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Pleas for “de-escalation” are drowned out by missile fire

Ian McPhedran

by Ian McPhedran

19 Nov 04:05pm

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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Missiles, Security, War

44 comments

More than 80 Palestinians have been killed by laser guided “precision” Israeli missiles launched from F-16 jets while the unguided Chinese made “dumb” rockets flung into Israel by Hamas have claimed three lives since renewed hostilities broke out last week.

This is what Israeli self-defence looks like. A Palestinian woman sits in rubble following an Israeli air strike in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip. Picture: AP

About 700 others, mainly Palestinian civilians, have been injured.

As politicians around the world, including US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Julia Gillard, urged restraint as they defended Israel’s right to respond to unrelenting Hamas rocket attacks, Israeli ground troops and heavy armour were formed up along the border with Gaza. Air strikes and rocket attacks (and an 80 to 3 fatality rate) are one thing, but a ground invasion by a vastly superior force backed by tanks and artillery, would be much, much worse and far more risky for Israel.

As UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said, “The prime minister (David Cameron) and I have both stressed to our Israeli counterparts that a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support and sympathy that they have in this situation.

“It’s much more difficult to restrict and avoid civilian casualties during a ground invasion and a large ground operation would threaten to prolong the conflict,” Mr Hague said.

US President Barack Obama echoed those sentiments saying it was “preferable” for the Gaza crisis to end without a “ramping up” of Israeli military action.

“Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” President Obama said . “If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that is preferable.

“That is not just preferable for the people of Gaza, it is also preferable for Israelis because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they are much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded,” he said.

Both men are correct and while Israel enjoys strong international support for its “defensive” action, escalating things with an “offensive” ground invasion would see sympathy quickly evaporate or shift to the other side.

The problem with the current conflict is the same one that has befallen every other Middle East war during the past half century. Whenever war is waged in the ancient holy lands there are seldom winners, but there are always large numbers of losers and Israel often ends up painted as the bad boy of the region because of its military dominance and tendency to overreact.

Of course it is unacceptable for Hamas to fire rockets into Israel. The fact that the unguided weapons mostly fall harmlessly in sparsely populated desert areas or are shot down by Israel’s so-called “iron dome” defensive umbrella means that Israeli casualties are minimal.

When Israel responds it hits hard with air strikes in densely populated areas that generate civilian casualties and awful TV pictures that provoke sympathy for Hamas. The fact that Hamas actually started this latest fight has already been lost in the thick “fog of war”.

Israel reduces various Hamas government buildings to rubble, killed some leaders (and a lot of women and children) and she will claim a military victory.

But at what cost?

According to Hamas, Israeli strikes on Sunday killed 26 Palestinians, including 14 women and children.

Imagine the reaction if 29 Australians were killed by foreign missiles in just one day?

Meanwhile diplomatic efforts have intensified in a bid to end the bloodshed. Egypt has offered to broker a ceasefire but Israel won’t have a bar of it unless Hamas stops firing rockets.

Fair enough.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr entered the fray and used some very cautious language to urge restraint.

“With the Middle East in some uncertainty, with a complex and serious political situation, there is a lot to be gained by restraint, even while the anger that Israelis feel is very understandable,” Senator Carr said.

Israeli anger is understandable, but 80 dead and more than 600 injured Palestinians ensures that intractable hatred will be cemented for several more generations.

Comments on this post will close at 8pm AEST.

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44 comments

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    • ronny jonny says:

      03:20pm | 19/11/12

      If a neighboring country fired rockets into Australia I would expect our armed forces to respond with maximum force and no regard for that countries civilians. The Paletinians reap what they sow, to give it a nice biblical spin. They made their bed when they voted a terrorist organisation in as their government, it is clear where their sympathies lie. Go in Israel and go in hard.

      Reply

    • Greg in Chengdu says:

      05:50pm | 19/11/12

      “military dominance and tendency to overreact.”
      Overreact? This has been going on for years. Was the US overreacting when it invaded Iraq? How many missiles did Iraq fire at the US.
      There seems to be a double standard here. personally I hope Isreal does launch a ground offensive and hunt down all the wharehouses storing the rockets and the terrorists building them and I garuntee it won’t take 10years like the US occupation of Iraq. The palestinians start this time and time again and its completely deliberate knowing that bleeding hearts will call Isreals response ‘disproportionate’ This is war proportion has nothing to do with it. in war you destroy your enemy with what ever means are available. If Isreal have mre means than the palestinians then that just shows how stupid the palestinians are.
      Ronny Jonny is dead right the palestinians made their bed when they voted in a terrorist organisation.
      isreal should go in and they should go in hard not only that they should reoccupy Gaza and to hell with the palestinians whose only belief is hate

    • Keith Hammersmith says:

      06:28pm | 19/11/12

      I guess you would never have asked yourself “why”  palestine is firing rockets in israel, would you?  Wouldn’t want that bit of information to cloud your obvious open minded ‘judgement’.
      Do not think for a second that the israelies are innocent neighbours getting picked on..

