So much as been written about the fighting in Gaza and its political and military consequences, but surely not enough has been written about the terrible humanitarian conditions that have befallen its unfortunate non-combatant inhabitants.
Every party -- yes, any party remotely involved in instigating or failing to prevent the latest outbreak of war in Gaza -- is partly the cause as well as the source of any durable solution to this growing humanitarian calamity -- and there are not enough fingers to point. Debating whether Hamas is justified in firing missiles into Israel or whether Israel is justified in its response is really not this blog's principal focus, please. Neither is the plight of Israel's southern cities and its inhabitants who have been terrorized far too long by Hamas' brand of war-like coexistence.
My goal, however treacherous, is to set aside the political blame game that has characterized the debate, and to focus on the terrible civilian conditions inside Gaza with the hope that the plight of Gazans will foster expedited preparation for an emergency international relief effort to address the humanitarian crisis that grips Gaza now and which will surely get far worse in the days ahead.
Whenever Gaza's guns go silent, tens of thousands of Palestinians caught in the crossfire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces will haltingly emerge from the rubble to survey the terrible destruction that has befallen them as winter rains add more misery to the situation.
Entire blocks of stores and homes have been destroyed; services have been disrupted; and families have endured a barrage of fire and counterfire rendering what passes as normality in Gaza a distant memory. If Gaza was destitute and replete with misery before the latest Middle East war, it surely will face an even bleaker existence in the days ahead.
Conditions throughout Gaza were bad enough for its inhabitants before the fighting -- an economic blockade by Israel, and Hamas' Islamic extremist economic disorder had collectively transformed Gaza into a state of perpetual depression.
But things have gone from very bad to much worse in recent days as fighting has escalated.
At this hour, Gazans have almost no electrical power, and are under almost a round-the-clock blackout. Store shelves are empty, urgent medicine is in short supply, and only a few homes have running water since there is no fuel to run the water pumps. Sewage is flowing in the streets, and medical authorities, who cannot cope with the flood of civilian victims, are concerned that this witch's brew will breed a terrible post-conflict pandemic of assorted maladies that will only lead to more deaths. Under such conditions, most would flee becoming refugees again, but in Gaza there is nowhere to run. The borders are sealed and there is no escape.
The human tragedy that has befallen Gaza's Palestinians -- Hamas supporters or not -- warrants every American to take cognizance because of its consequences for a durable Middle East peace. Americans are seeing very little of the human misery in Gaza since Israel has restricted media access. But regional Arab television stations are showing enough disturbing images to enflame the Arab street.
The harsh conditions in Gaza are undoubtedly going to get far worse before they get better, particularly if Israel presses ahead with its ground offensive if Hamas refuses to accept an Egyptian cease fire proposal that is being considered right now by representatives of all sides to the conflict in Cairo.
And as surely as the humanitarian crisis grows, I am concerned that Israel, rather than Hamas, will engender more hatred against it from among Gaza's citizens for what has been wrought on them. That, too, is yet another sorrowful consequence to the fighting.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which is the international humanitarian assistance pipeline for Palestinians will be even more short-funded and taxed to launch and administer an emergency humanitarian relief operation, so a global emergency relief operation facilitated by Israel and Egypt will be vital to supplement what relief agencies have haltingly been able to accomplish during the fighting.
And who will fund such a relief operation? That remains to be seen. Traditionally, the Palestinians have in the best of times received precious little in the way of international assistance over the years, but here, too, regional politics must give way to the plight of Gaza's Palestinians first. Wealthy oil-producing regional states should consider forming a relief consortium supplemented by international donations, including assistance from Israel and Egypt to lay the groundwork for expedited logistical facilitation.
Urgent planning by international relief agencies and donors for such an effective and sustainable relief operation must begin NOW and not when a cease-fire is achieved. By that time, too many more Palestinians will have fallen victim.
The inevitable question lingers: what will become of the hundreds of thousands of Gaza's Palestinians who surely will find themselves still ruled by Hamas when Israeli forces inevitably withdraw from Gaza? Unfortunately, there is no place for them to go in the short term...and they will be forced to remain in Gaza to confront the aftermath of the fighting.
