Cloud Over Gaza: A Silver Lining?

1) Let's get this done before Obama brings a more moderate and pro-Arab policy line to the region. Bush'll cover us.

2) Let's get this done fast. Obama says we can piss into the tent as long as we get it done before his watch starts.

Two views I've heard from the Arab world, both of which strike one as equally plausible!

Scott,
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I hate to rain on your parade (with all of its good intent), but I believe there is no optimism in the cards for this region when the machinery has been built by Israel to not only ignore and hide mistakes of the past, but to continue to make them as we move beyond these skirmishes in the very near future. I put a majority of the blame on Israel and the Zionist apparatus, which incessantly commit the same set of ills to each of its neighbors in the immediate area or region as if it were using a two or three strategy playbook. The main idea is to deceive via main stream media and to keep politicians in line with the "blind support" of Israel. Unfortunately for these entities, they are slowly realizing that lies and deception are short-sighted methods to victory -- methods that unravel easily in the face of the truth and erode away over time while truth is everlasting.
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The Israeli strategy is two-fold: (1) Israel refuses to account for, atone for, or even acknowledge past wrongdoings (starting with 1948) that have infuriated many neighboring Muslims into seeking some form of revenge, and continually sends talking points to correspondents or relies on uniquely influential lobbying groups to excuse its behavior with nonsense, a spin, or an inaccurate framing of the circumstances; and, (2) Israel has doubled its efforts to make sure that the news and other world outcomes provide for illusions of its success when realistically it is engaging in a militarized, state-sponsored ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and, further, going down more dangerous paths to war with a bellicose, hypocritical attitude, particularly towards Iran.
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The misinformation that Israel spreads is always in line with the two-prongs described above. In fact, Israel has created a public-face for its propaganda machine, acknowledging that it is spreading deceit and lies in state-sponsored fashion, called "Hasbara" ( http://www.thejc.com/articles/israel-claims-success-pr-war ). Israel has planned misinformation and spins as long, maybe even longer than, it has spent planning a successful ground war in Gaza. Israeli aligned correspondents and Israeli spokesman nauseatingly repeat the same talking points (and it's evident that they are talking points handed to them because no matter what station you turn to or newspaper you read in America, it's the same points, almost word for word). Here are some examples and my comments to them:
(1) "Hamas violated the ceasefire on December 5" Analysts (without bias) clearly point to November 5 as the date when Israel invaded Gaza and killed 6 Hamas members in a raid. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians ; additionally: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048368.html
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(2) "The real enemy to the Palestinians are Hamas, who are causing their own people to suffer in this war." Of course, in spinning the truth Israel conveniently ignores that it has systematically imprisoned 1.5 million Gazans in a sliver of unfertile land near the coastline, blockading basic food, clean water, medical supplies, energy, and other basic supplies from reaching the citizens for the past 3 years. Israel also does not mention that Hamas was elected by the Palestinians in a free election, something that led to the blockade in the first place (a collective punishment on the people for choosing Hamas over subservient Israeli/US puppet, Fatah).
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(3)"Israel is flashing its teeth at Iran in this mighty military invasion." Mighty indeed! Israel's policies have forced a huge Palestinian population of 1.5 million into a tiny corner of the area, barely hanging on to anything at all but infertile beach land -- the most dense area of the world. Gazans are not historically from Gaza. Indeed, the same innocent civilians who are dying in Gaza now thanks to Israel's callous invasion have grandparents who lived in the oppressors' current residences! This is where they relocated and were fenced in. Israel is shooting at Palestinian universities, Mosques, medical centers, and residences indiscriminately. The death toll is already reflecting that at least 30% of the Palestinian deaths are women and children. The Palestinians have no air force or state army to protect them in the conventional manner. Israel is shooting Palestinians in a barrel and flexing its muscles in a purely pretentious exercise aimed at intimidating others when all it really is doing is fostering its hatred and eventual universal condemnation for killing helpless innocents.
