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

Foofie, Before I went to Israel, I read Susan Nathan's book "The Other Side Of Israel" which she spells out the apartheid practice in Israel against the Palestinian. She lives in a Palestinian village, so she has first hand knowledge of how the Jews treat the Palestinians. I also visited Israel, and saw first hand how many Palestinian villages are not only fenced in, but are not allowed to travel outside their village. The Jews have check points all over Israel. Susan Nathan is a Jew.

The old joke is that in a room of 10 Jews, their are 11 opinions. So, what else is new?

You're the joke around here; you make little of the Palestinian sufferings.

That is your false conclusion. Since you are not a mind reader, you can only assume from my postings is that I do not "downplay" the existence of Israel and its sovereignty.

I never wrote about my feelings about Palestineans. That is no one's business.

And, your reply is just an ad-hominem, I believe. The need to "personalize" replies is done by some A2K posters. Do you not see that if an "argument" does not stand on its logic, questioning the character of a poster means nothing (unless one enjoys the illusion of a personal acquaintanceship?)

No need to write your "feelings" about Palestinians. It's loud and clear in the way your present yourself about the Palestinians.

It's easy to conclude you have "no feelings."

I guess the problem is that Israelis don't enjoy being blown up and otherwise attacked.

Please remember that, before the '67 war, Israelis essentially never set foot in East Jerusalem and the WB. Notwithstanding this, the Pals attacked Israel hundreds of times.

Israel completely exits Gaza, and the Pals express their appreciation with thousands of missiles and shells.

The Pals are so lovable.

You are an idiot; just look at the numbers of innocent Palestinians killed by the Jews vs the Palestinians killing of innocent Jews. No contest - either ethically, legally, or humanity-wise.

Few Palestinian Arabs are innocent; least of all innocent of being accomplices to the murder of Israeli Jews. When the Palestinian Arabs stop murdering or being accomplices to murdering Israeli Jews, the Israeli Jews will stop retaliating by murdering more Palestinian Arabs. If the Palestinian Arabs do not stop murdering or being accomplices to murdering Israeli Jews, the Israeli Jews will eventually murder all the Palestinian Arabs.

Almost 20% of the population of Israel are Palestinian Arabs, and all of them have Israelian citizenship.

You are a hopeless bigot.

A judge of the Israel Supreme Court (Salim Joubran), is a Palestinian Arab, nearly all archbishops/patriarchs in Israel are Palestinian Arabs (the Palestinian Arabs make more than 80% of Israel's Christian population [120,000 Christian Palestinian Arabs live in Israel, 148,000 Christians at all]) ...

Wrong again Holmes. If I choose not to voice my opinion relative to the Palestinians, that is my choice. But, why do you degenerate the logic of a thread by attacking the character of a poster (me)? How does that further your position?

What is your interest in my "feelings"? What is the need to expose my supposed feelings, one way or the other? I do not care for your feelings; I just read your posts, and accept that they reflect your opinion. I do not deduce anything from them, and if I did, etiquette dictates that I do not put them on the thread. Could you not mind my business and just respond, if you choose, to my posting, without questioning my "feelings"? My feelings are really none of your business. Are you able to understand that, or am I mistaken and I should address you in a more honorable manner, connotating y our right to delve into my thinking. Again. Please do not mind my business. We are not friends, obviously.

I believe you used sarcasm very well in the above. This forum needs more sarcasm, I believe. Unfortunately, I believe, sarcasm is often only used by the highly intelligent.

Walter, I have always made and do continue to make a distinction between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Arabs. FEW Palestinian Arabs are innocent of the murders of Israeli Jews in that they are either the actual murderers or the accomplices of these murderers of Israeli Jews.

The Israeli Arabs are neither murderers or the accomplices of these murderers of Israeli Jews.

You, cicerone, continue to post slanders that portray you yourself as "a hopeless bigot."

In what way am I a bigot?

israel.jpost.com
Dec 14, 2008 23:50 | Updated Dec 15, 2008 11:00
Analysis: Why Israel prefers the cease-fire in Gaza
By YAAKOV KATZ

. . .

So, while Israeli officials made a point Sunday to stress that the IDF was prepared for renewed violence with Hamas, officials in Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office said that in the end, Israel was in favor of continuing the truce.

There are a number of reasons why and they were set out in a document prepared for Barak recently by the ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau on the benefits of extending the cease-fire.