Under pre-war conditions, the Egyptian-Israeli blockade of Gaza's borders had already rendered Gaza's economy a disaster, compelling Gazan's to funnel smuggled consumer goods through the network of tunnels underneath the Gazan-Egyptian border that also served as Hamas' underground missile railroad route. The blockade by both Egypt and Israel cannot continue. If a cease-fire is achieved -- and its chances of remaining durable are questionable -- a better solution must be found to end the economic noose that is strangling Gaza's faltering economy and enable unfettered relief to its citizens.
As much as I believe that Hamas in its current incarnation constitutes an insurmountable roadblock to Palestinian statehood, Hamas will probably remain in control of Gaza despite Israel's hopes that Hamas would just collapse. For that reason, Israel will have to consider ending its economic blockade of Gaza PROVIDED Hamas ceases its missile attacks on Israel and stops smuggling them into Gaza under some form of supervised border control that is "bullet proof." An end to weapons smuggling and missile launches in return for a lifting of the blockade seems to me to be the best that anyone can hope for given the utter lack of common ground that Hamas and Israel share.
In the final analysis, the people of Gaza and Israel's southern cities deserve a concerted international diplomatic and humanitarian response to relieve the suffering on both sides of Gaza's borders. That will require a sustained round-the-clock diplomatic search for a modicum of common ground between Hamas and Israel to get a cease-fire in place as rapidly as possible.
For the sake of those whose suffering is taking a turn for the worse as each hour passes, the urgency to get to a diplomatic solution in Cairo takes on a whole new meaning.
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Israel Invades Gaza: Info, Updates, Video
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO ***UPDATE*** January 4th, 9:38PM The Times of London reports that Israel's rain of fire on Gaza is thought to be caused...
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Israeli troops and tanks slice deep into Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships surrounded Gaza's largest city and fought militants at close range...
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Diplomats Converge On Israel In Push For Truce
Scroll down for video GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels as it pressed...
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Diplomatic Pressure On Israel, Hamas Intensifies
UPDATE 6 pm Heavy fighting broke out in Gaza's populated streets Monday night as Israel dismissed calls for a truce, reports the Telegraph. Explosions were...
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Gaza truce proposed after Israeli shell kills 30
GAZA CITY, Gaza — France and Egypt announced an initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza late Tuesday, hours after Israeli mortar shells exploded near...
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UN Security Council calls for immediate Gaza truce
JERUSALEM — The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate" and "durable" cease-fire in Gaza in a resolution Thursday night even as fighting between Israel...
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UN Security Council calls for Gaza cease-fire
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Thursday night calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces...
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Red Cross Accuses Israel Of 'Unacceptable' Delays In Providing Access To Wounded
GENEVA — The international Red Cross accused Israel on Thursday of "unacceptable" delays in letting rescue workers reach three Gaza City homes hit by shelling...
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Israeli forces advance deep into Gaza urban areas
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli ground forces made their deepest foray yet Sunday into Gaza's most populated area, with tanks rolling into residential neighborhoods...
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Israel's Gaza Offensive: Updated Information
The IDF claims that rocket attacks have dropped 50% since their Gaza operation began over two weeks ago, reports Haaretz: Sixteen days into Operation Cast...
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Israeli Forces Enter Gaza City Neighborhood
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Terrified residents ran for cover Tuesday in a densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City as Israeli troops backed by tanks...
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Israeli Cabinet Divided Over Fresh Gaza Surge
Israeli reservists were sent into action for the first time in the current Gaza conflict as the fighting continued yesterday and Palestinian deaths reportedly rose...
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Photos From Israel That You Won't See on the News
Israel is not media savvy -- we have installed warning systems and bomb shelters. No casualties means no photos, which means that many incidents aren't even covered by the media.
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The CNN-NPR-NYT Middle East Conspiracy
When people complain about bias in the media, it's always bias against their own point of view, and never in favor of their side. Nowhere is this more true than in coverage of the Middle East.
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No Exit for Civilians in Gaza in the Midst of War
In similar situations around the world, civilians caught in the midst of conflict would have the option of seeking safety in neighboring countries as refugees. Gazans have no such option.
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Evidence Grows That Israel is Using White Phosphorus in Gaza
Today, at least two UN officials have flatly declared that three or more white phosphorous shells were part of the attack today that set a UN building and compound ablaze in Gaza City.
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Changing the Reality in Gaza
Counting on international pressure to bring a quick end to the Israeli onslaught may prove to be misplaced as Israel is now determined to never allow a return to the status quo ante.