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(4)"A good question is: 'What is a proportionate response? Should Israel have also fired rockets into Gaza indiscriminantly?'" The above responses will show you that Israel, excluding this air and ground war, has already (1) created a dire humanitarian crisis for Palestinians; (2) jailed, mistreated, or killed many innocent Palestinians; and (3) denied the Arabs of the region their basic rights as demanded by the UN. Alan Dershowitz, a known plagiarizer, and defender of OJ Simpson, defends another killer in this respect: Israel. His views are blind and ill-supported. Too bad he shares my profession... makes us look bad!
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So you see, there is a Zionist lobby and its influence over politics and the main stream media are not fairy tales like you would find in the Torah, Bible, or Qu'uran. One group in this lobby has continually pushed for bills, some even tantamount to acts of war against Iran (AIPAC). Israel demands sanctions against Iran, a country with no evidence of nuclear arms, a signatory of the NPT, and one in full compliance with IAEA inspections when Israel stockpiles nuclear payloads in the hundreds, purposely circumvented international law and stole US secrets to do so, and commits belligerent acts of invasions every few years under embellished pretenses. Who is the aggressor again?
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As for your four points, I'd like to comment on them as well, if I may, Scott.
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(1) I pray that Livni or Barak win the election in the same way that political rivals of the US prayed that Bush would be re-elected in 2004. They are incompetent leaders using a bloodbath for their political gain. Under them, Israel has lost much influence in the world, and rightfully so. However, I do not see this as a silver-lining simply because Abbas is never was, and now, never will be a legitimate head of Palestinians, at least in the eyes of those who feel sympathy for the Palestinians in Gaza.
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(2) I think the devastation has also shown the world Abbas' complicity with an Israel and Egypt that does not have any Palestinian interests in mind. I think, like in 2006, Israel set its military goal way too high -- of toppling Hamas and ending rockets forever -- and this invasion will be seen as a failure as soon as the first rocket is fired into Israel or Hamas continues to exist. Hamas will be strengthened, much like Hezbollah was in 2006.
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(3) The US has vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions to end the crisis in the face of an almost unanimous world opinion that Israel is in the wrong here. Obama has shown a scary preference for continuing some of the same AIPAC-influenced policies Bush was a huge proponent of -- even repeating some of Bush's "war against terrorism" nuances. His appointment of several Zionist-minded cabinet members also lends favor to him not changing anything at all. A change would be a truly neutral US in the Arab-Israel peace process, not one that continually has people like Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama pledging that "Israel is the best friend the US ever had, now and forever" in blind fashion.
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(4) The Arab regimes are all under fire because of their passiveness in this crisis. Iran seems to be gaining influence in this regard for their stance of defending the Palestinians when Saudi Arabia and Syria have been phenotypically apathetic. Maybe this will provide motivation for rulers of states that are financially connected to the US and, therefore, Israeli policy, to act in line with their citizens' demands, adding real clout to the Palestinian cause.
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I can go on forever and ever, but my comment is already longer than the blog itself. I'm making up for my absences over your last two blogs. Great job as always, Mr. MacLeod. BTW, I saw an interview on Fox News (yes, I watch that awful "news network" to make sure I'm aware of the lies that are spread) with one of Mr. McGirk's predecessors. I hope to see you on there one day spreading your views as they reflect reality and truth.

