IDF invade Gaza Strip

[Shiva]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

^ Yes, I agree with you... Initially when I spoke about the the surface area of Gaza I wasn't correct, coz my point was that they are living in a high density of population, like 1.5 M in some few digits square km. Yes, you have a point in trying to be more specific, and now that I am posting with someone who also lives in the area is one more reason to be specific.... correct. I will be more specific then.

At first I hadn't noticed your country below ur name till the discuss went well ahead.

And you would agree with my fear of having a second front opened on you northern border/our southern border... If we read the regional geo-political situation, the current conflict was to be expected sooner or later. If I go futher into my own interpretation of things (which I fear will happen sooner or later), the conflict will have a domino effect in relation to the state of "El-Fakih" and its ambitions...

:.

[davetlv]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

And you would agree with my fear of having a second front opened on you northern border/our southern border... If we read the regional geo-political situation, the current conflict was to be expected sooner or later. If I go futher into my own interpretation of things (which I fear will happen sooner or later), the conflict will have a domino effect in relation to the state of "El-Fakih" and its ambitions...

:.

Last night during a press conference Ehud Barak said something like he hopes that a second front will not open up in the north but if it does then Israel is ready for it.

I also hope, for the sake of both our country's, that a second front will not open up.

[Shiva]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

Some are just waiting for that!

During the last 2 months 2 attacks were launched (by unknowns) from our southern border: Israel didn't reply and the medias kept the story low profile.

Now, according to Arab news: IDF is calling upon 6.000 additional reservists to position in defense on the northern border of Israel, and this time the IDF won't back down like it did before (according to Barak).

Now the situation will be so tensed with X thousands of troops massed up around that border, without forgetting the 15.000 UN peacekeepers. If anyone of those massed troops lights a small match at the wrong moment/place, the whole area could embrase itself in fire...and then God knows how things might turn.

[chuckc]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

i dont know how u are able to live in such a volitale region. looks like utter chaos from what i have seen on the news. this is just horrible. i dont know how this will ever get resolved.

[ace_dl]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

I really cannot understand why 1.5 milion people who live in the Gazza Strip have to be collctivelly punished for the actions of the militants of Hamas.
The Israeli Air Strikes represent severe violations of the International Humanitarian Law and there is no way you can convince me otherwise. Certainly, the rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel are unlawful, but that does not give anyone the right to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Targeting civilians - ambulances,women & children,doctors,nurses etc ... is what I would call a war crime! Different reliable sources, BBC, Reuters, CNN, have been reporting and confirmed the aforementioned - that air strikes were aimed at civilian areas in one of the most crowded stretches of land in the world.

[runningman]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

Shiva now might be a good time to take a trip to Canada. I hope Lebanon stays out of things

Stay Safe most of all.

[Shiva]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

^ Thank you. The region where I live is considered one of the safest in the country, as long as locally things don't blow out of proportion...

I feel like typing few words:

It seems no Lebanese political party will unilaterally do something at the border with Israel.. It seems both sides wana keep things calm (and hopefulyl it stays that way).

Yesterday a rep of Hamas in Syria was talking about opening a second front if the situation continues like this, and this is a MAJOR fear, fear of the "unknowns":

"Unknowns", they are non-lebanese groups, and we have lots of them:
Lebanon is hosting 400.000 Palestinian refugees (from '67 War) in 12 or 13 camps spread all over the country, and they are armed within the camps and surroundings.
We also have all sorts of religious fanatics and groups in Lebanon coming from the Arabic peninsula & Asia (Saoudis/Yemenis/Iraqis/Syrians/Egyptians/Iranians etc etc,.. u name it). And every in a while, when you have a small group of religious freaks wanting to get extra attention, they just pick up a name for themselves and start bombing innocent civilians here and there.
We even have Syrian parties here in Lebanon, parties that are not even allowed to exist in Syria itself in the first place, but we do have them here on our soil...and yet no embassies between Syria and Lebanon exist yet as of today
How fucked up ALL the above is?! >>> VERY!!!!!!

Last month the Lebanese army (by miracle) discovered and diffused on time several rockets planted in the south by "unknowns" and programed for lauch while aimed towards the border.
Our fear comes from these groups that cannot be all fully controlled, at the moment. But a positive side to this is that there are 15.000 UN peackeepers massed along the southern border of Lebanon, they are mostly Europeans and armed to the teeth with their latest technologies... Lots of hope rest on them and on the Lebanese army to keep the unknowns from lighting up the region.

All local TVs are talking only about this:

Now, the way I read this, in 2 words:
Hamas is a close ally to Iran, and it controls the Gaza strip which is in the middle of Israel.

Israel has already to deal with iranian-backed groups on its borders, especially the northern one. Israel cannot afford to deal with similar groups from within.

Israel decides to whipe out the iranian influence within its territory, which is strategically speaking, normal for a state to take actions (I am not talking about the way it is done that is normal, please do not misunderstand).