    • Wolf says:

      03:31pm | 19/11/12

      This is no war. It will be sanctioned murder. Israel must be trembling in fear at the pea shooters of which they shoot nearly all put of the sky. They should just kill every last Palestinian and take over. That would be honest at least.

      Reply

    • DaveinPerth says:

      05:13pm | 19/11/12

      ....well….. If you really insist !

    • Greg in Chengdu says:

      05:58pm | 19/11/12

      Good idea because thats exactly what the palestinians would do if the shoe was on the other foot and they have said it thousands of times that they want to kill every jew in Isreal and push them into the sea. In fact if we look back in history after Isreal was formed the jews begged the palestinians to stayand help build their country together. The response was “Never we will come back and push every jew into the sea”

    • JTZ says:

      06:58pm | 19/11/12

      @wolf if its not scarey then I dare you to spend one month there. Who would love ABC to do a special where they take ppl from group like the one protesting infront of Max Brenner and asked then to live one month is Serdot. A town which has suffered constant rocekt attacks.

    • JTZ says:

      06:58pm | 19/11/12

      @wolf if its not scarey then I dare you to spend one month there. Who would love ABC to do a special where they take ppl from group like the one protesting infront of Max Brenner and asked then to live one month is Serdot. A town which has suffered constant rocekt attacks.

    • Pauline Harvey says:

      03:34pm | 19/11/12

      Bob Carr, you make me truly sick. “Israeli’s anger is understandable” - give us all a break. As the great Helen Thomas said, they need to get the hell out of Palestine. Enough, is enough. You are just parroting Obama and the UK, your government should do the RIGHT thing.

      Reply

    • Greg in Chengdu says:

      05:54pm | 19/11/12

      Pauline they aren’t in palestine. They are in Isreal. At least learn something about the region before you make such silly comments

    • wolf says:

      03:51pm | 19/11/12

      I am amazed at the omissions and the amount of tiptoeing around this issue from politicians and the media.
      From the ABC website:
      The Israeli Interior Minister says the aim of the operation against Palestinian militants is to, as he put it, “bomb Gaza back to the middle ages”.
      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-18/egypt-seeks-truce-as-israel2c-gaza-fighting-intensifies/4378292
      If this is an accurate quote… WOW. The intent seems a little war-crimey to me and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.

      Reply

    • Carl says:

      05:26pm | 19/11/12

      Could be worse: they could be aiming for the Stone Age.

    • Shane* says:

      03:52pm | 19/11/12

      Israel don’t care. They do what they want and damn the consequences.

      As long as the US blindly support them, they feel they can do so. Use a child as a human shield? Sure! Why not! It’s just an arab kid! Return thrown rocks with live ammunition? Why the hell not?! Holy crap they lobbed a grenade at us blindly and hit a car park! Better use satellite imagery and US-built billion dollar military technology to hit one of their schools and kill a few kids!

      Hell, they violated one of the most untouchable tenets of international diplomacy by conducting an assassination on foreign land while using Israeli-government-sanctioned FORGED AUSTRALIAN PASSPORTS and all we did was tsk tsk tsk them.

      At least the Kiwis had the nads to kick out their ambassador. US support for Israel is absolute, and our support for the US is absolute. Which is tragic, not just for Palestinians, Arabs or the Middle East, but also for Australians’ self-respect.

      Reply

    • JT says:

      04:55pm | 19/11/12

      No what is tragic is fools like you support terrorists over a democratic free people under attack since 1948. It certainly says a lot about the type of person you are.

    • Mattb says:

      05:19pm | 19/11/12

      Still here are you JT?. haven’t packed your bags and flown to Israel yet to help defend the place?.

      be ‘anti-semitic’ of you not to wouldn’t it?...

    • Keith Hammersmith says:

      06:30pm | 19/11/12

      “since 1948”  - enough said really, screw who lived there before that right?