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Hamas and the Death of a Better Future
To me, Gaza is personal. As an Israeli infantry officer, I served in Gaza before, during, and after the 2005 Disengagement.
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Al Jazeera English Beats Israel's Ban on Reporters in Gaza with Exclusive Coverage
Some may call it propaganda but I call it hardcore reporting. If you are not watching Al Jazeera English's coverage of the War on Gaza, you are missing much, if not, most of the story.
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Why Aren't More Americans Dancing To Israel's Tune?
The surprising trend in American opinion on Gaza may be because the same pundits who are cheerleading Israel's assault once sold the occupation of Iraq, and with a nearly identical set of arguments.
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Maybe Hamas is Not so Stupid
Judged as a piece of political theater, Hamas has succeeded in presenting Israel as the golem on the block.
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Israel as Mini-Me
We are both settler states -- the Puritans, who escaped oppression in the Old World only to mete out oppression in the New, unfolded their Zionist project in the 17th century with their "city built upon a hill" as the New Jerusalem.
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Gaza: The War On Children
Israel has accused Hamas of intentionally attacking from civilian-populated areas, driving up casualties among non-combatants to provoke anger against Israel. But do children have to pay the price?
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What Was Israel Supposed to Do?
Every day now, I hear someone saying, "What was Israel supposed to do? Hamas keeps firing rockets into their country." So, here is a quick list of the things they were supposed to do.
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Israel's Extensive PR Campaign
Last Friday, at the height of the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced without a hint of irony: "We are peace seekers."
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Accused of Funding Hamas, Controversial Charity Collects Money in Lebanon for Palestinians in Gaza (VIDEO)
On Beirut's waterfront road, young men dressed in green jackets with the Etelaf Al-Khair logo on their backs are handing out fliers with images of bloodied Palestinian children and holding donation boxes.
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Georgetown Newspaper Editor Reports on Sderot-Gaza, and Recording With Rockets
In a recording studio in Sderot, a few miles east of Israel's Gaza strip, Sergio Arditi felt the steady pulse of Rock and Roll give way to the sporadic vibration of bombs.
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Israel: There Has To Be A Better Way
The war between Israel and Hamas is not as two-dimensional as the United States Senate would like to believe. This is a complex and asymmetric war that will not end favorably for either side.
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Defending Condi: Olmert Shames Himself in Kick-in-the-Teeth Attack on Rice
Olmert's statements certainly send a signal to many in the incoming Obama administration that while there are convergent American and Israeli interests -- friendship and trust are eroding.
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Fanaticism and Contempt
Once the master of revolutionary war, Israel cannot seem to grasp the essential nature of asymmetrical warfare.
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Bomb A Ghetto, Raise A Cheer -- The Video
On January 11, an estimated 10,000 people rallied in front of the Israeli consulate in New York in support of Israel's attack on Gaza. The event was a festive affair that began and ended with singing and joyous dancing.
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Gaza on YouTube: Film at 11!
In lieu of actual reporting, all you have to do is log on to the Israel Defense Forces' YouTube Channel and you can see images of Israel pummeling Gaza, and sit in on "the first ever" Twitter press conference.
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NY Times Responds Weakly Today to Israel's 'Incursion' -- As Shells Kill Dozens at U.N. School
It takes until paragraph #8 for the Times, to mention that, by the way, Israel "must" allow foreign journalists access to Gaza, especially since its highest court so ordered.
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Hold Your Fire: Children and Civilians In Gaza
If the killing of unarmed civilians by terrorist groups is wrong, Israel's killing of unarmed Palestinian civilians and our defense of Israel's conduct cannot be right.
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War Diary from Sderot
Not in my name and not for me did you go into this war. The bloodbath in Gaza is not in my name nor for my security. Behind this accursed leadership of Hamas live human beings.
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Overwhelming Force Is the Only Way to Fight Terrorists
The destruction of Hamas benefits the Palestinians far more than the Israelis. It is they that must live under the cruelty of an organization that terrorizes its citizens even more than its enemies.
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Gaza and the Obama Effect -- Ending the War
It might be pushing the envelope to call Obama the peacemaker here, but it's hard to deny that his impending entrance to the world stage has an effect.
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How Propaganda Hijacked Israeli Strategy in Gaza
While Israel's explicit goal is to cease all attacks on southern Israel, senior IDF and intelligence officials have privately signaled that this is unrealistic, even with a ground invasion.