Scott I agree with P.A., If Israel want the peace after several decades, we would had have it by now when she does have upper hand, unfortunately they live under kind of "Stockholm Syndrome", being victim under Nazis they do not know how to deal with people who're being victimized under them in any other way.
In US which is the main actor who can pressure Israel, we're seeing news from Fox and Blitzer and King bringing Israel Amb. and Dershowitz and Lieberman to tell us who's right, and the rest of mass media assume with Israelis point of view to begin with, complete opposite of rest of world.
Remind me of a fairy tale, "Few caught a wild dog for slathering their sheeps and ask her what you have to say for yourself, she said I'm not guilty and I have witness, ask my tail for truth, she was with me all the time and that's truth!
It's farce man, we all know Israelis are lying and producing fake facts and news and they're taking advantage of US population of being labeled as fat and loudmouth and ignorant, ignorant being key word in foreign affair!

Which is why Joe, there are negotiations with the PA and no rocket fire or fighting in the West Bank.
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However, HAMAS, unfortunately wants to continue its victory and death strategy. Hence, the daily rocket attacks at Israel, even during the so-called ceasefire.
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It's impossible to have peace with an organization dedicated to one's destruction as HAMAS is of Israel and its Jewish population.
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Let's remember, Gaza, is the territory that Israel vacated, lock stock and barrel three years ago now. It's army left, it pulled out every last Jew, living and dead. I know you like to push your fairy tales, but the idea that Israel "can't make peace" doesn't hold water. This is the same country that sat down with Egypt, Jordan, walked out of Lebanon, later walked out of Gaza, and then elected a party who's central platform was to vacate the West Bank.
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The Palestinians by contrast, elected HAMAS, who then threw out Fatah in a violent coup, two years ago. Since then, spent the past two years attempting to learn at the feet of Hizballah and the Iranians on how to conduct more violent warfare. It smuggled in tons of explosives and rockets rather than food and medicine. Rather than pushing for economic growth, it pushed for more war. Now it has one.
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The only one lying here is yourself, and those other HAMAS supporters who have deluded themselves into thinking that an entitlement policy for violence and jihad, can morph into peace.

Negotiation with PA, hah, west bank is under IDF martial law with several hundred check points and no go areas which only Israelis settlers have a access to, there is a long prison wall which brings old Berlin wall to a shame, there are UN designated illegal Israelis road and settlements which cuts off Palestinians home from her farms and families, all the water resources are being plundered for Israelis consumption, there is a PA leadership which will not be in power if people could vote them out tomorrow and Israel let it be, and you wish that upon Gazan? no kidding, no wonder they're resisting!
Peace between Israel and Egypt and Jordan, hah, Hundreds billion dollars later from my tax money, which I could bought all of Bahamas and still all three states in peace are being run by dictators or apartheid regime and they are still killing or imprisoning their internal opponents one way or another and last time I checked, Israel was kicked out of Lebanon!
Gaza is importing weapons, hah, they're being blockaded by Egypt and Israel from land and sea and air, no food or medicine let along weapons, it's like trying to import weapon to Folsom prison, are you kidding? do you honestly believe if they could import weapon, they wouldn't bought some decent weapon to have chance of destroying Israelis armaments, lets face it guy, Israel is fighting against ragtop resistance fighters with homemade rockets and low caliber weapons bought from Israelis black marketer arm dealers and you want me to cheer for giant wounded animal while she's crushing everything and everyone in her path, nuts!

In 2005 I wrote:

.......what a farce the so-called disengagement in Gaza was. The Israeli government still controls all access to Gaza by land, sea, and air...only 25 of over 150 settlements will be dismantled, and only 8,475 of over 436,000 settlers [less than 2 percent of settlers] have been evacuated. Meanwhile, in the past year, 12,800 new settlers have moved into the West Bank — 50 percent more settlers than were evacuated..........

This is no withdrawal, this is BS!

Until Palestinians have control of Gaza's borders and a guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank, it is not a withdrawal; it's just BS propaganda!

And Gaza is less than 6 percent of the occupied territories...the corruption in the PA government and hot tempers from those under occupation are a powder keg that's getting ready to blow!

.........What's it going to take to wake the world up to the fact that most of our problems with radical Islamist fundamentalist militants leads us back to the conflict in Israel and Palestine?

...All roads do indeed lead to Jerusalem.........

What's it going to take before the International community gets it together and insists, in unity, upon the upholding of international law as the rule we all live by? And that includes Israel and America, too, for both ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I wonder, what's the point of signing on, but then not doing it?

.........What's it going to take to wake up the legions of blind U.S. Christian Zionists to their indifference to the misery of their sisters and brothers in Israel and Palestine? Their blind allegiance to the Israeli government has allowed our best friend in the world to become a big bully. What's it going to take to break through the ignorance that hard-earned U.S. tax dollars are being used to continue the occupation and apartheid wall?........-excerpted "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" Chapter 14: 9/11/05 AND THE GULFPORT BLUES by eileen fleming, Author, Founder WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"

MY LETTER TO UN...

Subject:Creation of Israeli war crimes tribunal...

Dear President General Assembly United Nations,

The current massacre happening in Gaza is of urgent concern to me and all people of conscience, for these attacks which bear all the trademarks of war crime demand a war crimes tribunal...

The 1.5 million open air prisoners of "the world's biggest concentration camp" are forced to continue to collectively-pay for democratically-electing Hamas...

While the Israeli authorities punish the Palestinians in order to teach Hamas a lesson, the INNOCENT pay the highest price!