    • Don Paul says:

      03:54pm | 19/11/12

      Agreed Ian. Let’s hope cool heads prevail.

      Maybe they need to sit down over an ale and work it out.

      Reply

    • Cornflakes Girl says:

      03:55pm | 19/11/12

      You write: “Imagine the reaction if 29 Australians were killed by foreign missiles in just one day?”

      How about: “Imagine the reaction if 12,000 rockets were fired into Australian sovereign territory, in contravention of a ceasefire, and the world told Australia to put up and shut up?”

      Or: “Imagine the reaction if up to 75% of Australian children living within rocket range have PTSD because of the constant bombardment of rockets over 7 years?”

      Or: “Imagine the reaction if we had to build rocket proof kindergartens and bomb shelters every 15 seconds along a road to school?”

      Israel is between a rock and a hard place. In contravention of international law, Hamas fires rockets from civilian areas. What can Israel do to protect it’s citizens? Israel gave Gaza that land for peace and instead Gazans elected a terrorist organisation for government and has bombarded Israel with 12,000 rockets since 2005. I think the world prefers the pathetic Jew as a victim, instead of the defiant Israel as the victor.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:50pm | 19/11/12

      Exactly CG. Well said.

      Its ridiculous that the main argument and talking point is that Hamas hasn’t killed enough Israeli’s.

    • Haxton Waag says:

      05:19pm | 19/11/12

      @Cornflakes Girl

      Agreed.

    • Matt says:

      05:41pm | 19/11/12

      Cornflakes Girl, what a load of rubbish.  Ariel Sharon didn’t withdraw from Gaza in 2005 for “peace” (we’re talking about the same guy who was found guilty by the Israeli court for being directly responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982, look it up).  He withdrew so the world would be lead to believe he was a man of peace, all the while expanding the wall and settlements in the West Bank.  Also, you’ll find the reason that the Palestinians voted for Hamas was because they were fed up with the Palestinian Authority’s corruption and its collaboration with Israel’s blatant land grab. 

      So you ask what Israel can do to protect its citizens?  How about taking a shot at peace talks rather than expanding settlements and imprisoning an entire people with blockades and checkpoints

    • Mattb says:

      06:51pm | 19/11/12

      Matt

      Nothing justifies firing rockets indiscriminately at a civilian population. NOTHING. If the Palestinians want peace, if they want the Israeli’s to stop expanding their settlements and blockades, they should sit down an try nut out a peaceful solution. Problem is, the powers that be from either side doesnt want this, their fundamental religious hatred toward each other wont allow it..

    • Gregg says:

      06:57pm | 19/11/12

      Yep all that is horrendous too CG and I doubt we’ll ever see a permanent peace for you have the view on one hand of Israel’s right to exist and as JT puts it above:
      ” No what is tragic is fools like you support terrorists over a democratic free people under attack since 1948. It certainly says a lot about the type of person you are. “
      And then there is what existed prior to 1948 and what has happened following 1948.

      It was the League of Nations that about 1920 accepted that there should be a Zionist homeland and it could be asked was that a good decision or not for Palestine as it had been called for centuries was a land where many of different religions co-existed, all be it with some violence at times if you back as far as the crusades.

      So come the end of WW2 and Zionist groups wanted to establish their homeland in the defiance of the Brits who had control of the region at the time, many Jews being considered terrorists about that time and executed.
      There was a lot of persecution of Arabs and many people in feeling threatened left their lands.

      Would all this have happened and much more in the middle east if a more sensible arrangement had been made, something like a non religion based government for Palestine set up, a government where all citizens could vote irrespective of religion and the rights of people for lands they occupied accepted.

      That is exactly what Obama is talking to the Burmese about right now!

    • Ex says:

      03:56pm | 19/11/12

      Yes much better to be continually bombed by Hamas.  Israel should wipe them out and be done with it.  Sends the best message to the enemies.

      Reply

    • the cynic says:

      03:58pm | 19/11/12

      “but 80 dead and more than 600 injured Palestinians ensures that intractable hatred will be cemented for several more generations”........Not if the Israelis take the gloves off and levels the place and all in it. Eradicate the cause and you silence the problem.  Besides, talking to these nutters who are stuck in the stone age has shown that such talk fests ammount to zero and are completley futile. Terrorists and the entire Islamic worlds goal is to wipe Israel off the map and everyone else who is not muslim. About time the western Christian world woke up to the fact.