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Obama's Silence
As January 20 approaches, Obama will have to make a lonely decision - to remember his 2007 words about Palestinian suffering and his campaign pledge to talk unconditionally with adversaries.
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Video Reveals that a Lack of Moral Center Is Central to Hamas's War Strategy
The whole world is quick to condemn Israel for civilian deaths in Gaza, but there is utter silence over Hamas's blatant disregard for the lives of its own citizens.
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Goodnight My Love, See You in Heaven -- Diary From an Aid Worker in Gaza
The situation has now reached such a critical point that doctors frequently confront dilemmas such as these -- to treat the child who is bleeding to death or the baby who has severe head injuries?
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Israel in Gaza: Three Wrong Arguments
The Reid/McConnell resolution is a perfect articulation of one voice in the American debate over Israel's actions in Gaza. Here are a few objections that should be raised.
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Israel, Gaza and Iran: Trapping Obama in Imagined Fault Lines
While there certainly is an underlying rivalry between Israel and Iran that has come to fuel many other otherwise unrelated conflicts in the region, not every war Israel fights is related to Iran.
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Weighing Proportionality in Gaza
The losses on both sides will be all in vain if the final outcome of the war does not substantially improve both the prospects for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace.
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Reportage from Israel/Gaza
We can't ignore this fact: Gaza is becoming not the embryo of the so-desired Palestinian State, but the advance base of a total war against the Jewish State.
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Proportionality and Disproportionality: A Guide to Arguments about Gaza
Even if the guns fall silent the charges and counter-charges of violations of international law will continue. Already the airwaves are full of talk that Israel's "disproportionate" response is a violation of international law.
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Obama -- Please Say Something!
In just over two weeks Obama will be unable to avoid saying something and the world will be looking to him and demanding to hear his opinion on the crisis in Gaza.
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Israel's Risk
What we're watching in Gaza is not so much low-intensity warfare as the continued fracture of the post-Soviet international order.
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Why Do So Few Speak Up for Gaza?
Why is it that there is such widespread acceptance, beginning with the apologetic arguments of George Bush, that whatever Israel does is always justified as necessary to the survival of the Jewish state?
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Why Israel Was Right to Invade Gaza
How should Israel attempt to protect its people, long-term, if it merely acts defensively in a tit-for-tat manner? That would be a horribly naïve response given its history.
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Gaza, Qaddafi, And Starbucks
Along with the images of bloodied children, scenes of destruction and carnage in Gaza, debates on Arab disunity have increased in the Arab media.
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Israel, Hamas, Gaza: Plenty of Us in America Just Need to Shut Up
Something labeled "Subject: Fwd: Some Differences Between Hamas and the Nazi Party" showed up in my inbox Monday night.
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Obama Camp "Prepared To Talk To Hamas," Says the Guardian
The Obama administration's emphasis on "talk" with Hamas will bring a significant moral shift in U.S. policy -- but it will not do away with some of the core grievances vis-a-vis U.S.-Israel relations.
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Protesters in Beirut Demand Action from Arab Leaders on Gaza, Focusing on Egypt as Demonstrations Rise (VIDEO)
Millions across the Arab world are demonstrating, demanding that Arab governments do more to support Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
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Eyeless in Gaza
I wish I didn't believe that the events now unfolding in the Middle East are too complicated for unalloyed outrage. I wish the arguments of only one side rang wholly true to me.
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AP Reporter Watches Own Home Destroyed, via YouTube, in Gaza
In one of the most moving accounts of the war in Gaza, Ibrahim Barzak, the AP's chief correspondent there for 17 years, today wrote of watching his own home destroyed on YouTube.
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Mitchell Bard is Wrong On Israel
Hamas did not start this conflict. Here's an extensive time line of events, making clear that Israel broke the ceasefire, not Hamas.
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Ceasefire
The first reason for a ceasefire now is to stop the killing. The second is to ensure that a year or two from now we are not all wishing that Hamas was still in charge.
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Livni and Barak's Gaza Calculus
If hundreds of innocent deaths helps secure a real security mandate for the moderate-to-dovish Kadima/Labor and Israeli-Palestinian peace, that's political calculus Livni and Barak were willing to take.
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Was Israel Punked by Hamas? Are Progressives Attacking Israel Being Punked too?
The only way the Israeli and Palestinian people have a shot at peace is for outsiders to put pressure on both sides to make it happen and to stop the violence. It can be done.
