I get to know my neighbors every time we try to find cover when the alarm is on. The last one was about an hour ago.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Stay safe, sarit.

[Vlad n U 2]

Geez, internet warfare ...

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by Vlad n U 2

Those Israeli forces are so kind and considerate.

Read many more messages from that same Twitter account, ugh.

I'd like to consider myself pretty evenin this conflict, and I feel tremendously sorry for your average Palestinian. And i think the IDF tends to overreact.

But, honesty, how kind and considerate would anyone be if Hamas is shooting rockets into Jerusalem?

[Vlad n U 2]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

But, honesty, how kind and considerate would anyone be if Hamas is shooting rockets into Jerusalem?

Wait, didn't the IDF start this particular conflict and Hamas are merely retaliating? I don't think Hamas, as awfully reactionary as they are, started this one.

[sarit]

This time they did. During the days before Hamas military chief was killed by the IDF, hundreds of rockets were fired to the southern parts of Israel.
It seems like inner politics within the Hamas was the motive for launching rockets at first. Just like it is here for carrying out the kind of reaction the government did - the elections in Israel are around the corner (a little more than two months from now). Hamas is launching rockets at southern Israel for years , PTSD has become the norm there for most people (as I'm sure it is in Gaza). It's funny how it has become urgent to take care of it in such manner just before the elections are taking place.

[Irvine511]

A game of "but he STARTED it" seems te least productive way to address this particular conflict or the broader conflict.

[digitize]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

A game of "but he STARTED it" seems te least productive way to address this particular conflict or the broader conflict.

Yeah, absolutely. Right now, I feel sorry for the innocent people being hurt on both sides. And I can understand why both sides feel like firing rockets at the other side is a good response. I just disagree with it. But I'm comfortably thousands of miles away from the situation.

[sarit]

Just coming out of the shelter after another rocket fired at us, I still don't think it is such a great idea. This time the explosion sounded a bit stronger...

[MrsSpringsteen]

Awful to see this all going on. Stay safe everyone here who is in harm's way.

[AchtungBono]

Hamas wants end to blockade in cease-fire talks, official says - CNN.com

In other words:

Hamas:
"Dear Israel - we will stop firing rockets on your civillians if you lift the blockade that currently prevents us from getting the rockets to fire on your civillians..."

Yeah right....THAT'LL happen!

You know the story already....I've been telling it for the past 4 years since operation "lead cast" in 2008.
I live in a city that is currently being bombarded by missiles at least 5 times a day if not more. I sit in our living room with my mother and sister and I pray for two things: 1. that we remain safe, 2. that there will be NO cease-fire. I don't care how long I have to endure air-raid sirens and missiles falling 10 minutes from my house - as long as our army can get the job done.

Besides my city, there have been people living in Sderot and the towns around Gaza that have endured constant shelling for twelve years now.....TWELVE YEARS......think about that.... If Mexico lobbed missiles at New York City day after day, do you think the U.S. would wait for 12 years and just take it?.....I don't think the U.S, would wait 12 SECONDS let alone 12 years.

A cease fire means only one thing - Hamas taking a breather, restocking their missile supply with the help of their new best friend Muhammed Morsi of Egypt, who will no doubt be more than happy to open the Rafah crossing and turn a blind eye to the smuggling tunnels.

Uh uh.....not THIS time sweeties.....we have 75,000 troops lined up and ready to make mincemeat out of those idiots in bedsheets.

Oh, and by the way...about that old song and dance about Israel killing the poor civillians in Gaza, let me just remind the world that Israel does NOT target civillians and the only reason they are killed is because Hamas hides their launchers and stockpiles under schools and mosques and in heavilly populated areas. We already know that they don't give a damm about their own people and they would rather spend millions of dollars on weapons than on clean drinking water and proper sewage for the populace.

Besides, if we DID target civillians like they do, this operation would be over in one day.

So again, I do not want a cease-fire. I want the IDF to go in and kick some MOFO ass.....

Have a nice day........

P.S.: If I sound angry, it's not directed at you guys. I know you support us and that you don't want any harm to come to us and I appreciate that VERY much.

[Diemen]

Originally Posted by AchtungBono

Uh uh.....not THIS time sweeties.....we have 75,000 troops lined up and ready to make mincemeat out of those idiots in bedsheets.

While I appreciate that this is a complex & difficult situation, this kind of ugly rhetoric doesn't help.

[AchtungBono]

Originally Posted by Diemen

While I appreciate that this is a complex & difficult situation, this kind of ugly rhetoric doesn't help.

Hi Diemen,
I'm sorry but there's really no nice word to describe a terrorist organization.
That's the kindest thing I could think of.

[digitize]

Originally Posted by AchtungBono

Uh uh.....not THIS time sweeties.....we have 75,000 troops lined up and ready to make mincemeat out of those idiots in bedsheets.

That sounds like a great action to take if your goal is to create as much Islamic radicalism and anti-Israeli sentiment as possible. This has been tried over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again in human history. And it absolutely never works.

[digitize]

I'm sorry, AchtungBono... I don't mean to sound insensitive to what you are going through. Because it sounds horrific, and it's honestly beyond my comprehension. I don't blame you for being in the mood that you are in.

It's just tough for me, because this conflict really follows the same colonizer/colonized dynamics that the world has been going through for hundreds of years. And when one side of the conflict is so economically marginalized compared to the other, when one side feels like it has had its prosperity taken from it by the other in recent memory, and when re-gaining prosperity entails going to the "other side"... it always breeds radicalism. Always. And responding with massive fire always creates more radicalism. Radicalism is bred by poverty, and by destruction, and the two combine to make radicals out of everyday people. Economic development and interdependence are usually a good way out, but the blockade is only making that less possible.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by AchtungBono

If Mexico lobbed missiles at New York City day after day, do you think the U.S. would wait for 12 years and just take it?.....I don't think the U.S, would wait 12 SECONDS let alone 12 years.

I hope that you stay safe, AchtungBono, as well as your family and friends. I imagine everyone must be really tired and frustrated of this situation dragging on for years, and actually decades.

But the above analogy is poor because it isn't as if the US is occupying the Yucatan peninsula or some other part of the contiguous Mexican state or expanding its cities in southern Texas across the border and then annexing large parts of the land around them.

In no way am I suggesting that the latest militant behaviour by Hamas is acceptable, but this is not a simple conflict that has clear lines of delineation like what you suggest with NYC above.