ISRAEL - IRAN - SYRIA - HAMAS - HEZBOLLAH - WWWIII?

Here is some news that is sure to make Walter happy.


Hezbollah missile stock 'tripled'

Hezbollah fired thousands of missiles into Israel during the 2006 conflict
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said the Lebanese Hezbollah movement now has three times as many missiles as before the 2006 Lebanon war.

Mr Barak told MPs some of its 42,000 missiles could reach the southern towns of Ashkelon, Beersheba and Dimona, more than 200km (125 miles) from the border.

Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel during the 2006 conflict, killing some 40 civilians.

More than 1,125 Lebanese, most of them civilians, died in Israeli attacks.

The 34-day war started with a border incursion by Hezbollah on 12 July 2006. Eight Israeli soldiers were killed and two others kidnapped, prompting a massive Israeli response.

Gaza truce praised

In a speech on Monday to Israel's parliament, the Knesset, Mr Barak warned that Hezbollah's military wing, the Islamic Resistance, had greatly increased its arsenal since 2006.

It now possessed missiles which could reach far into southern Israel, he said.

Hezbollah has three times the ability it had before the Second Lebanon War

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak
"Hezbollah has three times the ability it had before the second Lebanon war and now has 42,000 missiles in its possession, as opposed to the 14,000 it had before the war," he said.

"It has missiles that can reach the towns of Ashkelon, Beersheba and Dimona."

Mr Barak also said that the movement's inclusion in Lebanon's national unity government earlier this year meant that Israel might take wider action against the country's civilian infrastructure in future.

"The integration of Hezbollah into the Lebanese state exposes Lebanon and its infrastructure to in-depth attacks in the event of a new conflict," he said.


Mr Barak said Lebanon's infrastructure could be exposed to further attacks
Earlier, when addressing the Knesset's foreign affairs and defence committee, Mr Barak also renewed his support for an extension of the ceasefire with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, which began on 19 June.

"I'm not sorry for any day or month of calm," he said.

"In each of the two months leading up to the truce there were 500 incidences of Qassam rocket fire and mortar shell fire, a figure which dropped to roughly 10 a month when the truce kicked in," he added.

Mr Barak also rejected calls for a major ground offensive in Gaza to overthrow the Islamist movement, Hamas, which seized control of the territory last year.

"To all the warmongers I say: You have nothing to teach me about war or peace or my duties," the former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces said.

"I am defence minister, not war minister, and my job is to maintain as far as possible the maximum of security for Israeli citizens. In any case, if a pre-emptive operation proves necessary, the army will act."

--BBC

We talk or go to polls, Abbas tells Hamas
The Independent UK
By Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem
Monday, 24 November 2008

The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, who is facing a growing challenge from Hamas to the legitimacy of his rule, threatened yesterday to call elections unless the Islamic militant group agreed to a reconciliation with his Fatah movement.

Hamas, which staged an armed takeover of Gaza in June 2007, and Fatah, which controls the West Bank, were to hold talks earlier this month in Cairo to try to resolve their differences. But Hamas decided not to take part, citing continued arrests of its followers by Mr Abbas's security forces.

"We are determined that there be a continuation of the dialogue and will make every effort for it to succeed but if not, there will be a presidential decree at the onset of next year for simultaneous presidential and legislative elections," Mr Abbas, pictured below, told a meeting of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) committee members.
more. . .

This is a very scary development. Should Hamas use these missiles, there would be outright war between Israel and Hamas.


Israel Claims Hizbullah Provided Hamas with Iranian-Made Missiles
Israel claims Hizbullah has provided Hamas in Gaza with missiles capable of striking at the depth of the Jewish state.
The Yediot Ahronot daily said the Iranian-made missiles would threaten "tens of thousands of Israeli citizens."
It said the Iranian-made 122-mm Grad missiles have a range of 20 kilometers, noting that the originally Soviet-designed missiles are now made by Iran and 10 other European states.

The report said Gaza militants have 10,000 projectiles in Gaza, mostly Qassam rockets, which means "they can fire at Israel for a long time."




Beirut, 27 Nov 08, 22:27

--Naharnet.com

I guess we can forget about a two-state Palestine solution.