And when Israel "decides", it goes all the way, we have seen it happen many times (whether successfully or not).

The elemination of the iranian-influenced groups from within the Israeli territory seems to be a higher "sate-priority", which at the end prevails over the loss of human lives.
And who pays the ultimate price? as usual, the civilians!

Keepin in mind the broader picture:
the Iranian-Israeli tension over many things among which, and mainly, the iranian nuclear ambition.

....and DAMN!!!

[runningman]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

ya the bombing of Iran I am pretty sure is on the short list of things to do as far as Israel and the US are concerned. I hope I am wrong but now that Obama is in I feel that triggered all of this. Israel doesn't think Obama will be tough enough on the Iranians so they have taken matters into their own hands. I don't see a stop to this for a little while. You don't typically send the troops in and then pull them out days later.

But seriously you and your hubby shoud pop on over to Canada. Windsor in particular we have the highest amount of Lebanese out side of Lebanon. So you should feel right at home.

Plus I would like to party with you guys.

[Shiva]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

But seriously you and your hubby shoud pop on over to Canada. Windsor in particular we have the highest amount of Lebanese out side of Lebanon. So you should feel right at home.

Plus I would like to party with you guys.

^ The pleasure would be all ours... Hopefully one day.
Yes I know, big Lebo community there... I HATE THE COLD!!!!

[toasty]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

As a person in the US, it is really interesting to hear the perspectives of those that are actually in the region. Yet another thing I appreciate about the global community that is [ms].

I don't know what to think about what's going on over there.

On the one hand, I'm sympathetic to Israel because a country ought not be expected to take multiple rocket hits a day without retaliating, but...

They have so much more firepower, the response seems disproportionate, and lots of Palestinian civilians are being killed, but...

Hamas has chosen to launch its attacks from civilian locations, so Israeli strikes on military targets are almost necessarily going to affect civilians -- if Israel really wanted to kill large numbers of Palestinian civilians, that is something that is well withing their ability to do, so their restraint in that regard supports the idea that they are striking military targets -- but...

These civilians helped elect Hamas, a terrorist organization whose very charter calls for the destruction of Israel, so there has to be an expectation that electing Hamas isn't likely to lead to a peaceful existence with Israel, but...

etc., etc., etc.

Very complicated, and I frankly don't really know enough about it to have an informed opinion on it all. Hoping for a swift end to the conflict with minimal additional lives lost, above all...

[runningman]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

well when the Israelis shut the power down in Palestine and have taken away the fresh the water with checkpoints all over the country you had to know something was going to happen. When you starve people and give them a poor quality of life they will become terrorists for sure.

You can't stop terrorism with war. Impossible.

All that this new war is doing is creating more terrorists because once you murder someone in a civilian family tree now you have the whole tree become pissed at you and possibly become terrorists. You have to give them a better quality of life and then maybe they won't want to have suicidal tendencies. That is the only way of stopping terrorism IMO.

PS thanks to Davelty and Shiva for information on the situation. Shit I trust your guys opinion more then all the news papers combined.

[thesightless]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

all this and hamas still is firing rockets into the region as we speak...

they simply dont learn and refuse to get past thier ultimate goal of killing jews.

god, even if they took a 6 month hiatus, they would see a drastic improvement in living conditions.

at this point, im all for isreal simply going house to house and finding every munition and weapon in gaza and then pulling out and starting a monster humanitarian campaign, but i just cant feel bad for gaza, they let this shit go on, they put hamas in power, they are happy when isrealis are hurt, and they incite it evertime.

[Shiva]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

PS thanks to Davelty and Shiva for information on the situation. Shit I trust your guys opinion more then all the news papers combined.

Well yes, we live it... all eyes on all kinds of news, comparing, listening. It is a war, and not very far from home.

The amazing thing in this area is that one day you may sleep in a status quo and then wake up next day in another one, totally different. Big things happen so fast that you must keep a sharp eye on the developments: "We live on edge" might be a correct term

To my understanding, so my hubby explains to me, a solution to this crisis must be found through an inter-Palestinian dialogue, between Hamas & Fateh, the 2 main political parties, in sharing the power:

- The President of the Palestinian authority, the legal authority at the moment, is from Fateh and controls Cisjordania.
- The Prime Minister, at the moment the illegal authority, is controling the Gaza strip.

The only legal authority of both institutions is the President Abbas, which presidency term expires in just a few days...

So, if the Palestinians don't manage to solve their internal issues before the re-election of the next President, then chances are that there won't be an elected President of the Palestinian Authority which will just add fuel to this ongoing war.

It's like going from chaos to more chaos, typical middle-eastern style...

[thesightless]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

in a weird spot, i was just reading newsweek, and there is an article titled

"HOW WE GOT HERE" about this whole mess, and above the title is a picture of rabin, clinton, arafat, and the then egyptian leader, all fixing thier ties for a press conference.

[runningman]

Re: IDF invade Gaza Strip

funny they left out Bush.