Israel is refusing ceasefire requests, in spite of Hamas offering it on the basis of reasonable and attainable compromises:

"an end to the blockade, and an Israeli ceasefire on the West Bank", according to Yuval Diskin, current head of Israeli security services Shin Bet...

Also, in light of the current attacks which have sparked international condemnation, Archbishop Desmund Tutu said: "In the context of total aerial supremacy, in which one side in a conflict deploys lethal aircraft against opponents with no means of defending themselves, the bombardment bears all the hallmarks of war crimes."

...Over the past 2 months, fuel supply to Gaza has been blocked leading to the closure of its power plant, and even the U.N. has been forced to halt distribution of food aid, upon which most Gazans are reliant. The actions of the Israeli authorities violate the Geneva Conventions and so many international norms. It is now more necessary than ever for the U.N. to establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI), under U.N. Charter Article 22. Failure to create viable accountability would only further embolden the Israeli government to continue their extermination of the Palestinians.........

As the crimes committed against Palestinians degrade all humanity, we request you to urge members of the U.N. General Assembly to swiftly take necessary and appropriate action towards creating an ICTI under U.N.Charter Article 22, and holding the Israeli government accountable.........

I HOPE the 'fierce urgency of now' moves the world to unite and END the Siege on Gaza and End the Occupation of Palestine which is the ONLY way to security for Israel.........

Eileen Fleming, Author, Founder WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"

........."HOPE has two children. The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine.......

I HOPE YOU SEND A MESSAGE TOO:

http://www.un.org/ga/contactus.asp

Intelligence is a moral category—Adorno for the Jews
Even our President and Secretary of State Rice are blaming the other, who are necessarily to conform to the Israeli invasion; give me a break. By so doing they have become the champion of the status quo, which is in fact the essence of conformism. But why do we have to accept the deceptive headline of the article, “Israel Rejects Proposed Truce”? Should we wait for them again to tell us the truth? But this time, you heard them saying it: about the operation of the Israeli army, its intention is in fact “to break either Hamas's capacity or its will to fire rockets” as Israeli Interior Minister, Meir Sheetrit went even further and said that the Israeli military operation aims at “breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, [the will] to continue to fire at Israel," while Israeli military spokesman, Maj. Peter Lerner said, “A cease-fire is unnecessary because Israel is already allowing enough aid into the strip.
The question is how is the military going to “Break the will of Palestinians…” without invoking the same old genocide policy? The genocide implication here is not my fault; it's the inner logic, for there is no other way of interpretation, especially when combined together the Interior Minister Sheetrit's renewed statement and Maj. Lerner's horrifying statement. And so the right headline: ‘Israel confirms the old genocide policy by rejecting proposed truce'.
So listen carefully to the following piece of advice about the self-importance of men: the statue of their consciousness is very near the bankruptcy, encroaching the freedom of technology, which has been brought about as a narrowing process of choosing that tends to slide down to the violence on freedoms and the fixation of instincts needed by domination; and so stop babbling about "Intelligence" of the Jews whatever you meant to be, because what we see here is no longer the issue of human intellect, which of the Jews and Hamas are prone to and superior to mass killing, but that of the progress of animal power, which as we all know began in the 60s with the Palestinian Slingshot vs. Israeli missile, if you remember the implausible hope of the North Vietnam vs. the modern monstrosity of the US war technologies (of the Nixon Administration, for instance).
And so if you are serious about your own intelligence, may I suggest that you should stop tossing around that particular word, because you sound like a neurotic who keeps trying to wake up from an unpleasant delirium out of the dreams of an existence without shame: from the failed attempt at its identity with the absolute Idea (E.g. the fetishised globalization of exchange value: so that banished is idea of “outside” the sphere of exchange value, just as today there is no longer any thing that cannot be expressed in terms of exchange value, not even to the dreams of a ghost seer which would posit fear by virtue of the very idea of the outside, just as the enlightened mind believes that there would be no fear where there is nothing unknown to men, but this parallel is undeniable to the aim as positive common to both, i.e., the elimination of outside as the source of fear and uncertainty, which in fact undermines thinking experience instead of promoting its need; this is a false positivity because it mistakes the thought's distancing from reality, its only strength as quality for a part of reality already posited; hence it aims to realize the reason in reality as direct a measurement in quantity so that the ghost seer's dream to lose its quality, and instead turns into an absolute Idea of immediacy, because money makes the man).
If you are so inclined, with your own impeccable points of intelligence, you would be able to beat the hard-boiled naivety; given all the good qualities of men such as the reasoning for the advancing power of human progress against the progress of power, as long as men decide to kill other men, men are not intelligent animals; their self-righteousness would exhaust themselves with that reasoning which, given its momentum unfettered or promoted by the privilege of self-preservation, would result in the helpless self-liquidation in a self-unconscious scheme of things.
Here is the thesis for you to argue against the unyielding self-abandonment: how to make these men aware of that scheme, which is an apparent anti-reason used to be a thin cover-up of the fallacy of bourgeois subjectivity: in a permanent warfare, the stronger is always right, and he who said this is the essence of the self-righteousness of archaic Zionism! Nonetheless, it alternatively defines the modern self-righteousness, precisely because the latter aims at the eradication of the old concept itself. And yet it is a pity to think that this constitutes the ultimate ground that we still must trust in man, for whom ‘intelligence is a moral category'. And so change the world from the bottom up.
David D. Yun from Bangkok, Thailand: Jan. 5, 2009