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Israel and Hamas: Two to Tango
What is going on in Gaza is that it is not the result of a sudden decision or an immediate and intolerable provocation by one side or the other -- this thing has been in the planning by both sides for months.
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Hamas Is Responsible for the Civilian Casualties in Gaza
By choosing tactical advantages over the safety of its citizens, the terrorist organization chose its military goals over the safety of its fellow Palestinians in Gaza.
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Self-Deception and the Assault on Gaza
From the civilian deaths in Gaza will spring more hatred and terrorism. Yet no people are so prone as Americans and Israelis to think admiringly of our own good intentions.
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How to Defeat Hamas -- Face Up to the Truth
Making Hamas into a unique demon is pure propaganda. But no form of Islamic extremism will end until moderate Muslims stand up for their religion.
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Letter From Beersheva
I am here in Beersheva -- on the "almost" frontlines of the conflict with Hamas -- to tell you the first thing to go when missiles start to fall nearby, is your diet.
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It's Time for a Sustained Focus on a Lasting Middle East Peace
What we continue to lack is the kind of real political solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that could finally make a "ceasefire" endure.
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Gaza: Fight at the End of the Tunnel?
Any ceasefire must include an ironclad commitment by Egypt to cooperate fully with Israel to shut Hamas' tunnel network once and for all whatever Hamas' political or military wings decide tomorrow in Cairo.
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On the other hand, political parties in Israel use invasions and incursions to bolster their credentials on national security. It is not different in the United States, India and Pakistan. Nationalist fervor in the age of nuclear weapons is a grave danger and ticking bomb. Democracies that depend on polling numbers on serious and complicated issues run the risk of rubbishing the very ideals of the concept.
Shouldn't such high-minded souls be condemning Israel for not doing more to avoid aggravating the refugee problem in the Middle East, which is a legacy based on Israeli aggression that got 8 million Arab refugees expelled by Israel aggression and occupation of Palestine, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights.
Tthe number of Palestinian refugees alone, the result of Israeli land grabs and military aggression, stands at 4.75 million by June 2004, a figure provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA):
Palestinian Refugees An Overview
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/mepp/new_prrn/background/index.htm
You can find out more at the UNRWA website, a UN agency specifically created to tackle the Palestinian refugee problem caused by Israel, the largest refugee problem in the world’s history:
http://www.un.org/unrwa/
Perhaps Israel's supporters are not as high-minded or even-handed as they think they are.
I thought they already have international as well as regional and religious organizations which ALREADY have been supplementing this returning tragic situation. The Red Crescent, i.e. is the most well-known. There are others, but it seems that when one donates to such causes, they are scrutinized to no end by our own "security" chiefs.
The Gaza Strip borders are not sealed. There is not only escape, but also the Israelis have assisted in evacuation of Christians and provided warnings before Israeli national defense actions at risk to IDF members. Some of the smuggling routes are still open.
Palestinian messages are getting out for the world to see and hear. Palestinians have received international assistance for years. Until tiring of rockets being fired into Israel since the removal of Jews in 2005 Israel has provided essential services to the Strip. Israelis continue to assist the Gazans during the battles. If Hamas and other Islamic jihadists are neutralized they will not rule there. With essential and cautious vetting Gazans can move closer to or with their families in Israel and the West Bank –family members who were visiting the Strip until recently. Some have already done so since December 27.
Gaza’s economy started becoming a disaster at least by the day Hamas took over.
The “roadblock to Palestinian statehood” was in 1948 and remains Palestinian refusal to establish a state based on refusal to recognize Modern Israel as a state.
Pocatello, Idaho sits on what was once some very bountiful land along the Portneuf River. As a word, Pocatello has no Shoshone or Bannock etymology. Some say there was a starving "favorite" of the soldiers at Fort Hall, who came begging for pork and tallow. Chief PorkandTallow. When I was last in the area, there was family that bore the name with far more dignity.
Pocatello was carved out of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. I expect the "land transfer" had elements of fraud and the casual negligence which followed Indian land treaties through the US federal election cycle. Sound familiar?
Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians must give up their preconceptions and fears about each other. That will not happen easily, but it is happening already - a Google search should find you current records of emails between two men in Gaza and Sderot. Other links can be found, but they receive so very little acknowledgement. Fear and hatred must be calmly eradicated, person to person, day after day. That means segregation must go.
