Southern Gaza is the battlefield. Three KIA and several WIA in a friendly fire reported in the last news cycle. The commander of Golani Brigade Avi Peled was wounded in the same incident in the Sajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City. This is the northern part of the strip. The IDF has divided the Strip into three segments. The most critical area is from Khan Yuonis to Rafak (right, an airstrike on Rafak, January 5). Much of it is rolling sand dunes that rise from the beach to a flat sweeping sandy field to the wire. What happens in the Khan Younis to Rafak corridor will determine the fate of the Hamas gang. When the IDF moves in to secure Rakak is the coup de grace. Rafak is a miniature Fallujah, heaps of poured concrete houses pushed close together in a naked landscape of sand and ruins. House to house, like Fallujah. The IDF taught the Americans how to conduct urban warfare against hired, drugged-up, trapped and suicidal jihad. Now it is the teacher's turn.
Diplomacy.
My early information was that the IDF could operate effectively until January 5 and then expect the United Nations Security Council and the Quartet to impose a ceasefire. This has not happened, and why is important to understand. The Arab League is not united about protecting Hamas, and therefore it has not put uniform pressure on the UN. What we may see here is the Saudi regime blocking the Arab League in order to let Iran's puppet Hamas die. Tehran is without options as it cannot reinforce Hamas though the sealed Sinai border. The longer the UN does not move, the more I am persuaded that the Saudis mean to make an example of Hamas to show their post-Bush, post Iraq strength against Tehran. Day Nine and counting. French President N. Sarkozy was in town (Ramallah) briefly to hug PA President M. Abbas of Fatah and (in Jerusalem) to speak well of the IDF and Jerusalem. Note the convergence: Fatah and Israel and the United Nations Security Council Permanent Member France. Abbas is a corrupt, lazy, Holocaust denying fool, but he is the Quartet's and Israel's fool. Hamas is losing.
Exactly. The Israeli strategy (at least in hindsight) is working well. The geopolitics of the situation is to their advantage. Hamas is expendable and subordinate to other interests of key players: Saudi, US, Egypt. the only one who's interests are not being served is Netanyahu.
Listen folks this is a masscre plain and simple ethnic genocide. These neo-cons cheering on the slaughter make me sick to my stomach.
This inHumanity to the Palestines must stop.
Boycott Isreal products,
Israeli-owned/run TV/Press/Media/
The Jewish people must feel ashamed for what they are doing. I cant believe they are in favour of this blodshed.
Protest in front of AIPAC National office and affiliates offices.
Rita Boston
Fax: 202.347.4918
Tel: 202.639.5256
Email: rboston@aipac.org
Tell all those Congressmen who support the masscre to go scr*w themselves.
America is bought and paid for by AI{AC.
Stop the SLAUGHTER!!
Hamas may be losing, but that does not mean that the war is lost by all those seeking to re-order the global chessboard to their own advantage. Which begs the question, does PEBO understand the game he has been elected to play for us?
One of the tenets of the philosophical wing of socialism/communism is that anyone capable of drawing breath - regardless of experience or training - is capable of filling any post; that human beings are identical pieces of some great machine that will forever grind on into eternity. (Enter Leon Panetta as proposed CIA chief.)
Does Obama himself understand what the job he is about to begin entails? Is he even aware of the most rudimentary rules of engagement when it comes to geopolitical jousting? Is he capable of identifying the divergent objectives of the various players? Will he be able to effectively counter strategies that may be harmful to us? Does he care? Or will he merely be a malleable, affirmative-action frontman for a nation that has abandoned the fight.
Barrack Obama promises that “America will always be America”. Does he mean this in the sense of Jerusalem always being Jerusalem where the question remains as to whether it will end up under Israeli or Arab domination? Or divided?
Should America’s mantle be torn to pieces and divided among the rabble that has successfully brought about its destruction, we would be hard pressed to call it anything but the wreckage of what once was a great nation.
Listen folks this is a masscre plain and simple ethnic genocide. These neo-cons cheering on the slaughter make me sick to my stomach.
This inHumanity to the Palestines must stop.