It seems that Nick used his holiday shopping spree to good effect, picking up tables by the dozen to pound on at bargain prices. Good job to you sir.
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What does surprise me out of your entire political screed is your complaints against Alan Dershowitz. If I remember correctly, you've claimed that you yourself are a student of the law, much as Professor Dershowitz is a practitioner and professor. Given that, I'm amazed that as a smear against him, you argue the fact that he participated as legal council for OJ Simpson in his trial for the murder of OJ's former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald L. Goldman.
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Regardless of whether one thought OJ was guilty of murder or not, your idea that he should be denied access to legal council falls into the same ideology of Dick Cheney and Ayhotollah Khamenei. This from a supposed defender of the law, which propagates not only the idea of innocent until proven guilty and the right to legal representation.
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Likewise, your idea that Iran, is gaining influence because IT, rather than the traditional Arab leaders such as Egypt and Saudia Arabia, were not listening to the will of their people.
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Of course Iran knows all about listening to the will of its people, after all, it only this month, the authorities shut down her Center for Defenders of Human Rights, a coalition of human rights groups and other political activists whose members were planning to celebrate the 60th anniversary of United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.
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During this 'representative movement', Iranian police also confiscated the computers and records in the office of Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/world/middleeast/30ebadi.html?scp=3&sq=iranian%20nobel%20prize%20winner&st=cse
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The fact that such actions are driven by the Iranian government in an attempt to curtail reformist voices prior to its upcoming election, I'm sure is part of your idea of how one should 'gain influence'.
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Given that such actions have included the closing of the reformist paper "the daily Kargozaran", over what the Iranian government calls "accusing it of reporting misinformation about Palestinian fighters in Gaza." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?scp=1&sq=iranian%20nobel%20prize%20winner&st=cse
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I can see why you are so perturbed by the idea that Jews should have an opportunity to freely express their views for Israel in the United States. That you choose to echo the arguments and tactics of Iran's government seems consistent with your line of reasoning.

Jacob,
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From beginning to end, your screed was ad hominem. Rebuke my points, but don't put words into my mouth. I never said that "[OJ] should be denied access to legal council".
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I did say that Alan Dershowitz was a known plagiarizer and a man that knows how to frame facts inaccurately to acquit killers, like OJ. His argument that Israel's response is proportionate is laughable. He ignores the totality of the circumstances and frames it as if the conflict began on December 27, 2008.
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In addition, nothing I wrote has anything to do with my agreement with the Mullahs as for the treatment of their own people. I also don't bite the bait when it comes to disparaging statements in the Western press about the Iranian regime. Sorry.

trying to find optimizim in this scenario is impossible. all the points that were listed as possible sliverlinings are merely just fantasies at this point. the follwing are rebudles to the "silverlinings":

1.)Barak being the maggot who orchestrated this genocide and Livni being the spokesperson for it is clearly going to be in the minds of the Palestinians and the world. Everyone is aware they started this gruesome attack so any negotiations with those sitting at the table are impossible.

