The Gaza Strip

[MarcusAurelio]

What are everybody's opinions on recent activities connected to the place?

[Zurke]

Palestinians yet again are being used by other Arabs to threaten Israel. Israel has no other option but to fight as they should. Only IMO they fall short and draw back every time because of pressure from the International Community who is no doubt pressured by Arabs and monetary influence.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Insania! My grandmother once said, "that will NEVER be resolved!" That grandmother has been dead for at least ten years and it was at least 10-15 years before that when she said it because it was passed onto me by my mother as a recollection of hers. She wasn't the wisest of women but she was damn right there. I truly believe that one side will have to utterly decimate the other before peace is achieved. And getting involved by taking action on behalf of either side is likely to create hell on earth!

Regardless of my feelings about either side, this will always be the cardinal 20th & 21st Century reference point for anyone engaging in a discussion based around faith and war.

[Gez]

Israel is being manipulated by the Hamas.

Here's how the Hamas terrorists operate: they install a shoddy rocket launcher somewhere, hidden in a crowded area, such as the emergency exit stairway of a building. They aim roughly in the direction of an Israeli town, put a timer mechanism, and retreat to safety. Five minutes later, the rocket is launched automatically, usually missing its target by a wide margin because it's poor quality and poorly set up. Five more minutes later, Israeli response bombs the place.

Result of the operation: 0 casualties on the terrorists' side, between 0 and a few in Israel, dozens amongst Palestinian civilians.

Make no mistake, the Israeli retaliations is what the Hamas wants. They want Israel to bomb hapless civilians, men, women, children. They want senseless death to happen, to be filmed by media and broadcast everywhere. They want the whole world to see Israel as bloodthirsty killers, who will even attack U.N. buildings in their attempts at killing entire families of innocents. This makes sure that they, as the self-proclaimed enemies of Israel, will keep the support of enough people in Palestine and abroad to keep recruiting troops and to keep buying cheap weapons.

The Hamas' aim isn't to "free Palestine" or to "destroy Israel" or anything else ideologically-motivated; it is to stay in power forever by preserving the status quo of an endless warfare.

And Israel gladly obliges.

[Zurke]

Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost
Regardless of my feelings about either side, this will always be the cardinal 20th & 21st Century reference point for anyone engaging in a discussion based around faith and war.

The Arab, Israeli war is not about religion or faith. It's about Jews and Arabs. It's a cultural thing. To mistake it for religion would be easy and the norm. A lot of Palistinians want peace and quiet but there are those in the Arab world that will not allow it until Israeli culture is removed from the region.

Israel and Jews in General have money and influence. That brings control. Something an Arab dominated region will not tolerate.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Originally posted by Zurke
The Arab, Israeli war is not about religion or faith. It's about Jews and Arabs. It's a cultural thing. To mistake it for religion would be easy and the norm.

That's precisely the problem. Especially those who claim to be 'religious' fail to achieve the objectivity required for resolving the situation.

[Siegfried]

Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost

Originally posted by Zurke
The Arab, Israeli war is not about religion or faith. It's about Jews and Arabs. It's a cultural thing. To mistake it for religion would be easy and the norm.

That's precisely the problem. Especially those who claim to be 'religious' fail to achieve the objectivity required for resolving the situation.

I don't think its an issue where objectivity may solve the problem; there is too much hate and there has been for far too long. The average person on both sides wants peace and to be left alone, but warmongerers elsewhere in the Arab world recognize the hate and use it to start terrorist groups like Hamas and cause trouble for Israel.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

...couldn't think of a better word than objectivity at the time... ?(...Agreed though. It's ripe for exploitation. Both sides play a very cynical media game...and not surprisingly either.

[Zurke]

Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost
...couldn't think of a better word than objectivity at the time... ?(...Agreed though. It's ripe for exploitation. Both sides play a very cynical media game...and not surprisingly either.

IG, it seems like you lay blame to both sides. Have you watched events in the past few years? Israel gave back alot of what they won in the seven day war. That was suppose to bring peace. It has not, just like every other agreement.

What is Israel, in your opinion, suppose to do when they are attacked with rockets from Palestinian territories?

What has Israel done to provoke the latest rocket attacks?

[IAMTHEEMPEROR]

I don't think it's necessarily a cultural or religious hatred between them, but has since turned into such a thing. It all started when WWII ended and the Jews were given a new home that was cut off from Palestine. Though the Arabs themselves had taken that land from the Jews many generations ago, the people of Palestine were kinda justifiably angry that half of their country is being taken away as a new home for these outsiders, who have a different culture and a different opposing religion. I think anyone would be pretty angry if say your side of the country/state was being taken away by say, the Chinese. Naturally, people will resent this, and will begin to hate everything related to them. So this conflict is going to continue for quite a while the way things seem now. And the outcome will either be Israel completely overruns Palestine when they are tired of putting up with terrorist intimidation once and for all, or Hamas and other terrorist organizations who share the same goal will get their way and have Israel lose their UN support, which will result in them being overrun by Arabs who no longer have fear of UN retaliation for an invasion. I hope that someday maybe a long lasting peace can be brokered between the two groups of people, but that doesn't seem to be possible at the moment. Maybe someday in my lifetime.

But as was said above, there are plenty of people on both sides who just want some peace, but the Islamic extremists who keep taunting Israel with attacks from Palestine aren't stopping.