Boycott Isreal products,
Israeli-owned/run TV/Press/Media/
The Jewish people must feel ashamed for what they are doing. I cant believe they are in favour of this blodshed.
Protest in front of AIPAC National office and affiliates offices.
Tell all those Congressmen who support the masscre to go scr*w themselves.
America is bought and paid for by AI{AC.
Stop the SLAUGHTER!!
The Israel-Hamas conflict that is playing out is a proxy war between the US and Iran. On one side, you have the US/Israel/Egypt/KSA/PA. On the other side is Iran/Hamas/Hizballah/Syria. Essentially, it is the West and the Sunnis against the Persians and their minions. Iran supplied weapons and money to Hamas and prodded them to poke Israel. Now that Israel has awoken and struck back, will Iran let Hamas be destroyed? Will they encourage Hizballah to attack in the North? Will Hiz wait to see what tactics the Israelis are using in Gaza before striking? Is Syria going to be enticed to attack the Golan, or will they wait for BHO to take office and flip sides like Libya did? Powerful interests want Hamas ended - but can that be accomplished without something worse filling the vacuum.
Where were you when Hamas was rocketing Israel? that didn't qualify as slaughter? what number rates such an adjective?
Or, is it about the target? If the target is a Jew, its protest; if the target is a palestinian, its slaughter.
Maybe you have the inside story, but 400-500 are dead in gaza and some reports indicate upward of 80% being Hamas fighters and hangers-on. Civilians obviously 1)let the rockets and ammo be hidden in their house, 2) didn't chose to evacuate after repeated Israeli warning by leaflet, phone etc.
So far, I think your protestations are purely partisan and lacking in rationale.
Gazans picked a fight and now they have one. Maybe some would turn the other cheek but I hope my leaders don't--I assume Israelis feel the same.
Sam, why is Israel leaving the West Bank alone? The west Bank does not lob missiles into Sovereign Israeli territory or threaten their nuclear facilities. If Israel was intent on Genocide, there are more Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israel should work with egypt to keep weapons and contraband out of Gaza. Smuggling is also a source of Revenue for Hammas.
Wisdom
1. The Rothchilds set up Israel as a fiefdom.
2. The Zionist Jews with Rothchild put pressure on the Brits/US and UN without asking the Palestines their feelings on the matter. Israel suddenly was a country without considering the people who were living their first.
3. Jews, Christians and Muslims have been living Palestine in peace for centuries before Israel was created.
4. It doesnt matter if Israel isnt attacking the West Bank, it is genocide.
5. Hamas was created by Mossad to counteract Hezzbollah. Hamas elected a democractic government and the US/Israel didnt like that.
6. Israel has broken every single UN declaration with the US backing.
7. Israel had blockaded. straved and strangled Gaza for the past 6 months which is an act of war.
8. AIPAC runs the Congress and Senate. You go agaist Israel policy you are an 'anti-Semite.'
9. The Gazans are in an open-air concentration camp and now are being killed by the US made war machine. They are using depleted uranium which causes cancer and birth defects (also used in Iraq) and phosphurous bombs also against the Geneva Convention.
SamSam... you are in dreamland. Everything you posited shows you to be.
Israel is and will remain, despite the wishes of you and the others.
Spence - Don't even bother; don't waste your 'ink'. There's nothing to be gained by engaging people like Sam. It's like playing tic-tac-toe against your laptop.
I've run into people like this before. In my heyday (back in the early 70's), we called them "Jesus freaks". You could find them all along the hippie trail from Tokyo to Kabul. They lay in wait for us, armed with their heavily annotated Bibles, in every cheap hotel and hostel along the route, ready to ambush every lost (western) soul they set their eyes on. At first I was eager to engage them. Sporting my own freshly earned BA in 'Comparative Religions', I thought it would be a fun way to pass the 'empty hours’ after the electricity had been turned off. It turned out to be excruciating however. These people lacked all logic, and even compassion. All they wanted to hear you say was that you are prepared to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. Only then would they leave you alone to ruminate over a whole string of clever, but (sadly) belated rejoinders that would have missed their mark anyway inside the empty rooms of their hollow skulls where only rote ruled.