2.) Hamas will gain support thru sympathy and behind the rallying cries of all the Palestinians. The whole notion that Israel thinks that people will turn on Hamas over these attacks is false. Everyone is aware of who sent the helicopters, fighter jets and tanks it. This is probably just going to garner more support for Hamas thru out the region.

3.) President Obama has showed that change is not coming to foreign policy of the United States. During the Russian-Georgia conflict he was out and opens on the issue and making all sorts of statements. This situation is much more severe and the fact that he is going to hide behind the “one president at a time” statement is just a reflection that nothing will change. His speech at AIPAC conference was a clear indication about where he stands on this issue.

4.) The Arab “leadership” (mainly Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan) has proven it is useless and worthless in times of crises. With the exception of making weak one line statements where they mainly blamed Hamas for this mass murder their lack of effort is defending the Palestinians will be in the minds of all the people in these regions. The Arab leaders will not be taken seriously anymore on this issue and have proven they are what everyone always suspected they were to begin with, a fraud. This has only increased Iran's influence in the region because they were the most adamant in supporting the Palestinians and continue to do so. Any hopes of an Israeli Syrian peace talks are done and over and the days of turkey serving as a mediator for Israel are over.

Nothing ad hominem about my arguments at all Nick. Just trying to put some reality into your table pounding.
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We'll start with Dershowitz. I ignored your accusation of plagarism because its part of the Dershowitz / Finkelstein Feud, and apparently is a charge which was repudiated by Harvard University which makes your point immaterial at best.
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When you attempted to smear Dershowitz though, you included this statement "...and defender of OJ Simpson, defends another killer in this respect".
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Your argument, is one that Dershowitz defends "killers". The fact is, as I pointed out above, whether or not one believes OJ murdered his former wife and friend, there is the Constitutional right to a legal defense, and a presumption of innocence. If not a lawyer to provide legal advice for an accused, then who? Apparently for you, legal council is acceptable, but only for those you find acceptable.
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By making your claim that Dershowitz "defended OJ Simpson" as a means to refute his arguments for Israel, you are attempting to make his actions as a defense attorney wrong.
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As for the argument that Israel's attacks against HAMAS is disproportionate or not, has nothing to do with his practice as a defense attorney. What makes your argument even more farcical is your own screen name.
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As for Iran, it has everything to do with the situation. Your argument makes the claim that by pretending to stand up for the Palestinians, Iran gains influence vis i vis the Arab states.
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My point, is that Iran as well as yourself, are nothing more than hypocrites. First off, Iran has been in the thick of this mess as a military supporter of HAMAS, and before them Yasser Arafat. So much for helping the peace process along. Second, while Iran claims to stand up for freedom, it has no problem whatsoever to chaining its own populace, including attacking its own human rights champions.
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The idea that news of the Iranian government trashing the offices of Shirin Ebadi is considered a "disparaging statement" shows that while you are an advocate, you have little if any credibility in your arguments.
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As for Israel's response, the reality is, it is facing a group that is firing at its civilians, and has done so daily, for the past eight years, with the latest barrage hitting an Israeli elementary school, the second such strike in a week. The fact that Israel pulled out of Gaza three years ago, only to see the rocket fire continue is why Israel developed its blockade of Gaza.
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So keep pounding those tables Nick, just let us know when you want to return to reality.

Just remember to use scan your gaze on HAMAS some day Syedh. The group that initiated this round of fighting was the same group that declared the ceasefire was over, and increased its rocket attacks (not that they ever stopped) over the past month despite repeated requests and warnings by Israel to return to discussions about ending the violence.
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At the end of the day, HAMAS' rhetoric and rockets will carry it into the desert or a funeral pyre. Given the commentary from its leadership, I'm not sure which end they're hoping for.

Israel maintains that they don't want a long term presence in Gaza, yet I fail to see how they can achieve their stated aim of ending the rocket fire without doing so.
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When pressed about this, Michael Oren told NPR that they hoped to force a cease fire on their terms or force Hamas to reconsider the costs of launching rockets at Israel.
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In other words, Israel is trying to beat Hamas into submission. Haven't we seen this strategy before? Haven't we seen it fail?
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Israel is right: the rocket fire must stop. But I am angered and saddened that Israel believes this military incursion into Gaza will somehow bring a solution.
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The solution to the Gaza situation lies outside of Gaza and Israel. The weapons and the money and the rockets come from somewhere and they don't manufacture them in Gaza. Hamas' benifactors must be convinced to renounce support for the group or the rocket attacks will simply resume once Israel leaves Gaza.
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Israel's incursion will not bring peace, it will only create more hatred and suffering and spread the conflict into the West Bank.