Abbas Displays Map of "Palestine" Erasing Israel
By Alan Gray, NewsBlaze



This week the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Ayyam published a picture of Mahmoud Abbas, standing in front of a map of "Palestine" that covers all of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority flag is displayed above the map. Abbas was speaking from the "Headquarters of the Palestinian Presidency" in Ramallah, at the opening meeting of the PLO Central Council. This area is part of Abbas' office complex.

The Al-Ayyam front page photo caption said: "The President speaks at the opening meeting of the [PLO] Central Council at the Headquarters of the Presidency in Ramallah."

The Fatah controlled daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida also carried a picture of Abbas in front of the same map.

The Israeli Jews better destroy the Palestininian Arabs before the Palestinian Arabs destroy the Israeli Jews.

West Bank settlers who attacked Palestinians in Hebron carried out a "pogrom," Olmert said today.

Haaretz: Olmert: I am shamed by Hebron settler's pogrom

Jerusalem Post: Olmert: Settlers who attacked Palestinians in Hebron carried out pogrom

The Israeli Jews better destroy the Palestininian Arabs before the Palestinian Arabs destroy the Israeli Jews.

Omert will not be missed. BTW, the word "pogrom" means "riot."

All indications are that it will be impossible to reach an agreement with the Pals. I guess it will eventually a full-scale war between the parties.

I'm not sure about an "all out war" between the PALS and Jews. There are many Jews who are fair-minded, and know what is required for peace in their country. Extremists on both sides make it difficult for everybody or to compromise.

Since there are Israeli Arabs, living peaceably in Israel, I think the Israelis have already made a compromise that the Palestineans might not reciprocate in the same way (allowing Jews to live peaceably in a future Palestinean state). Perhaps, that is most telling, if it is correct? So, whose side might have the most close-minded extremists?

Israel's rightist Foreign Minister and Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni epitomized the schizoid and downright hypocritical nature of the Zionist ideology that declares Israel to be a "Jewish democracy" when she addressed school children on Thursday saying that for Israel to be a Jewish and "democratic" state the Arab Israelis' national solution would have to lie somewhere other than their own country.

In her address to the school children she said that she would tell the Arab Israelis, "You are citizens with equal rights, but you are citizens with equal rights in a state that is the national home of the Jewish people."

She added, "I am willing to give up a part of the country over which I believe we have rights so that Israel will remain a Jewish and democratic state in which citizens have equal rights, whatever their religion,"

For the Zionists "Jewish Democracy" means a democratic state with equal rights, whatever their religion, for Jews. The Zionists are willing to concede a portion of the land that they had arrogated from the Palestinians in the first place within which to settle the Arab Israelis and Palestinians in order to keep Israel a "Jewish Democracy" and "the national home of the Jewish people."

An analogy in the US would be a supremacist running on the Republican Party ticket saying that the US is a White Democracy and that Native Americans or other non-Whites are citizens with equal rights but that their national solution would have to lie somewhere else in order to keep the US the national home of the "White people."

What is completely dumbfounding is the large portion of the US population that is in full support of Israel's ideological raison d'etre.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1228728156919
http://voanews.com/english/2008-12-11-voa27.cfm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7779087.stm

The bottom line is that the PLO and Hamas will never retract their devotion to destroy the state of Israel.

http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=2649

Well, first the early Zionists did not "arrogate" land from the Palestineans. The early Zionists (late 19th and early 20th centuries) "bought" the land from the Ottoman Empire, they being the owners of Israel at that time. The land bounderies of the state was dilineated by the United Nations. And, after statehood (1948), a percentage of the indigenous Arabs listened to the attacking Arab armies' request to get out of the way for their advancing armies, and they, in two weeks, will have the Israelis homes to live in (after defeating Israel). So, without rehashing history, those Arabs that acquiesced to the request of the advancing Arab armies became refugees, and those Arabs that stayed became Israeli citizens.

Secondly, regardless of "official" beliefs, our country was originally set up as a sort of Protestant Israel, for those Protestants that were leaving Europe, due to religious persecution. And, I believe, to this day some Protestants are living Norman Rockwell existences in some towns and villages, with some happy to be cloistered away from the likes of ethnics, and other races. Like the saying goes, "if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is likely a duck!"

Now do not think I am saying that it is not fair that WASP's have a fair bit of power in this country of ours. They had to do a lot of work, some of it dirty, to make this nation such a model of modernity. Now, who built up the land of Israel? Under the Ottoman Empire, it was literally a back alley of the Arab world. Only when "the Jews" started returning (after a long 2,000 year hiatus; perhaps a Hebrew convention somewhere?) did many of the Arabs look up and take umbrage. Regardless, Israel would still be like any of the cities in Gaza, I believe, except for the industriousness of these Zionists.