Today, these same zombies are obviously still around. They may well be the descendants of the druggies who had slipped the "Jesus freaks'" noose back when. Their Bible is "Mao's Red Book" or Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals". Their aim is to sow the seeds for revolution along the (imaginary) fault lines dividing rich and poor. Anything to create chaos is fair game. Unless you are already predisposed to signing on, there's no talking to these people.
That's not the argument.
Im stating FACTS. Look them up yourself.
I didnt say 'get rid of Israel.'
Get rid of AIPAC.
SamSam- where do you get your facts?
Points 2 & 3---"The Zionist Jews with Rothchild put pressure on the Brits/US and UN without asking the Palestines their feelings on the matter. Israel suddenly was a country without considering the people who were living their first"; "Jews, Christians and Muslims have been living Palestine in peace for centuries before Israel was created."
Uhh.. Simply put, Israel was a nation long before there were ever any Christians and Muslims.
But, I'm not going to pick apart your source material.
Have fun!! Be careful!!!
Sam - There are an infinite number of facts that make up our universe. Only a small number of these are ever publicly articulated. The facts you choose to make your point betray your prejudice. A different set of facts can always be used to support a contrary position. So, here we go round and round, spewing facts while innocents are losing their lives.
Behind the facts, there is intent. It represents the next higher level of accountability. That is why (in some cases) a man who kills an intruder (in his home) in self-defense can expect a certain degree of leniency from the courts.
Each side in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be characterized either as "victim" or "aggressor" depending on which set of facts you choose to support your argument. In order to break the impasse, you have to consider intent.
Whereas it is clear to me that the Palestinians intend to murder each and every Israeli Jew if given even half the chance, I don't see that same degree of hatred on the part of Israel. They have entered this conflict with extreme reluctance. Palestinian extremism, on the other hand, seems boundless. They are determined to destroy Israel, even if it destroys them. By this template they are guaranteed victory in either case.
Sadly, Sam, you will see a resolution to this conflict within your lifetime. And you will then have to live with your conscience for the balance of your life.
Gentlemen -- I see you have not refuted my points though.
"Uhh.. Simply put, Israel was a nation long before there were ever any Christians and Muslims."
Incorrect: Jews had been living among other countries before Israel was created a in 1948. Since When?
"Whereas it is clear to me that the Palestinians intend to murder each and every Israeli Jew if given even half the chance, I don't see that same degree of hatred on the part of Israel. They have entered this conflict with extreme reluctance. Palestinian extremism, on the other hand, seems boundless. They are determined to destroy Israel, even if it destroys them. By this template they are guaranteed victory in either case."
Yes they are extermists on both sides which make a solution harder to manage a truce.
So you guys are favour of genocide either be Palestines or Serb-Crotians?
Fact: The Arabs of Palestine at that time owned 97.5% of the land, while Jews (native Palestinians and recent immigrants together) owned only 2.5% of the land.
Israel immediately occupied (and still occupies) 80.48% of the total land area of Palestine.
This territorial expansion took place, for the most part, before 15 May 1948: i.e., before the formal end of the British forces from Palestine, before the entry of Arab armies to protect Palestinian Arabs, and before the Arab-Israeli war.
Since the General Armistice Agreements were signed in 1949, Israel has maintained an aggressive policy of waging military attacks across the Armistice Demarcation Lines, repeatedly invading the territories of the neighboring Arab States...And that Israel has been duly rebuked, censured, or condemned for these military attacks by the Security Council of the General Assembly of the United Nations on eleven occasions-five times by the Security Council and six times by the General Assembly.
Besides expelling the bulk of the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, and besides constantly attacking the neighboring Arab States, Israel has also consistently harassed the United Nations observers and other personnel stationed along the Armistice Demarcation Lines: It has assassinated the first United Nations Mediator and his military aide; it has detained some truce observers; it has militarily occupied and illegally searched the Headquarters of United Nations personnel; and it has boycotted meetings of the Mixed Armistice Commissions.
Israel allots 85% of the water resources in the occupied territories for Jews and the remaining 15% is divided among all Palestinians in the territories? For example in Hebron, 85% of the water is given to about 500 settlers, while 15% must be divided among Hebron's 120,000 Palestinians.
