Comments on: Israel's war on Gaza was planned five years ago http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/02/09/israels-war-on-gaza-was-planned-five-years-ago/ Thinking Ahead Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:46:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: lynne http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/02/09/israels-war-on-gaza-was-planned-five-years-ago/#comment-22392 lynne Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:42:09 +0000 http://mideastyouth.com/?p=3582#comment-22392 Lulu, you are right. I should not say that all members of Hamas are cowards. I assure you that I do not think that, though I think my statement gives that impression. I view as cowards though those who draw fire onto innocent citizens and hide among them, causing them to get into the line of fire. I love animals, and I spend a lot of time watching them in my yard here in Texas. There are many birds and animals that will pretend lameness or use other tactics to draw predators toward themselves and away from their young. It seems a basic instinct to protect those we care about, so I certainly fault Hamas for fighting among civilians. I am sure that many Hamas members do not do this. Those who do are cowards. Not all Palestinians live in poverty, though I am sure that most in Gaza do. I have Palestinian friends who live quite comfortably in the West Bank. Many West Bankers were going to fancy restaurants and coffeehouses during the military operation recently, a fact that was reported in their own papers. Lulu, you and I do injustice to the variety of people that live in that region and who are involved in this conflict when we make statements which are too general. I apologize for my part of that error. I assure you that there are many, many people in Israel who care about the people in Gaza. My daughter, for one. Even though she was sick, when the fighting stopped about two weeks ago, she gathered blankets from her home, bought baby supplies and food to take to a collection area to send to the people of Gaza. No one with even a degree of compassion could wish hardship on the people of Gaza. I think that peace would be better served if you and I both concentrated our efforts on ways to promote compromise and peace. On the Good Neighbors site (GNblog.com), a Syrian poster and an Israeli poster, worked together (with input from others) to create a remarkable document ---a blueprint for peace between Syria and Israel. I wish efforts such as this one would start a trend :) I have to commend Esra for creating this excellent forum which I feel also promotes dialogue and peace. Thank you for your reply to my comments. I reply in the spirit of making my thoughts clearer and not for the sake of arguing. Lulu, you are right. I should not say that all members of Hamas are cowards. I assure you that I do not think that, though I think my statement gives that impression. I view as cowards though those who draw fire onto innocent citizens and hide among them, causing them to get into the line of fire. I love animals, and I spend a lot of time watching them in my yard here in Texas. There are many birds and animals that will pretend lameness or use other tactics to draw predators toward themselves and away from their young. It seems a basic instinct to protect those we care about, so I certainly fault Hamas for fighting among civilians. I am sure that many Hamas members do not do this. Those who do are cowards.
Not all Palestinians live in poverty, though I am sure that most in Gaza do. I have Palestinian friends who live quite comfortably in the West Bank. Many West Bankers were going to fancy restaurants and coffeehouses during the military operation recently, a fact that was reported in their own papers.
Lulu, you and I do injustice to the variety of people that live in that region and who are involved in this conflict when we make statements which are too general. I apologize for my part of that error. I assure you that there are many, many people in Israel who care about the people in Gaza. My daughter, for one. Even though she was sick, when the fighting stopped about two weeks ago, she gathered blankets from her home, bought baby supplies and food to take to a collection area to send to the people of Gaza. No one with even a degree of compassion could wish hardship on the people of Gaza. I think that peace would be better served if you and I both concentrated our efforts on ways to promote compromise and peace. On the Good Neighbors site (GNblog.com), a Syrian poster and an Israeli poster, worked together (with input from others) to create a remarkable document —a blueprint for peace between Syria and Israel. I wish efforts such as this one would start a trend :) I have to commend Esra for creating this excellent forum which I feel also promotes dialogue and peace. Thank you for your reply to my comments. I reply in the spirit of making my thoughts clearer and not for the sake of arguing.

]]> By: Lou Lou http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/02/09/israels-war-on-gaza-was-planned-five-years-ago/#comment-22391 Lou Lou Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:39:00 +0000 http://mideastyouth.com/?p=3582#comment-22391 Lynne, Neither side is free of guilt. And if you want to generalize every member of Hamas being a coward then so be it but don't think for one second that every IDF is a hero. I'm just happy that people of Israel can go back to a normal life and even attend fancy resturants... the Palestinians can't and live under poverty. Can't some people take things for granted? Lynne,

Neither side is free of guilt. And if you want to generalize every member of Hamas being a coward then so be it but don’t think for one second that every IDF is a hero.

I’m just happy that people of Israel can go back to a normal life and even attend fancy resturants… the Palestinians can’t and live under poverty.
Can’t some people take things for granted?

