Middle East Conflict

[Grassland Blue]

At school nearly 60 years ago I first read C. V. Wedgwood's book on the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), written in 1938 in the shadow of one terrible conflict and on the eve of another. As a result of that war, she wrote "Men rejected religion as an an object to fight for and found others." She was both right and wrong there. The last line of her book, though, is "They did not learn then, and have not learned since, that war breeds only war." Obvious but true.

An eye for an eye and ultimately everyone goes blind....

 

[Pelegrinni]

The thing is, there is a pattern emerging, Israel will bomb the shit out of Gaza, have a limited ground incursion ( I doubt they would want the hell of urban war, with the subsequent losses) the bodies will start to pile high, the world will get squeamish and nervous, enough pressure will be brought about to get them to stop, and on and on it goes!

As long as the underlying issues are not dealt with we will be back here again and again

That was the case in previous encounters. However, the scale of Hamas killings this time around makes me feel that only one outcome is feasible. Israel will have to uproot Hamas from Gaza no matter the cost.
Personally, I would have really loved it if the Palestinians ditched the violence and make the best out of what they've got. If Israel blocks their side of the border, move on and use the other border with Egypt.

 

[Scottyboi]

Now now stop with the abuse, There's been conflicting reports from Netanyahu's camp saying it hasn't happened and it has. Are you also taking the word of an Israeli soldier as Gospel and fact. Even Ducado who is Jewish has said this could be propaganda bullshit which is the first thing that's said in wars.

I was just countering postman pats desperation to try and debunk it and show where the story had actually originated from to which all the major media outlets started running with it, your silence was noted throughout btw.

 

[Nascent Blues]

This has been my main takeaway over the past few days. There doesn't seem to be anyone on either side in a position of real power who is prepared to sit down and talk things through with the other side.

Those who hold the power are too entrenched in their views for me. I've been following bits on Channel 4 News and they're trying to be balanced in talking to people from both sides who are associated with their respective leaders. However, none of them seem interested in entertaining the questions being put to them, instead going off on one. For instance, the night before last they had the Israeli ambassador to the UK on and the question was put to her about all the innocent lives that will doubtless be lost in Gaza as a result of Israel's response. She just totally lost the plot and kept telling Krishnan to stop defending Gaza and Hamas when he was doing no such thing, and was instead defending innocent people. I get that she was pissed off and upset about what had happened but someone in an ambassadorial role ought to be a bit more diplomatic. It was like she didn't give a fuck about innocent Palestinian lives being lost and Krishnan was struggling to get a word in edgeways. There was pretty much a carbon copy response last night when Matt Frei interviewed someone from Hamas. He asked about the Israeli hostages and would they be treated properly, to which the Hamas bloke said they would. When Frei pushed him further on this by highlighting the Hamas statement that one hostage would be killed for every unannounced air strike, he lost the plot and ended up going off on a tangent and like the Israeli ambassador the night before, resorting to whataboutery. It's impossible to get any semblance of an apology from any of these people for innocent lives lost on the opposite side.

A twisted game of Historical Trauma Top Trumps.

 

[threespires]

Wash all you want, it does not change what is supposedly the 'immutable' word of god that is written, taught, and followed by many. Hamas even use it in their charter !

From what I can gather a majority of scholars seem to think that the selective and distorted use of the Qur'an to support anti-semitism is a relatively modern phenomenon, unlike Christianity which has a much longer history in that regard, and that some of the current attitide is actually an integration of western antisemitic thinking rather than anything specifically to do with Islam.

 

[The blue phantom]

I was just countering postman pats desperation to try and debunk it and show where the story had actually originated from to which all the major media outlets started running with it, your silence was noted throughout btw.

Because I watched this which stated they'd asked the Israeli Government multiple times if it was true which was , we can use your words. "Met with silence'

 

[roubaixtuesday]

The original question was do the muslims dislike the jews. All the answers to that are contained within that 'immutable' word. You do understand immutable don't you ?

This is taught from birth !

I hope I'm mistaken, but you appear to think that all Muslims think the same. That's clearly not the case.

 

[Scottyboi]

Because I watched this which stated they'd asked the Israeli Government multiple times if it was true which was , we can use your words. "Met with silence'

Posted hours later from when the conversations were actually taking place, the crazy thing is beheading or not what they did find were whole families slaughtered in their houses gunned down by pure scum.

 

[AlexWilliamsGloves]

are UK based Irish people to be banned from waving the Irish flag?

Actually, for a long time it technically was "illegal" to fly it in NI....until 1987

Flags and Emblems (Display) Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MouldensChippy]

I hope I'm mistaken, but you appear to think that all Muslims think the same. That's clearly not the case.

Yes, you are mistaken that I would even dream of thinking that 'they are all the same'.

Though when you are taught something from birth, right through schooling (big thanks to the UNRWA there for not removing hatred from their textbooks in Palastine), there is a greater chance of actually taking up that view. Nothing is as easily influenced as the young.