Middle East Conflict (merged)

[Don Karleone]

Fucking scumbag. Her, not you.

 

[BrianW]

This was definitely a clusterfuck but one part needs clarifying, which shows how complex and nuanced the situation was.

When the British took over the former Ottoman territories, these covered a huge area, including modern Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and possibly parts of modern-day Saudi Arabia. These were not independent states at the time.

The McMahon letters of 1915 were deliberately ambiguous and there was a crucial issue in the translation of the English to the Arabic, which seemed to accede to the Arab demands, but that was never the intention. The term 'Palestine' was a Western one, but not an Ottoman one, and there was no administrative territory of that name under the Ottomans. There was reference to territories west of Damascus being excluded as "they were not exclusively Arab". This could mean places like the Galilee, where there was a significant Jewish presence, or it might not. We'll never know. But the McMahon letters were deeply cynical. The intention was to encourage an Arab front against the Turks (which it did).

The Sykes-Picot agreement, conducted as secret protocols, divided the area up into British & French spheres of influence but parts of what was known as Palestine (including Jerusalem) were intended to be under some sort of international control.

Then of course there was the Balfour Declaration is 1917 but the published version was a very-much watered-down version of the original. The revised version only talked about establishing a 'homeland' for the Jewish people, rather than the original request for the whole of the Palestine area to be exclusively Jewish. The original also requested unrestricted Jewish immigration, which was left out of the published version, which also talked about protection of the rights of Arabs. The intention was, on the surface, noble but obviously led to the present-day situation.

Incidentally, one of the prime movers in the Balfour Declaration was Charles Dreyfus, who set up Clayton Aniline where the CFA now stands, and who introduced Weizmann to Balfour.

No one really understands the reasoning behind the Balfour Declaration. One theory is that it suited the British to encourage its Jewish population to emigrate. Just a few years earlier, anti-immigration rhetoric (plus ca change) had been aimed at the wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe. Therefore Palestine could have been the Rwanda equivalent. Another is the desire to keep the French out. So you could certainly argue that the BD was yet another cynical manoeuvre.

One the war had ended, the territory was parcelled up, with parts of it given to friendly Arab leaders, without much regard for tribal or territorial integrity, with what's now known as Palestine left under British control from 1923. All attempts to reach a negotiated settlement failed, ultimately leading to us handing back the mandate to the newly-created UN after WWII and the partition of the territory in 1948.

In 1917, Britain stood on the verge of defeat. People forget this, but the UK came very close to being starved into surrender.

The Government at the time would almost certainly have promised anything to anyone if it gained a grain of advantage against the Central Powers. In effect, it wrote cheques it could not honour. A bit like promising two different blokes that they could marry your daughter. A recipe for future disputes.

They possibly thought everyone would compromise and have a jolly good time together, not realising (and quite likely not caring) what passions they were arousing. The Empire was very largely run on the principle of divide and rule.

 

[Silvercloud]

Looks like a major rocket attack on Tel Aviv at the minute. Reports of armed Palestinians on the streets of S Israel in gun battles with Israeli troops and police.

 

[Paul1970]

Looks like a major rocket attack on Tel Aviv at the minute. Reports of armed Palestinians on the streets of S Israel in gun battles with Israeli troops and police.

By the end of the day Israel will extract a massive and bloody revenge for this incursion. Hamas have got some balls doing what they are doing but when you’ve been persecuted for years I suppose you do anything . Israel pribably the best army in the world backed by American money

 

[Blue Mist]

Yes a few soldiers on both sides will die but sadly many many innocent people, Arabs and Jews will die.
All thanks to religion and politicians. What a sad state of affairs.

 

[Paul1970]

Yes a few soldiers on both sides will die but sadly many many innocent people, Arabs and Jews will die.
All thanks to religion and politicians. What a sad state of affairs.

App hezzbolah have made a statement saying they are monitoring this situation . Keep an eye on Lebanon as this could get interesting.

 

[Scottyboi]

Jesus bloodbath, soldiers still in their boxers proper caught out. Looks like Israeli intelligence were asleep on this one.



These cunts are no worse than ISIS when they were shooting civilian cars for fun.

Hamas might have caught Israel off guard but now what? They are uploading videos desecrating dead soldiers and killing civilians, there is no end goal in this just death.

Would Iran have helped fund and plan this kind of operation? If so then what happens next?

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Jesus bloodbath, soldiers still in their boxers proper caught out. Looks like Israeli intelligence were asleep on this one.

These cunts are no worse than ISIS when they were shooting civilian cars for fun.

Hamas might have caught Israel off guard but now what? They are uploading videos desecrating dead soldiers and killing civilians, there is no end goal in this just death.

Would Iran have helped fund and plan this kind of operation? If so then what happens next?

Big mistake.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Israeli’s calling their response “Sword of Iron”. Looks like bombers are destroying Palestinian civilian areas.

Hope the Israeli hostages are returned safe. Terrible situation all round.

 

[Scottyboi]

Israeli’s calling their response “Sword of Iron”. Looks like bombers are destroying Palestinian civilian areas.

Hope the Israeli hostages are returned safe. Terrible situation all round.

Them hostages are fucked awful to see the fear in their eyes, hamas are filming everything including the killing of civilians there is no chance they return the hostages.