]]> By: lynne http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/02/09/israels-war-on-gaza-was-planned-five-years-ago/#comment-22390 lynne Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:05:06 +0000 http://mideastyouth.com/?p=3582#comment-22390 LouLou, I agree. The numbers do speak for themselves, and if the IDF wanted to keep their troops safe and to really harm civilians, they would stick to an air campaign, not the ground operation in an urban area. Yes, the leaflets do help, when they inform the civilians that they are going to operate in that area. The people can move to other areas within Gaza. You do not mention the cowardice of Hamas to fight among civilians, which is against international law. I heard a general from the UK discussing the operation, and he said that war is chaos and unintended things happen. Had the IDF not tried to avoid civilians the death toll would have been much, much higher. Hamas targets Israeli civilians daily with their rockets. Is this ok? No warnings, no leaflets, no phone calls. The people in Sderot, Israel, have fifteen seconds to get to safety when a rocket is incoming from Hamas. You do mention the unfairness of that. You blame Israel for this military action. Do you equally blame Hamas for their attacks on civilians? War is always horrible, and if I had my way, it would never happen. People would respect each other and try to get along. LouLou, I agree. The numbers do speak for themselves, and if the IDF wanted to keep their troops safe and to really harm civilians, they would stick to an air campaign, not the ground operation in an urban area. Yes, the leaflets do help, when they inform the civilians that they are going to operate in that area. The people can move to other areas within Gaza. You do not mention the cowardice of Hamas to fight among civilians, which is against international law. I heard a general from the UK discussing the operation, and he said that war is chaos and unintended things happen.
Had the IDF not tried to avoid civilians the death toll would have been much, much higher.
Hamas targets Israeli civilians daily with their rockets. Is this ok? No warnings, no leaflets, no phone calls. The people in Sderot, Israel, have fifteen seconds to get to safety when a rocket is incoming from Hamas. You do mention the unfairness of that.
You blame Israel for this military action. Do you equally blame Hamas for their attacks on civilians?
War is always horrible, and if I had my way, it would never happen. People would respect each other and try to get along.

]]> By: Lou Lou http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/02/09/israels-war-on-gaza-was-planned-five-years-ago/#comment-22389 Lou Lou Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:18:45 +0000 http://mideastyouth.com/?p=3582#comment-22389 Lynne, Agree or not agree - I am not the one that came up with that theory. It was the Profesor, and I am just reporting on it. I'm sorry to say but what were the purpose of the leaflets when there is no place for the people of Gaza to go to. I just thnk it was an act because even when families are moved to what an IDF would say is a safe place moments later it would be bombed... repeatively. The leaflets were meaningless. <em>"You are on shaky ground when you accuse Israel of war crimes. You had better take a closer look at Hamas!"</em> The numbers of deaths speak for themselves. Peace Lynne,

Agree or not agree – I am not the one that came up with that theory. It was the Profesor, and I am just reporting on it.

I’m sorry to say but what were the purpose of the leaflets when there is no place for the people of Gaza to go to. I just thnk it was an act because even when families are moved to what an IDF would say is a safe place moments later it would be bombed… repeatively.
The leaflets were meaningless.

“You are on shaky ground when you accuse Israel of war crimes. You had better take a closer look at Hamas!”
The numbers of deaths speak for themselves.

Peace

]]> By: lynne http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/02/09/israels-war-on-gaza-was-planned-five-years-ago/#comment-22388 lynne Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:10:13 +0000 http://mideastyouth.com/?p=3582#comment-22388 Lou Lou, I cannot agree. If Israel had intended to target civilians or disregarded their safety, they would have confined their military actions to air force operations. No other army in the world, now or at any point in history, has so diligently tried to avoid death to civilians. In history, You only have to look as far back as WWII and the bombing of Dresden. The ground temperature from the intensive bombing was nearly at the boiling point. The city was utterly destroyed. The current actions in Afghanistan (NOT covered by the mainstream media, btw) have killed many, many civilians. The IDF dropped warning leaflets, called private homes, and tried to avoid civilians. What other army in history has ever done that? Are you worried about what Amnesty International calls a campaign of terror by Hamas and the murder of the members of Fatah in Gaza? I notice that the mainstream media is not covering that either. You are on shaky ground when you accuse Israel of war crimes. You had better take a closer look at Hamas! Respectfully, I do agree with you that the best outcome of this situation would be a cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution. Lou Lou, I cannot agree. If Israel had intended to target civilians or disregarded their safety, they would have confined their military actions to air force operations. No other army in the world, now or at any point in history, has so diligently tried to avoid death to civilians. In history, You only have to look as far back as WWII and the bombing of Dresden. The ground temperature from the intensive bombing was nearly at the boiling point. The city was utterly destroyed. The current actions in Afghanistan (NOT covered by the mainstream media, btw) have killed many, many civilians. The IDF dropped warning leaflets, called private homes, and tried to avoid civilians. What other army in history has ever done that? Are you worried about what Amnesty International calls a campaign of terror by Hamas and the murder of the members of Fatah in Gaza? I notice that the mainstream media is not covering that either.
You are on shaky ground when you accuse Israel of war crimes. You had better take a closer look at Hamas!
Respectfully, I do agree with you that the best outcome of this situation would be a cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution.

]]> By: Comrade Tovya http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/02/09/israels-war-on-gaza-was-planned-five-years-ago/#comment-22387 Comrade Tovya Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:07:36 +0000 http://mideastyouth.com/?p=3582#comment-22387 If Israel had the intent to kill civilians, they wouldn't have performed a ground incursion... they would have simply carpet bombed Gaza, which they of course didn't. If Israel had the intent to kill civilians, they wouldn’t have performed a ground incursion… they would have simply carpet bombed Gaza, which they of course didn’t.

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