      Reply

    • Mattb says:

      05:11pm | 19/11/12

      “..Not if the Israelis take the gloves off and levels the place and all in it. Eradicate the cause and you silence the problem.”

      I take it from the rest of your post your a christian, yet here you are advocating genocide, how very christian of you, your mother must be proud. Your another one that is no better than the palestinian idiots on the Hamas side firing rockets.

      “Besides, talking to these nutters who are stuck in the stone age has shown that such talk fests ammount to zero and are completley futile.”

      Nutters??.. from where I stand both sides are chock full of ‘nutters’. Anyone that follows religion has to be slightly nuts, anyone that uses religion as an excuse for murder is a total nutter IMO.

      “Terrorists and the entire Islamic worlds goal is to wipe Israel off the map and everyone else who is not muslim.”

      yeah, really??, how many rockets has that extremely large ISLAMIC country just to the north of Australia fired at us lately?. I think you’ve slightly over exaggerated here..

      “About time the western Christian world woke up to the fact.”

      Oh, don’t worry, the western world is waking up to the facts alright. The FACT that both sides in this conflict are as pathetic and petty as each other. The FACT that religious nutter’s aren’t worth arguing with and eventually their archaic belief systems, helped by their own ignorant stupidity,  will gradually fade into insignificance…

    • ramases says:

      04:06pm | 19/11/12

      You have got to laugh or you’ll cry. Fancy a president of the USA saying “US President Barack Obama echoed those sentiments saying it was “preferable” for the Gaza crisis to end without a “ramping up” of Israeli military action.
      “Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” President Obama said . “If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that is preferable.” when they themselves have ramped up conflicts based on faulty evidence that even blind Freddy could see through, Weapons of Mass destruction ring a bell. At least Israel some justification for ramping up, like 12,000 rockets in 12 years. Its going to be settled not through negotiation but through armed conflict as it has been simmering for years and has reached boiling point.       
        The media though seems to dwell on the deaths of civilians and especially children caused by the bombing when it is common knowledge that Hamas uses sites that have these people in them as shields and then cry foul when they are killed.
        Here’s a question , what is Israel to do, sit on their hands and do nothing whilst being rocketed daily or strike back and inflict damage and casualties on those responsible. What would the USA, China, Nth Korea, Russia do, that’s an easy one isn’t it ,they would justify these types of actions as a an act of war and go in boots and all,  so what’s the real difference except that Israel is not a world power.

      Reply

    • Raffe says:

      04:14pm | 19/11/12

      With the exception of last nights attack which resulted a tragedy of civilian deaths this operation will be studied by armies and air forces worldwide as the right way to conduct urban warfare in densely populated areas. Yet if we look just over the border, where 40,000 plus people have been killed in Syria, you’ll see the wrong way to fight in an urban scenario.

      On one side you have Hamas, an organisation which has long been known to exploit civilian safe zones such as schools, apartments and Mosques (and freely admits to it in their videos), whilst on the other side you have the IDF who are defending themselves from more than 12,000 missiles over the last few years.

      I would like to ask Mr McPhedran if he has ever been the target of a Hamas missile attack? If he has ever had to wake up at 3 in the morning whilst sirens are blasting outside and to run for the bomb shelter? If he has had to comfort crying children who will grow up with post traumatic stress disorder and a host of psychological and physical problems due to these constant attacks? I have. The author states that the rockets ‘fall harmlessly in sparsely populated areas or are shot down by the Iron Dome’. The Iron Dome has only been operational for the last several months and even if the Dome is successful in intercepting the rockets or if the rocket is to fall in a ‘sparsely populated area’ then the alarms still sound and life is still interrupted. Just last week when an Iron Dome interceptor failed to launch it resulted in three dead civilians. Israel must divert hundreds of millions of dollars that could be spent on education, hospitals and social programs into defensive measures such as equipping schools with bomb shelters. The schools in the south of Israel have bomb shelters with beautiful murals on them so that they calm the children as they cower in fear. I have seen this murals. I have been at these schools. The rockets are a menace to the south and the IDF has acted appropriately in stopping them. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth and Israel is facing an enemy that openly uses civilian buildings. Over the last several days they have conducted more than a thousand different sorties. Furthermore the majority of those hit were Hamas militants who were either involved in the firing, acquisition or the logistics of the rocket attacks. Whilst every civilian death in this conflict is an absolute tragedy the fact that this number remains so incredibly low (and yes if you look at it objectively 80 is an incredibly low number) is a testament to the IDF and their desire to preserve human life.

