A simple plan

Dec 28, 2008 14:29

This morning the newspaper screamed 'New Year Massacre' and under that there was a massive report about the slaughter of 200+ people in Gaza by the Israeli Air Force on the eve of the Islamic new year ( Read more... )

war, israel, palestine, middle east

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peccavo December 28 2008, 15:18:32 UTC
I'm usually sympathetic to the Israeli side. But I agree this strike was over the top.

What I want to know is what really motivated the Israelis to do this mere days after they opened Gaza's borders to food and medical supplies. Something doesn't make sense and isn't in the papers.

In a way, I think the Israeli government tries to portray itself as the villain... but I can't claim to understand in the least.

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peccavo December 29 2008, 13:30:23 UTC
I know the above, and am not convinced this is the case. Even during the cease-fire, I read reports of dozens of rockets flying into Israel daily. And I even thought Hamas canceled the cease-fire before the original expiration. More, as I said, Israel recently allowed in large amounts of humanitarian aid. It's true that since the cease-fire ended, Israel has been greatly bombarded; however, this is far from the first time. In this case, I think Israel is after something more than a show of force and terror... but I don't know what. And to achieve whatever ends, lives of Palestinians do not seem to mean much.

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wicked_danu December 29 2008, 14:51:39 UTC
I think this article might help: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTI5MjY4NDkwNA==
There was a level of secrecy to this operation.
Needless to say, this article should be taken with a pinch of salt.. it's published in all the major pro-Palestinian media outlets, but haven't seen a variation of it even in liberal Israeli news outlets yet.

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wicked_danu December 28 2008, 22:11:36 UTC
Despite how sickening this sounds, I think the strike was part of the current Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's election campaign - he's just trying to show that if he becomes Prime Minister, there'll be more of these juicy airstrikes and Qassam rocket fire from Gaza will finally come to an end. They'd have to be really naive to believe him.

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peccavo December 29 2008, 10:36:27 UTC
No, Danu, Barak doesn't have that much autonomy as Defense Minister. And if the operation doesn't actually stop the Qassams or end within a reasonable time, then Barak's popularity will actually deteriorate.

(Nominally Challenged)

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peccavo December 29 2008, 13:32:04 UTC
That actually sounds plausible, but sickening. Thanks.

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peccavo January 4 2009, 10:46:20 UTC
No, it's not plausible at all. He doesn't have that power.

Seriously, guys ...

(Nominally Challenged)

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