@usmankhalid665,
If you are posting photos of dead Palestinian children to counter oralloy's contention that all Palestinians are "vermin," I think it's an effective response but I don't see the point of posting this photo of the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Gaza, unless it is to criticize Israel.
If this is the case you should be aware that this entire thread can be taken up with dueling photos of the aftermath of violent actions taken by both sides. If you're prepared to criticize both sides for their violence this might be an appropriate post. Somehow I don't think that's your intention though.
In any case it is disingenuous to criticize Israel for striking at Hamas in Gaza, since Hamas deliberately spreads itself out within urban areas, populated by civilian women and children.
From a tactical standpoint this makes a lot of sense, and it's one long adopted by terrorists and insurgents. Either the civilians serve as human shields or their deaths serve in the propaganda front of the conflict.
Perhaps the civilians are willing to accept this risk as their contribution to what they believe is a righteous war, but that doesn't immunize Hamas from responsibility for these children's deaths.
This is the nature of an asymmetric conflict where one side is, militarily, much more powerful. Hamas cannot field an army that would last one day in a conventional battle with Israel. If they are to engage in combat with Israel they must follow an unconventional strategy (which at this point in history has actually become quite conventional in its own right).
They, militarily, are the aggressors; the vast majority of military action taken by Israel in this conflict has been in retaliation for acts of terrorism (including rocket strikes) by Hamas. No matter what one thinks of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, beyond military actions, it is ridiculous to expect it to simply endure the attacks of Hamas without making some effort to stop or reduce them.
Since Hamas is dispersed within urban areas, it doesn't provide Israel with a target it can attack without the risk of collateral casualties. Again this makes strategic sense, but it carries with it a price.
Theoretically, Israel could consider the Palestinian governed territories as a national enemy, declare war and then proceed to bring them completely to their knees and begin a very ugly process of occupation intended to search out and destroy all members of Hamas and their most active sympathizers. This is something the Third Reich or the Roman Empire might try. Clearly, Israel will not take this route for a number of reasons so they must adopt a different strategy.
Based on intelligence reports (which despite Mossad's high level of expertise, are not perfect) they respond to Hamas attacks by sending in Special Forces to assassinate Hamas leaders and aerial attacks to destroy locations believed to be Hamas hideouts. No matter how much care they take to minimize civilian casualties, current smart weapon technology is just not smart enough to eliminate them entirely (as your photo illustrates). Your photo also demonstrates that Israel is trying to minimize civilian casualties as the most effective, purely military response in this case would have been to level an area three to four times as large, or at least to level to the ground the buildings that were targeted. The scene in the photo is clearly one of destruction, but given the weapons available to the Israeli's it could have been much, much worse.
I would hope, and I do believe, that Hamas doesn't actually seek the deaths of Palestinian children, for propaganda purposes, as they would certainly prefer it if Israel didn't retaliate at all, but they know this will never be the case and so they know Palestinian children will die. I firmly believe though that, as noted before, this is not an entirely undesired outcome for them as it, clearly, fuels outrage toward Israel, and surprisingly and quite sickeningly more so for most of Israel's critics than the deaths of Israeli children. The more they can incite the outrage of Israel's critics, the more pressure they believe will be put on Israel to submit to their demands, and they are right. Whether that increased pressure will have the desired effect is another matter though.
It is pretty clear that if all terrorist attacks by Palestinians against Israel ceased tomorrow, and were not resumed, Israel would not be sending hit squads into Gaza or dropping bombs on buildings in which children lived. They might not cease the expansion of settlements or they might continue to restrict freedom of Palestinian movement or the Gaza blockade, but any reasonable rationale for such actions would cease to exist. Not only would this make it difficult for Israel’s allies (such as they are) to refrain from all out condemnation, it would eliminate the rationale for many Israelis who are inclined to see these practices end, supporting them because of security concerns. That Israeli has a functioning democracy (unlike Gaza or the West Bank) is actually an advantage for the Palestinians.
Clearly Israel has not conceded to all of the Palestinian demands and it is extremely unlikely that they ever will, but it is simply false to argue that they have not made expansive concessions during negotiations, which, while perhaps not responding to all of the legitimate concerns of Palestinians, would have created a foundation of peace upon which to build trust and eventually additional concessions.
Unfortunately, it is also clear, that Palestinian leaders are not truly interested in putting an end to the bloodshed, and moving towards not only peaceful co-existence but even eventually a relationship of true alliance (Who would have thought during WWII that the US would have its current relationship with Germany and Japan?). For too many of them the eradication of a Jewish State in the region is a goal they will not surrender.
It is the Palestinians who have been intransigent in negotiations, who insist on impossible demands. They and not Israel that are the impediments to peace and those that actually have the power to alter their current positions are the ones responsible for the deaths of Palestinian children.