Firstly, and most important, is that Israel knows how it gets into Gaza but does not know how to get out.

. . .

Another consideration is that under any operation - limited or massive - Hamas would still succeed in firing Kassam rockets into Israel, likely by the dozen. The most rockets fired into Israel in one day from Gaza has been around 60.

. . .

The assumption is that with the increased rocket fire, the IDF would be under immense pressure to push deeper into Gaza, killing more innocent Palestinians and losing more soldiers on the way.

Public pressure would mount against the continuation of the operation as the IDF loses soldiers and fails to stop the rocket fire and Israel would come under harsh public condemnation, possibly even from the new administration in Washington.

Last but not least is the northern front and concern that Hizbullah - which is still calling to avenge last February's assassination of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus - will take advantage of Israel's preoccupation in Gaza to launch an attack along the border with Lebanon.
full article

nytimes.com
Hamas, Showing Split, Hints It May Extend Truce
By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY and ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: December 14, 2008
GAZA " Hamas leaders in Gaza on Sunday left open the possibility of renewing a tenuous truce with Israel that is due to expire Friday, putting themselves at odds with a statement by the exiled political leader of the group in Damascus, Syria.

Khaled Mashal, the exiled leader, told Hamas’s satellite television station Al Quds in an interview broadcast Sunday that “the truce was limited to six months and ends on Dec. 19.”

But Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group had not made its position final. The local Hamas leadership was to meet with representatives of the other Palestinian armed groups on Sunday night and afterward formulate an official policy, Mr. Zahar said by telephone.

An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to respond publicly to Mr. Mashal’s remarks, said that the different voices showed “there is no one Hamas today,” and that the statement from Damascus may have been a pressure tactic to try to extract better terms from Israel for a continuation of the truce.
more. . .

The UN General Assembly President bashes Israel in annual ritual


The United Nations is back at it again, doing what it does best: Trashing Israel.

This time it was General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann at the helm. In his eyes, Israel is guilty of running an apartheid state, with the solution being "boycott, divestment, and sanctions" by the international community. A few days after these remarks were made, the UN's annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people took place on November 29th. Where is the UN's annual day of solidarity with the people of Sudan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Tibet or Kurdistan?

Let us overlook d'Escoto's warm embrace of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after his vile, hate-filled speech to the UN General Assembly earlier this year. And let us overlook d'Escoto's clear distaste for Israel's strongest ally, the United States (for one, he called President Ronald Reagan ‘the butcher of my people'). Instead, let us focus on his false cry of apartheid.

Apartheid is a system for ensuring the rule of the minority over the majority. This is clearly not the situation in Israel. Jews are not in the minority and Israel is a democracy in which Arabs, Jews, and Christians all have the same rights. In calling Israel an apartheid state, d'Escoto essentially expresses his preference for a single state in which all the region's Jews and Arabs should be living side by side, a notion that inherently delegitimizes the Jewish state's existence.

Israel and most of the world have continually embraced a two-state solution. The Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to create their own state---largely because that has meant Israel would also exist as an independent Jewish nation. D'Escoto completely ignores the fact that if the Palestinians were capable of finally renouncing and eliminating terror, there would be no need for checkpoints, blockades, and Israeli forces in the West Bank. Then, if they could stop their own bloody internecine battles, they could probably even form a state.

We recently experienced Islamic terrorism again in the despicable terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The Chabbad house was attacked specifically because there were Jews there. It is far past due for the UN to call an emergency session on the scourge of global Islamic terror. There have been ten emergency special sessions called by the UN. Six have been on Israel. None on the violence in Rwanda or Darfur. In the current 62nd session of the UN General Assembly there have been nineteen one-sided resolutions against Israel. Are we truly to believe that Israel represents one of the worst threats in the world? That Israel is among the greatest purveyors of human rights atrocities? We simply should not tolerate such blatant and biased attacks on Israel in the UN.

Dave Nogradi

FOR EXAMPLE

I wrote: Few Palestinian Arabs are innocent; least of all innocent of being accomplices to the murder of Israeli Jews.

I did not write: few Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Arabs are innocent; least of all innocent of being accomplices to the murder of Israeli Jews.

1.
I wrote, you, cicerone, continue to write slanders that portray you yourself as "a hopeless bigot."

2.
Cice, you slandered me in your first statement above. You often slander those with whom you disagree, rather than simply say you disagree.