The United States awards Israel $3 billion in aid each year, more than to any other country in the world: US aid to Israel exceeds the aid the US grants to the whole sub-Sahara Africa.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons. But Iran can't have nuclear weapons?
Israel is the only country in the Middle East that refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspections from its sites.
SamSam- you are way out there somewhere
You need to source some unbiased data.
Ever heard of the "Land of Israel?" Ring a bell?
League of Nations?
Check what the real story is about the Jews in the Holy Land.
That is, if you want to. I don't have the time to reeducate you or refute your so called "facts"
Be good and have a nice day!!
Spencer -- I know the so called 'real story' about the Jews in the Holy Land.
My facts are based in reality so it must be a 'liberal biased reality' or I must be living in Bizarro world. Where black is white? White is black?
Ok Spencer refute one fact at least.
While I don't necessarily agree with the Rothchild part, or the spirit of Sam's post, if I were an unbiased observer reading about this story for the first time, I would have to say that Sam has done a much better job of presenting his thesis and facts to back it than anyone else has. All I see coming back at him is insults, which is usually a sign that somebody has hit quite close to the mark.
Lest anyone think I'm arguing out of both sides of my mouth here, I am not. I think it's completely possible for everything Sam says to be true, and it still wouldn't matter to me. Someone has to end this thing once and for all; let it be Israel. Stop worrying about what the world thinks. Do what has to be done.
Sorry, I don't need to dispute you- you did it yourself when you wrote "I must be living in Bizarro world. Where black is white? White is black?" That's what I said, too, when reading your posts.
I've already pointed out the untruth of your story on the founding of Israel in the Holy Land. But, you still deny it and say you know the truth. I guess, you never heard of Moses, Solomon, David, and all those good fellas.
The Arabs moved in after the Jews were moved out by force. Never heard the word Ottoman, either? So, who have been the real "occupiers" of the Land? Modern Israel started returning before WWII and since the war, the extremist Arabs have consistently and defiantly denounced a two state solution and have instigated aggression and attacks, just as they have this time, again and again. I guess you believe that the people should not defend themselves. Does that apply to the aggressors of Hamas, Hizbullah, and their ilk, too?
How 'bout citing your source material for your rewriting of history. Plaese
And , oh yeah, how do you know that Israel has nuclear weapons? And if they do, according to you, Iran should get some, too... yeh, that's right.
SamSam- when you copy and paste the pigeon poop from places like conspiracyplanet.com or the others you source, please reference them instead of trying to fool people that you have done "research" and composed summaries of it for all our enlightenment.
Thanks Spence
Yes Israel has nuclear weapons.
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Israel/Isrhist.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7420573.stm
Even former President Jimmy Carter says Israel has nuclear weapons.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4004300.ece
These are not from conspiracy sites.
Conspiracy sites have been dismissed by the Globalist to marginalize information which is not considered 'mainstream knowledge' which is bad. Instead the information should be judged on the facts and who said them either primary evidence or artifacts etc..
Your sources contain rampant hearsay and conjecture and in no way confirms that Israel possesses nuclear weapons. Loved reading all that though. Especially all the technical stuff that goes off on a tangent, yet, never comes to a conclusion. Maybe they do, maybe they don't.
Mr Carter also said that 1.6 million Palestinians were being held hostage and starved to death. Seems like your beloved CNN would have made the world aware of all those masses on the brink and the world would have responded with great compassion for their plight. Hmm, where was their leadership though who were duly elected to have their peoples best interests at the fore?
QWhy did they destroy the multimillion dollar greenhouses that Israel left them knowing that they are starving, don't have an economy, rely on foreign charities, have no prospect for productive coexistence, and just blame everything on someone else. Don't they want independence? No, I think they just want to raise hellfire.
And by the way, Sam... I live in a tent by a river and it's a constant fight keeping the rats out of all my money I get for my comments. These rats are smarty rats and they want to build their nests with all my money. I have found that the best way to keep this from happening is to rely on the olfactory sense to know when they are coming. I can smell a rat a mile away.