IMHO, thousands of all faiths are willing to help, on the ground, building peaceful lives for people in the Holy Land. Enabling this would be a better move toward peace than just another blind-alley ceasefire, that suits mainly the major geopolitical players and their minions.
peace is achievable but a big ingredient is the US and as long as Congress supports Israel and supplies Israel with arms; and continues to refuse to recognise Hamas . . the suffering and murder of innocent Palestinians will continue . . .
If you have southern Isrealis working every day with Gazan citizens, it will reduce the desire to "kill the enemy," and increase the desire to not kill people who now are human (meeting someone makes it a lot harder to kill them or want them dead unless you are psychotic)
Unconditional cease fire is the only positive option.
Hamas cannot nor ever will be a threat to Israel. They are behvaing exactly how Israeli right-wingers want them to behave for their propoganda purposes.
Israel is making enemies faster than they can kill them. They are behvaing exactly how Hamas wants them to behave for their propoganda purposes.
The largely suppressed Israeli peace movement and the pacist Palestinians are the only sane players in this deadly farce.
They were a lot upset that the people of Gaza launched 6,000 rockets at Israeli CIVILIAN population centers since Israel left 100% of Gaza.
I would like to remind all of you that as soon as Israel left Gaza, the TERRORISTS started launching rockets again at Israeli CIVILIANS. That the Israelis had a warning system and bomb shelters to minimize casualties, that they repaired rocket damage quickly does not lesson the guilt of the Gazans for trying to kill Israeli CIVILIANS.
Of course Israel tried to control what went into Gaza. even so, Hamas, islamic Jihad and the other groups smuggled thousands of rockets into Gaza for delivery to Israel in the form of attacks designed to kill CIVILIANS.
I would like to know who the Pacifist Palestiians are. pacifist israeli groups frequently demonstrate. I haven't seen mass Israeli demonstrations calling for "Death to the Arabs", have you?
For any durable cease fire to have any credibility, international supervision of ALL of the crossings need to be supervised and monitored by reputable and impartial third party monitors to prevent secretive rearming of the Hamas!
Why hasn't UNICEF intervene in the continuous pouring and cramming into the very young minds by Hamas an unaltered diet of hate and violence of hate and suicide? Isn't it time for a neutral third parties to take control of the schools to stop this!
If you try and keep me from getting more stones, that is an illegal, immoral and unjustified blockade, no?
If I go in and punch you in the face, that too is unjustified, no?
And if i go in and try and get you to stop, destroying your hose, then I am the agressor, no?
This week, iunknown people in Lebanon with katusha rockets fired 8 of them into Israel.
Unfortunately, International forces seem to side with the terrorists. Keep them out of Gaza.
A Palestinian video is circulating showing Hamas thugs shooting up a wedding, killing the groom because they paled music. Hamas ahs to be destroyed for the benefit of the Palestinians as well as the Israelis. It seems like many Palestinians also feel this way. How else would Israel know which mosques and schools were being used for rocket storage and rocket launchin?
In 1948 the fledgling State of Israel, took in the millions of Jews fleeing persecution in Morocco, Algiers, Tunesia, Egypt, Yemen and Iraq. They felt compassion for their brethren, though the Arab States turned their backs on their co-religionists for over 60 years.
Israel is here to stay as an independent country and it continues to flourish and contribute scientifically and economically to the well being of people over the whole world, despite the promises by Hamas of its imminent destruction.
I propose that President Obama meet with each one of the heads of the 15-18 Arab States, negotiate wiith them and implore them to address this Ghaza refugee problem and take a number of refugee families into their countries.
Let's get rid of this powder keg, used as an excuse by al-Queda and Hizbolla and other groups for their existence.
1. america would become Egpt's weapons supplier, replaing the russians. since then, Egypt has recieved F-16's and they asemble M1A1 tanks.
2. Israel would recieve military aid to balance the aid to Egypt and to ensure that israel could hold off any likely ocmbination of Arab aermis.
THis has worked. You do not see an Arab repetition of the 6-Day war or the Yom Kippur war or the War of Attrition.
You might notice that russia is sending its most advanced anti-Aircraft weapons and fighter planes to our dear friends and democracies, Syria and Iran.
You might also ponder the dire results if we allow Israel to fall into a stte where they can't fend off an Arab attack and are forced to go nuclear.