Why is Israel dropping bombs on a prison camp?

[MikeWaters]

Has anyone noted the incongruence of this?

Why did the USA today abstain from a UN Security Council vote calling for an immediate cease fire?

I wish Bush would leave post haste.

[MikeWaters]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...rael-palestine

[MikeWaters]

http://www.juancole.com/2009/01/un-c...series-of.html

Note the part where a US soldier takes umbrage at being compared to the Israeli military.

[Tex]

Powerline posts foreign policy analyst Dan Dike's thoughts on the current conflict:

Israel may have reached a deterrent moment in its war in Gaza against Iranian-backed Hamas. I spoke with a senior Arab diplomat last night. He told me that the Arab street is afraid that "the Jews have gone crazy."

Yes, it's true. He noted, "Israel has begun to restore its deterrence" in the Arab world. "Hamas miscalculated," he added. They had thought Israel would not attack, but would merely accede to tougher Hamas demands for an improved "Tahdiya," their version of a temporary calm.

This is perhaps one of the more optimistic assessments I have heard from Arab colleagues recently. There is supporting documentation. Hizbullah's immediate public denial yesterday of the Katusha rocket attack from Southern Lebanon against Israel's North and the reports on Lebanese TV of convoys of Lebanese (read: Hizbullah) vehicles moving north in expectation of a major Israeli reprisal strengthens this sense.

It's also notable that Al Jazeera's reportage yesterday avoided interviewing ordinary Gazans. Arab sources in Gaza confided that the public anger is not directed at Israel any more than it is at Hamas. Al Jazeera, doing a superb job as PR agents for Iran's proxies, likely wanted to avoid risking those types of reactions from the battlefield.

The source also said that Hamas is "doing very bad things" to Fatah activists in Gaza both as revenge against claims that Fatah leadership provided intelligence to Israel, and as a warning to Fatah to avoid the temptation of being convinced by Egypt, the US and the West that they reassert control in Gaza.

Fatah officials in the West Bank are also demoralized. Nasser Juma'a, a Palestinian Legislative Council Member from Nablus told a well known British reporter yesterday that the "Hamas are insects" and noted that the Palestinians would likely not see a Palestinian state in his lifetime." Qadura Fares, a Fatah senior, said that the PA would not succeed either in the West Bank or Gaza without "tackling the privileges of the Fatah elite, who he said "have become like princes."

[MikeWaters]

There may be an idea that the two-state solution is not ever going to happen (both sides).

And Israel will decline due to demographics, emigration, and frankly, loss of support and moral force. But we may be talking decades here.

If Israel doesn't want to negotiate with Hamas, then what do they want? War forever?

[Tex]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

If Israel doesn't want to negotiate with Hamas, then what do they want? War forever?

Israel has decided that Hamas' own stated purpose and behavior are anathema to negotiations, and I think they are right.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

If Israel doesn't want to negotiate with Hamas, then what do they want? War forever?

Does Hamas want to negotiate with Israel?

[Tex]

There's always a little more to these stories. Funny how some Americans get suckered into siding with these monsters.

The first big anti-israel news story of the Gaza conflict was the alleged bombing, on Tuesday, of a UN-run school which resulted in the deaths of 40 or so children. What happened, of course, was that Hamas set up a mortar launcher in the school or on its grounds. The IDF returned fire and destroyed the launcher and its crew. Among those killed were Imad and Hassan Abu Askhar, who ran Hamas mortar crews.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archive.../01/022510.php

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Does Hamas want to negotiate with Israel?

From what I have read, yes.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Tex

There's always a little more to these stories. Funny how some Americans get suckered into siding with these monsters.



http://www.powerlineblog.com/archive.../01/022510.php

I haven't read the above, but let's just say it is true. Contrast that to how Americans are dealing with shelling in Baghdad per the Cole article. They don't just start leveling shelters and residential areas.

It just remains be to seen how far the Israelis will go. At what point will it become actual genocide, and how breathtaking will that irony be?