I am not defending either party on this rant. I do not agree with the Israelis for attacking civilian targets nor do I agree with the taking of 3 Israeli soldiers and attacks on civilian targets in Israel.

It's stupid idealogy like what the Syrian UN ambassador said that makes me mad

Bashar Ja'afari, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday that Syria supports Hezbollah because it is engaging in "national resistance against foreign occupation."

Ja'afari said the roots of the current conflict go far beyond the recent escalation of tensions.


"The Arab-Israeli conflict did not start with the capture of an Israeli soldier in Gaza or two other Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon. The Arab-Israeli conflict is 60 years old, and nobody was giving any care to solving this conflict," he said. "Those who should be blamed are the Israeli policies, not the Arab policies."

If my Middle Eastern history is correct, it was the Arabs who attempted to wipe Israel off the map when Israel became a country. So if the conflict is 60 years old, then Israel has every right to continue the fight.

Does anyone else see this madness? Any additions to Middle Eastern ignorance would be greatly appreciated.

Doody

I do not want to appear as siding with the Palestinians, since I generally support Israel, but the immigrant Jews began with expropriations and expulsions after 1945. These actions initiated the eventual permanent conflict.

However, I personally think that the Palestinian issue has been mobilized for political reasons. That is, the Muslim states don't actually care about the Palestinians and are more than willing to use Lebannon & Palestine for cannon fodder.

America has certainly influenced Israeli policy of counter attack for years by preaching restraint when they are attacked. When Israel goes into Gaza, the US has told them when enough is enough. Except for the 1967 war, Israel has always complied with our wishes and suffered in silence as their people are attacked almost daily. When a Bus load of civilians or a crowded market is blown apart by Palestinians, they have showed more restraint than America ever would have. I think they have just had enough and are willing to finally take this thing with the Arabs to a finish.

Enough is enough. Allow Israel to put an end to these bastards once and for all. The Arabs say that they're victims. Let them prove it through their actions.

Remember folks, actions speak louder than words.

Its just convienent that this happens the day the G-8 starts, and will surely take attention away from the Iranian nuke issue. So the iranian funded hezzbulah and hamas start trouble to draw attention away from Iran hmm. Why do we ignore the source of most of the troubles in the middle east which is Iran.

My personal opinion on the Palestinian/Israeli thing is that neither side actually wants peace this conflict is all about escalation and imposing your will on the surroundings, I am of the opinion that neither side really worth supporting as they are as bad as each other.

From a pro-Palestinian view point they are seen as terrorists and they are basically little more than refugees in their own land (they were born there and have a sizable history there) how do they form a "conventional" army and fight back when you dont have a nation to do it frm and if someone made you a refugee in what you saw as your own land then wouldnt you fight back with whatever you could?

From a pro-Israeli point of view a sizable number of these people are are attacking civilian targets that makes them terrorists and the response is proportional to the crime after all it is their country they are defending.

From a western point of view and as someone that is heartily sick of the whole middle eastern nonsense I say seal the borders and leave them to it, no media coverage and no foreign aid.

Originally Posted by MontyB

My personal opinion on the Palestinian/Israeli thing is that neither side actually wants peace this conflict is all about escalation and imposing your will on the surroundings, I am of the opinion that neither side really worth supporting as they are as bad as each other........

Let’s hope and pray either sides have a new good leader who has vision of peace, or the conflict will not be ended, not for hundreds years.
For Arab side especially Palestinian seems too hard to do since too many factions there (Hamas, Fatah, Hisbollah).

Originally Posted by MontyB

My personal opinion on the Palestinian/Israeli thing is that neither side actually wants peace this conflict is all about escalation and imposing your will on the surroundings, I am of the opinion that neither side really worth supporting as they are as bad as each other.

From a pro-Palestinian view point they are seen as terrorists and they are basically little more than refugees in their own land (they were born there and have a sizable history there) how do they form a "conventional" army and fight back when you don't have a nation to do it from and if someone made you a refugee in what you saw as your own land then wouldn't you fight back with whatever you could?

From a pro-Israeli point of view a sizable number of these people are are attacking civilian targets that makes them terrorists and the response is proportional to the crime after all it is their country they are defending.

From a western point of view and as someone that is heartily sick of the whole middle eastern nonsense I say seal the borders and leave them to it, no media coverage and no foreign aid.

MB
The problem with your proposed plan is that we now live in a world community and it is no longer possible for you to stick your head in the sand and expect the rest of the world to leave you alone. As more and more energy is required by every country in the world, events taking place in the Middle East have greater and greater impact on the world price of petroleum and natural gas. Even if you did NOT have a horse in this particular race, every time that Israel and the Palestinians or any other country in the region have a terrorist attack or pitched battle ... the price of a gallon of gas spirals ever higher.

What this means is, if you don't support either side (or any side) in the conflicts taking place in the Middle East you are still going to have to live with the consequence of the conflict. Higher energy costs mean that you will end up paying ever higher prices for every item you buy.

So do think you can just ignore what is taking place somewhere else in the world? ... it is no longer possible.

As to who is right and who is wrong ... it doesn't make a pound of difference. At this stage of the conflict, it would have no real effect even though Israel prefers peace. As long as Hamas and Hezbollah won't leave Israel in peace and are bound and determined to destroy Israel, Israel has no choice but to respond against these attacks with force no matter what their real preference is.

See this is where we are going to disagree I dont think the powers in Israel want peace any more than those who lead Hamas and Co and I also think there is a tendancy to look at this conflict from a post 1945 view (where Israel is recognised country being attacked) when its protagonists are fighting a biblical war of thousands of years.

As far as globally sure there is an impact on fuel prices but this should and (in the future) has to be seen as a reason to move away from a dependance on non-sustainable fuels and not a reason to play silly buggers and get involved in the quagmire.

Guys, i'm telling you to just blame britain for doing a horrible job at managing the palestinian mandate. That's your origin of the whole conflict right there. IMO, arabs and jews could have gotten along just fine since they have similar cultures and history in the region, there wasn't much of a hate of them by arabs before the conflict. The two sides out of miscommunication and poor dimplomacy have been fighting since. There hasn't been this long of a dispute since the hundred years war, i mean the retardness of all this is biblical.