Gaza in Flames

After ten days of the latest bloodshed, Gaza seems to be a land where all Hope has vanished.
The unending cycle of violence stems from Hamas's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist and commitment to destroy the Jewish state. Since Hamas won control of the Palestinian Authority parliament in elections in 2006, they have ratcheted up the level of attacks against Israel, in large part through the use of short range missiles. Hamas had fired 30 rockets at Israel by Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli military said. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida has warned Israel that the militants will continue rocket attacks "for many months" and vowed to strike deeper into Israeli territory. True to their threat, a Hamas rocket landed in the town of Gadera, Israel, about 23 miles north of the Gaza border. Yesterday, a rocket hit a kindergarten in the Israeli city of Ashdod, about 16 miles north of Gaza.

In response to being shelled from Gaza, Israel launched first an air offensive, then as a last resort, followed with sending troupes into the territories. Hamas understands they do not have the equipment to stand toe to toe against the high-tech weaponry of Israel: so instead they look for opportunities to inflict damage, wait for a response; then point to their dead and demand that the world stop Israel. While Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization, by Israel, the United States and the EU; they understand that the Palestinians are seen as the underdogs, and that pressure will be brought down on to Israel. Hamas recognizes that the more horrific the images, the greater the force placed on Israel to pull back. It is for that reason that Hamas intentionally places woman and children in the center of the armed conflict. Place rocket launchers inside a school and fire at the Israelis, if they don't fire back you win, if they do fire back you win. It's a great strategy, as long as you don't care about the deaths of your own children.

Yet again today we saw the same plan used , a spokesman for the Israeli military today said Hamas militants positioned in a school, had fired mortar shells at Israeli forces, prompting return fire.Palestinian sources said 44 were killed in the attack.

U.N. Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging said most of the casualties were outside the school in the Jabalya refugee camp.

"It's a very built-up area, so of course it was entirely inevitable that if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties," he said at a U.N. briefing from Gaza City. A short time later, another artillery shell struck inside a second U.N. school in Jabalya, but Ging said the boys' prep school was empty at the time

Israel continued airstrikes targeting the homes of people linked to Hamas, An overnight airstrike hit the Jabalya home of Imad Siam, one of the leaders of Hamas' military wing according to Hamas security sources. Israel claimed Tuesday to have killed 130 Hamas fighters since beginning a ground offensive at dusk Saturday. An Israeli soldier was killed Tuesday morning in northern Gaza City, the Israeli military said, bringing to six the number of Israeli forces who have died in Gaza since Israel launched its ground incursion.

.Arab foreign ministers met at the United Nations to work up a U.N. draft resolution calling for Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza and for Hamas, which rules the territory, to cease firing rockets at the Jewish state. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to present a resolution drafted by the Arab League to the U.N. Security Council. The resolution will call for Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza and for Hamas to cease firing rockets at the Jewish state.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday told French President Nicolas Sarkozy that Israel wanted a "full solution" to the conflict, not just a cease-fire that allowed Hamas to fortify itself, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, stated that any cease-fire in the Gaza conflict will require "clear and definitive action" to halt the smuggling of weapons and money into the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.

"If there is strong action on that front, so that Israel feels it has achieved something -- namely the end of the smuggling of weapons and finance to Hamas -- then I think it is possible to resolve this reasonably quickly," Blair told CNN.

"If that doesn't happen, if we're not in that position, then obviously it's going to go on."



The true tragedy is that it is the most innocent, that often pay the highest price. The threat of Hamas rockets in the south of Israel is taken so seriously that almost all the schools within rocket range of Gaza have locked their gates and told children not to come to school. According to the Israeli government, 300,000 students are affected.

Children accounted for one-third of the casualties at Gaza's main hospital, and now Hamas and their media are making them the face of the attacks.

"When the Jews bomb us when we are asleep, [Hassanin] says 'We get scared,' " a translator says.

Hassanin is one boy from Gaza being interviewed by an anchor on Hamas TV about the attacks.

When we will grow up, we will bomb them back," said Hassanin on Hamas TV

The children have seen terrible images of tragedy: their friends injured or killed and bloodied bodies in the streets.They are images Hassanin says he will never forget. He'll keep them stored away until he's old enough to do something about it.It's a sentiment psychiatrists in Gaza say could be responsible a frightening future --­ that the violence children are witnessing will sow the seeds for future violence.

Gaby Schrieber, an Israeli psychiatrist at Barzilai Hospital, says Israeli children get excellent help and structured support ­ -- something he fears children in Gaza won't be receiving.

And if they don't get the support they need or hope for a better future, Schrieber worries what will happen to them.
"Where is hope for them, and how can they structure their future in their minds?" Schrieber said. "They can become extremists."

After ten days of the latest bloodshed, .

So the unending cycle of violence continues to plunge Gaza deeper into a hell where all Hope has vanished

Peace in Jerusalem?

Do you think Jerusalem should be divided?
No 50% 11,695
Yes 39% 9,195
I'm not sure 11% 2,579
AOL News Poll

I would love to wake-up one morning and hear that Peace had finally found it's way to Israel. And by peace I mean, not just a lull in violence, but the Israelis and Palestinians experiencing the kind of good relations the U.S. enjoys with Canada.
Yes I do believe that such a peace would be good for all parties, just as believe that the bloodshed in the Middle East has caused pain and suffering throughout the region and world as a whole. Yes I want peace, even if the price includes giving up hard-fought-lands, and unequal concessions.

That said there has to be a division between what you will give up for peace, and what you will give up for the "Possibility" of peace.

On Monday, October 8th, a representative of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that his government would support a division of Jerusalem.