I strongly advise readers to peruse my comment above -- the second one down. There, I refute the myths perpetuated by the state-sponsored Israeli propaganda machine.
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As for quelling an extremist viewpoint, Jacob, any country who has witnessed the US partially ruin itself by attacking Iraq like a rabid animal, especially one who looks up to the US so much for its financial and military support like Israel, should first question what is fueling that extremism and target it appropriately. The answer is not to invade and cause civilian deaths, creating more support for extremism.
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The root of the conflict are Israel's policies and actions. As I've said, Israel's not only ignored or made up meaningless excuses for its past mistakes and crimes against humanity, but now has plans to go full throttle down this ill road again in the future.
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I suppose these Gazans, forced to a sliver of unfertile land from their former residences that now incidentally belong to the Israelis who are killing them, just popped up out of the sand and decided to hate Israel for some random occult Islam stereotype you've dreamed up.
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Israel's proportionate response would have been to end the blockade in wholehearted fashion and to derail Hamas' purpose. If Israel gave the Palestinians real hope, and not some farce of a deal that really gave Pals nothing nor dealt with their numerous grievances justly, then Hamas would have no support amongst the people.
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Instead, Israel is choosing to do what will not only strengthen Hamas in the end, but make Israel look like an evil puppet of US imperialism (vis a vis Bush) preying on a people without an official army or air force. This is the mark of your leaders, Livni, Olmert, and Barak. Just like Bush, they rely on the sword to bend countries to their will. And just like Bush, it is working to their country's detriment.

Scott,

I appreciate your sentiment. However, I think the opposite will result from Israel's invasion of Gaza.

I used to be under the illusion that Kadima and particularly labor would be preferable to Likud. However, I would rather have a Likud government. Likud does not need to prove it is tough like the other two parties and would have taken much more limited action in Gaza.

Hamas will not be weakened. Unfortuately, it will be strengthened. It was Hamas who defended the Gazans. It is the Gazans who resisted the invasion. Israel's invasion has severely weakened Abbas and he will be blamed (rightfully or wrongfully) for not defending the Palestinians.

I like Barak Obama, but I don't see any real leadership from his administration in this matter. Too many "Old Hands" from the Bush and Clinton administration are running his Mid-East foreign policy. He will continue to offer the same formulac statements regarding "fighting terrorism", but I don't see him being an "honest broker" anymore than Clinton was.

Expecting anything from the Arab regimes is the biggest fantasy. Their people was really angry and will even less supportive of peace with Israel. Ironically, if democracy was present in the Arab world, Israel would face much more hostility.

One Israeli once said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." However, the same can be said about the Israeli government. It never fails to make a bad situation worse. It only encourages its enemies. It released hundreds of Hizbollah fighters for a few bones, yet it would not release more that a few to Abbas, who was not killing Israelis. It withdrew from Gaza unilaterally, giving a victory to Hamas, while not negotiating with Abbas and allowing him to take credit for the withdrawl. Only belatedly, has it released some prisoners to help Abbas and it continues to build settlements. It continues to take more Palestinian land and can not understand why Abbas grows weaker in power.