      Reply

    • Haxton Waag says:

      05:26pm | 19/11/12

      @Raffe

      I am happy to see posters here going against the current trend of painting Israel as the villains.

    • LC says:

      06:30pm | 19/11/12

      Seconded.

      It is rather refreshing to see someone who hasn’t fallen for the BS and sees Hamas and their ilk for who they are.

      If Hamas doesn’t like it, then they have the power to end this overnight, and they must use it. Recognize Israel as a state, stop lobbing missiles at them, stop bombing them and stop kidnapping their citizens. Israel will stop their military actions only when Hamas does. If they don’t, their international support will dry up instantly, the media’s take on the issue, plus Wolf, Pauline Harvey, Shane, Matt and the others would justified, and I will be standing right there with them with pride.

      Until then, Israel are doing what’s necessary to protect their people and sovereignty.

    • P. Walker says:

      04:19pm | 19/11/12

      It was enlightening hearing our Foreign Minister Bob Car asking the two sides to stop there aggression.  Huh, Bob, Hamas is a banned extremist organisation.  It is they who needs to pull the damn heads in!!  I would continue if I were Israel to blast away; send the message to Iran and Hamas that their arsenal won’t be tolerated!

      Reply

    • matt says:

      04:23pm | 19/11/12

      So because the Palestinian technology is inferior we are to condemn Israel for retaliation?  If rockets aren’t fired none of this happens.  It isn’t simply people causing trouble firing these rockets, it is backed by government in a systematic attack to provoke Israel.  Poor article.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:39pm | 19/11/12

      “Imagine the reaction if 29 Australians were killed by foreign missiles in just one day?”

      Imagine the reaction if a neighbouring country was launching 100 rockets a day into Australia…and maybe killing 3 people…Imagine that neighbour was also taking pot shots at Australian soldiers from across the border on a daily basis - killing and wounding many, or maybe kidnapping the odd one or two and executing them. Imagine they were sending suicide bombers to blow themselves up in cafes in trendy parts of Sydernee or outside a daycare in Melbourne.

      We can play this ‘imagine if…‘game all day Ian.

      This is boiling down to a pissfight between ‘Well they only kill 3 Israeli’s - why are you killing 80*’ bollocks.

      Its a testament to the IDF’s dedication and professionalism that they have kept alledged civilian casualties so low in such a densly populated urban environment. Hell, they drop leaflets and even telephone people to give them time to get out of buildings before hitting them - name me another nation that does that?

      Hamas can end all this within an hour - they just need to stop sending rockets into Israel. End of story.

      Remember, Israel launched this new offensive after 4 days of rocket barrages without ‘responding’. I know plenty would like to forget that little tidbit. The argument of ‘proportion’ is bollocks.


      *Numbers supplied by the every honest and reliable Hamas organisation, which I beleive is a humanitarian organisation that delivers hugs and rainbows to sick children.

      Reply

    • Greg in Chengdu says:

      06:06pm | 19/11/12

      Good pointbut what disgusts me is that he is comparing Australians to terrorists. We DON"T fire rockets at our neighbours. We DON’T encourage children tobecome suicide bombers using TV shows for kids with a terrorist in a Mickey Mouse suit extolling the virues of martyrdom and we don’t sacrifice our own people to score points in the media. And we DON’T hail someone as a hero for killing children or kidnapping and beheading someone on video

    • Daz says:

      04:41pm | 19/11/12

      Maybe if these idiots hadn’t been the first to launch rockets on Israel they wouldn’t be in this situation. Get real. Like Israel is supposed to stand there and turn the other cheek. They’ve done that for thousands of years and where did that get them?

      Not that I have much sympathy for money lending jews but wtf do these clowns expect. The world’s media is concentrated in the Gaza Strip only because Israeli rockets look more spectacular on TV than the piss fart Hamus ones.

      My advice to Israel: help Hamus get better rockets then the media will camp in Israel and tell the story of the poor jews under attack from arab extremists.

      Reply

    • LC says:

      06:12pm | 19/11/12

      Agreed.

      According to the latte-sipping set, Israel should just put up and shut up as missiles are being fired into their land? Perhaps they should think “Aww, how cute, Hamas are giving us their daily fireworks display…again”?

      I wonder how they’d react if New Zealand was doing the same to Australia, should we also put up and shut up? Maybe North Korea to South Korea? Or (to trot out another country the latte-set loves to hate) what if the USA was doing it to Canada? Would you still tell the country on the receiving end “it’s only a few little fireworks, big deal, now sit on your hands about it like a good country would”?