Such a division is a key component of an Israeli-Palestinian declaration, which will be the cornerstone of the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference scheduled in November. The expression, “God is in the details”, never seamed truer, than in any sort of plan to divide the holiest and most controversial parcel of land on the planet. How do you divide Territories separated not just by natural geographic boundaries, like rivers and hills; but also by thousands of year of history- land that has been fought over in countless battles over the millenniums.
Haim Ramon, Deputy Vice Prime Minister of Israel, has proposed turning over many of the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem to the Palestinians, but Israel would not transfer control of the Holy City and neighborhoods around it to the Palestinians According to Ramon, it is these areas that could be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
This is the land, which Israel captured from Jordan, when attacked, in the 1967 Mideast war. As for what Israel would receive in exchange for giving up land; the international community, including Arab states, would recognize Israel's sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem as well as it's right to call those areas of the city it's capital.
According to Ramon, even the hawkish elements of Olmert's coalition, such as Avigdor Lieberman, a Cabinet Minister of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, would back such an Israeli concession. Ramon as so spoke of support from The centrist Labor Party
"There are two central parties that agree to this," Ramon told Army Radio. "The most important thing is to preserve the state of Israel Jewish and democratic."

There is no question but that having Arab states, recognize not just Israel's "right to exist, but the' re sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and the right to define those areas it's capital, would be a major step towards Peace.
In part as a diversion, many other conflicts have been linked to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Any true movement has the potential to break logjams in several other regional negotiations. All of which has the potential to be very positive.
The real question is "Will Israel be giving up land for peace, or just giving up land as the admission price for entering the room. If they give up control over a large part of Jerusalem before the Mideast peace conference even begins, what will they be asked to give up by the close of the conference? Who will speak for the Palestinians, Will it be Hamas? What about Gaza? Will al-Qaida allow a peace to take hold?
Yes, I would love to wake-up one morning and hear that Peace had finally found it's way to Israel, but I have my doubts it will occur in the near future.

Israel and Violence

Posted on Jan 30, 2007 9:15am PST -
Author:

Larry Lubell
News Source:

Urban Insurance Blog
Publish Date: Jan 29, 2007

Description
Six Years of Palestinian-Israeli Violence
January 29th, 2007
A Palestinian suicide bomber attacked a bakery in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat, on Monday, killing three people and himself.A spokesman for Hamas, that controls the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet, praised the bombing as a “natural response” to Israeli policies.The mother of Muhammed Faisal Saksak, the 21-year-old suicide bomber who carried out Monday’s attack in Eilat, said she was aware of her son’s plan to blow himself up and that she had wished him “good luck.”The mother of nine said she was proud of her son for carrying out the suicide attack. “I pray to Allah that Muhammed will be accepted as a shaheed [martyr],” she said shortly after hearing about the Eilat bombing.Muhammed’s wife, Nadia, said she shared the family’s sense of “pride” for what her husband did. “When I heard that he was martyred, I felt very proud of him,” she said.Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, said, “This is a grave incident, it’s an escalation and we shall treat it as such,”Two Palestinian militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, claimed joint responsibility for the attack. Both groups said “The operation has a clear message to the Palestinian rivals. It is necessary to end the infighting and point the guns toward the occupation that has hurt the Palestinian people,” a posting on the Islamic Jihad Web site said.
More than 60 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since December as the result of infighting between the Hamas led Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades linked to Fatah.
The Fatah organization who had ruled Palestinians for years till the last election, had officially been trying to get Hamas to agree to Recognize Israel’s right to exists in order end a crippling aid boycott imposed by the international community. The Palestinian’s have virtually no economy save for international aid. Being connected to an other suicide bombing is likely to complicate the group’s efforts to say the least.
However, Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman condemned the violence, saying, “We are against any operation that targets civilians, Israelis or Palestinians.”
During more than six years of Palestinian-Israeli violence, 540 people have been killed in 130 Palestinian suicide bombings.How desperate does one have to be in order to strap on explosives and “Blow your self up?”How can any mother find joy in her son’s death or be proud that her son blew up a bakery or a Pizza parlor.As an American, as a moderate, it is impossible for me to truly comprehend the mindset of a terrorist or suicide bomber. I can’t fathom coming to a point where I could justify entering a Disco, standing in a crowd of teenagers and pushing a button to kill them and myself. I don’t understand the lessons being taught around the dinner table that leads one to conclude flying a passenger plane into a building is a reasonable, rational response to a perceived injustice. How can a parent not do everything in their power to protect their children from harm, but instead “Take Pride” in their child’s demise? However foreign these actions are to us, it has become clear that we live in a world where a growing percentage of people embrace these extremist views. And while we should never slip to their level, we would be well advised to try to understand the conditions that have given rise to their hatred and desperation. I am not saying that as a means of justifying terrorism, but as a method to better protect our selves from those that would do us harm.Israel, in attempt to protect it’s citizens, has become an occupier of over 2,000,000 Palestinians and turned tens of millions around the world against them. The conditions that the average Palestinian find them self is deplorable by any object measure, and after decades, Israel finds it’s population still in harms way. America is engaged in a war against terrorism; in an attempt to protect it’s citizens the US. Is often echoing the path Israel has taken. My fear is that we will not be any more successful than they have been. Absolutely, we must capture or kill those who seek to kill us. We must search and destroy the terrorist’s infrastructure; we must follow the money trail. But we have to be smart enough not to swell their ranks in our attempt to eliminate them. I must admit, I find it much easier to raise questions than to present answers. If the ultimate goal is peace and prosperity throughout the Middle East, it is clear all sides are failing miserably.