If you wonder why so many Americans are pro-Israel, perhaps you should look at your own state's religiousness. Many a kid in Sunday school can tell you the Jews must have their own state before Jesus can return.

Israel is an independent country, which can have any form of government it desires. It has a democratic form of government that treats all its citizens with fairness and equity.

It is basically academic to discuss a lasting accord with the Pals. The latter are holding out for the destruction of the state of Israel either through military and terroristic actions, or by destructive terms included in any accord reached.

The Zionists did arrogate land from the Palestinians starting with the ethnic cleansing of Arab towns and villages that they carried out months before the start of the 1948 war, and they continue to do so to this very day through such actions as the erection of the so-called "security wall" well into the West Bank, and the eviction of Palestinian families from areas in East Jerusalem through specious deed nullification laws. For all of the land that the early Zionists bought in Palestine, it only amounted to about 7% of the land delineated under Britain's Palestine Mandate by which the UN later based its own delineations in its resolution 181. The line about Arabs clearing out of areas of combat so as to have "Israeli homes to live in" isn't rehashing of history, it is Zionist propagandist revisionism. The refugees that resulted after that war were a combination of populations that had cleared areas of combat, populations that were ethnically cleansed from their communities by the Zionist forces, and those that ran in fear from the news of these crimes against humanity that were being perpetrated against their people. After the war the Israeli leadership acquiesced for public relations purposes to the presence of that Arab population that remained in the areas under their control. As demonstrated in my post that you quote the Israeli leadership would that Israel's Arab population pack up and disappear. Those aren't the sentiments of a true "democratic" state.

It's funny that you attempt to justify Israeli oppression by comparing it to the Puritan aspect in US history. The US isn't set up as a state for Puritans or WASP's. The country was hypocritical in that it professed the idea that all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights, but yet allowed for the enslavement of humans--who did much of the dirty work building this country as did the Arabs in Israel--not granted these rights. However, the state has made and continues to make sincere efforts to remediate these faults. The same cannot be said of Israel which explicitly states that it exists as the Jewish people's homeland, and makes efforts to maintain a high level of demographic ethnic purity. It is by the basis of this ideology that Israel is a necessarily discriminatory and oppressive ethnocentric state, and regardless of what some ethnocentrists allege, no state has the right, by international law or morally, of discrimination and oppression. Merely, they are tolerated and even supported by more powerful countries.

The Americans that are pro-Israel because of their Christian religionism is relatively small. Most pro-Israel Americans are so because of the effectiveness of Zionists propaganda which informs their limited understanding of the conflict in Israel/Palestine (like the level of understanding which you have demonstrated in your post) and contributes (along with the self-defeating actions of those religionist and nationalist terrorists) to their received hatred of Arabs and Muslims, but mostly because of their own bigotry and chauvinism and supremacist ideas (like what you've demonstrated in other threads, e.g. this one).

You're as blind as they come when it concerns Israel and their apartheid. Have you ever been to Israel? I think not; they have check points all over Israel which controls the free movement of Palestinians. If you truly believe that is "equal" treatment, you're not only blind but stupid as well.

The Israeli Jews better destroy the Palestininian Arabs before the Palestinian Arabs destroy the Israeli Jews.

that's the same anywhere. including the u.s.

Well, how did you manage to get the "real story," while other Americans get supposed propaganda? And, I assume that you are not Palestinean. Then I always wonder what motivates someone with no vested interest in the Palestinean/Israeli situation? I cannot help but think such an individual might have great political and philosophical beliefs? In other words, perhaps someone who has accepted an ideology, and must believe in its correctness, no matter what? My pro-Israeli postion is only from the position of being a Jewish American and I understand that the U.S. is an island of sanity in a world still often ruled by tribalism, religious divisions, ethnic divisions and racial divisions. So, being Jewish, I just would like to think that after being expelled from Europe and other Middle Eastern countries, these Jews can live one day in peace in what is really a booby-prize compared to living in the U.S.

Because people believe what they read in U. S. newspapers which are pro jewish. If you go outside the U.S. and read foreign news you might learn about the jewish states attempt to remove the palistanians from their territory so their settlers can have unfttered access to land kind of the way we treated the indians.