    • Ex says:

      05:03pm | 19/11/12

      I want to know why the Western media only shows damage done in Palestine.  The one-sided reporting is ridiculous.  You start a war, send 100 missiles at another country and the western media portrays you as the victim.  Do you think you will fool us?

      Reply

    • Greg in Chengdu says:

      06:11pm | 19/11/12

      Which is exactly why the palestinians do this every few years when world wide attention starts to wane they start another war with Isreal. create a heap of civilian casualties to make Isreal look evil and the donations from muslim countries and foriegn palestinians start to flow in again. This is all a well orchestrated fund raiser and awareness propgram for the Palestinians

    • Wildweasel says:

      05:45pm | 19/11/12

      The big difference in casualties is simply because Israel cares about it’s civilian population and provides early warnings and bomb shelters, on the other hand Hamas uses it’s civilian population as human shield, launching missiles and installing other military equipment in their midst, quite deliberately too.
      They care little for what their people go through, such is the way of terrorists everywhere. I have no sympathy for them.
      Imagine what would happen if Taiwan lobbed the odd unguided missile each day on to mainland China, don’t tell me China wouldn’t react, the same way Israel has.

      Reply

    • James O says:

      05:55pm | 19/11/12

      Sooner or later the religious cultural mess that is the Middle East will have to be settled, that day could well be the Armageddon cultists love to fortell so much. Israel survives as a state because of it’s importance to the financial and capitalistic interests of the West and Israel’s political and military partnership with the USA in particular, Israel would write it’s own epitaph should it destabilise the underlying and predetermined influences that control the financial destiny of the Arab world. The USA have been trying to keep a lid on this cultural powder keg since it took over from the former colonial powers controlling the oil reserves and any transition of violence towards Israel rings alarm bells not because of Israeli military retalliation but what could potentially include American military intervention against pre-emptive nuclear aggression. Damaging as they are ‘dumb missiles’ are insect bites in comparison to the catastrophe of a super heated war. The Arab world is not following a continuation of a westernised cold war though some hidden embers were fanned by the wests desire for oil, it is an intergenerational psychosis or a blood hatred which has evolved with time and merely borrows things from the modern world when outsiders try to intervene in their determination to win an ancient struggle for cultural purity. Religion is merely a smoke screen for all the bitterness and a guarantee for an eternal empasse for common sense. Israel never gives favours unless the odds are firmly in their favour and will not be forced to conceed it’s existence to Palestine, the day that happens will be the day the world changes forever.
      It is a choice the Arab world will have to face up to or a new dark age will approach us sooner rather than later.

      Reply

    • Orion says:

      05:57pm | 19/11/12

      Hamas is not conducting a military conflict with Israel - they are hopelessly outclassed and they know it - so they provoke Israel by conducting low risk attacks against their civilians into retaliating in a way that causes the most loss of Palestinian civilian life they can manage to turn international opinion against Israel and attract sympathy to the Palestinian cause. This is a cynical strategy against which Israel, despite the expertise of the IDF at “surgical” strikes against urban targets, cannot win and Hamas cannot lose unless Israel obliterates them, which is militarily but not politically feasible. There can be no winners in this conflict. The losers are the civilians on both sides.

      Reply

    • CA says:

      06:29pm | 19/11/12

      If all the Arab countries, and Hamas and the Palestine authority laid down their arms, there would be peace.  If the Israelis laid down their arms, Israel would be gone by nightfall.

      Reply

    • Keith Hammersmith says:

      06:39pm | 19/11/12

      So, I see one poster talking about a civilization, walled in, its people cant leave or conduct business with out the say so if Israeli check points, life in Palestine is basically a large jail, and the world is expecting these people not to strike out with what ever means necessary?
      The example people use of ‘what if these rockets were fired into australia”
      let us use another,
      what if a country was formed in 1948 that took all of australia’s land for themselves except for south west WA - pushed us all into that territory, walled it in, and if any australian wanted to leave this ‘territory” they had to go through check points, and were generally oppressed, as their economy could not get amd economy off the ground with that kind of position. - then what?  Would we respond with words, then stones, then whatever the hell we could do i would imagine.

      yes this whole situation sucks, but the Israelis have not exactly been sitting there send the Palestinians flowers for the past60 years.

      Reply
 
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From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go

Tim says:

They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]

From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go

Kel says:

If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Superman needs saving

Superman needs saving

Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more

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