And the question about whether Israel's response is proportionate or not is a dumb question. Israel has a superior military. Any response Israel takes against an inferior foe will be disproportionate by nature. Israel can't exactly fire a Qassam rocket back 1 for 1 now can they?
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What I am concerned about is that Israel believes the civilian casualties are acceptable. Michael Oren (spokesman for the Israeli military) just said today on NPR that he thinks 75% of all the Palestinians killed have been fighters. Yeah right. There's no way that 75% of the 500 killed have been fighters. Not when the first week consisted of nothing but airstrikes.
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Israel's decision that 500 and counting Palestinian dead and 2000 and counting wounded is an acceptable sacrifice is maddening. To even talk about "acceptable levels of casualties" is maddening enough. At what number of dead does it become unnacceptable? Does Israel even know? Do they have a specific rule for this? 750? 1000? 5000?
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From my point of view it appears that Israel does not care how many palestinians they kill as long as they meet the goals of the incursion. If they find a target, then they will hit it regardless of the cost to innocents. From Israel's persepective, there are no innocents, only the complicit.
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Israel has targeted mosques, schools, residences, and basic infrastructure. The explanation in every case has been that Hamas uses the target to store weapons or launch rockets or house high ranking officials. I'm sure there is much truth to these claims. I know Israel would not bomb a school for fun. I know Hamas uses civilians as shields and hostages. But shooting through the hostage to kill the criminal is not any better than killing the criminal and then killing the hostage afterwards. To have restraint is to let the criminal go in order to avoid the loss of innocent life.
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Israel is not showing restraint, and choosing not to destroy all of Gaza is not the restraint I'm speaking of.

Gaza and Beyond: As Zola said: j'accuse!

The escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict presents a clear and present danger to the peace and stability of the region and to the long-term grave detriment of the security and image of the United States and its citizens worldwide. It threatens to deteriorate into a wider conflict in which the United States, by its unchanging, long-standing support of the Israeli apartheid regime, risks being drawn at great future cost in American lives, treasure, and world standing.

The silence of our political class is deafening, only broken by US administration spokesmen blaming Hamas.

Over a century ago, here in Paris, Emile Zola took on his government over the Dreyfus affair with the phrase j'accuse--I accuse.

As a private American citizen, I choose to do the same, hereby exercising my right of free speech and dissidence--as hopefully still guaranteed by the United States Constitution which I many years ago unreservedly swore to defend and uphold when proudly commissioned
as a United States Army officer.

In consideration of the ongoing brutal assault against the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israeli armed forces, in violation of the standards, the spirit, and intent of international law, I hold the Israeli regime responsible for provoking the conflict and for the for the casualties on both side. Israel provoked the conflict by:

• Illegally blockading Gaza for a protracted period, depriving the population of basic necessities, livelihood, and humanitarian resources, basic rights and liberties, particularly of movement, and of the pursuit of happiness.
• Using said blockade as collective punishment and reprisal against the Palestinian people for choosing Hamas as the true representative of their aspirations and resistance to Israeli occupation and state terrorism. Thereby forcing Hamas as duly elected representative of the Palestinian people and resistance to occupation, to defend its people by the sole available means to attack the Occupant's territory if not military forces: inaccurate rockets of proven ineffectiveness.
• Attacking Gaza with disproportionate force, causing massive civilian losses and infrastructure destruction totally disproportional to the comparatively minimal Israeli losses resulting from Palestinian Resistance rocket attacks.
• Continuing to occupy territories seized extra legally in 1967, if not 1949, by ethnic cleansing and held by all means of repression amounting, by strict definition, to state terrorism.

I wish to express my greatest concern and indignation at the long-time support the United States continues, at its own detriment, to provide the Israeli regime and of its complicity with the latter and member states of the international community in stripping the Palestinian Resistance of means of defense. I especially deplore the failure of successive US administrations to endorse, if not initiate and lead, a United Nations intervention commensurate with the extent of the problem. I therefore accuse the United States government of complicity with a country which, by its format and behavior, sustained by might alone, qualifies as a rogue state.

I therefore request that the United States government:

• Demand immediate cessation of Israeli military operations in Gaza, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and all Palestinian territories.
• Hold the Israeli regime responsible for the conflict as the aggressor, for creating conditions leading to the conflict, for any resulting civilian losses on both sides, and for the degradation of the humanitarian situation in the region.
• Stop all military and strategic support to Israel and impose an immediate and total embargo pending a change of regime.
• Recognize Hamas as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people under occupation.
• Initiate and offer to lead a United Nations resolution for a Chapter VII-VIII peacemaking force intervention in all territories to the conflict, including that defined as Israel by the Israeli regime. The mandate should be modeled on the Yugoslavia intervention and include an Israeli regime change toward the formation of a multiethnic state out of what is today called Israel and Palestine. A US Army Corps, approximately 100,000 troops coming out of Iraq, could provide the American contingent to the mission.

JF Angevin-Romey
US Army, Retired
Paris