The easiest way to lessen the influence of Hamas would be to raise the standard of living of Palestinians. Terrorism and extremism flourish amongst the poor and disenfranchised.
Gaza is controlled by Hamas who are constantly stirring up trouble. West Bank is in the control of moderates and there is nowhere near the same level of trouble. Hamas has an agenda and believe violence is the best way to achieve it. This lets right wing extremists dominate the Israeli elections. Frankly a novel solution would be to dump the extremists on both sides on a deserted island and let the moderates try to calm things down.
Word among the heavily biased jewish community is that Israel offered a ceasefire, with one of the terms including no rockets from both sides for the next 15 years and Hamas declined. A ground invasion is expected in the next 36-72 hours.
There is plenty of trouble in the West Bank. Fatah has no legitimacy amongst the population.
The reality is that you have one side an occupying force with the 4th or 5th biggest military force on the planet determined to control all of Palestine, and an occupied, blockaded and brutalised population of refugees on the other.
Hamas have constantly offered cease fires in return for lifting the (illegal) blockade. It is "Israel" refusing to talk peace.
That's true. I did say less trouble rather than no trouble. Certainly there is no barrage of rockets from West Bank. Fatah's legitimacy is actively undermined by Hamas, so again it is the extremists stirring up trouble for their own agenda.
Israel have not covered themseleves in glory with forced resettlements, the concrete fence, Israeli settlement on 'Palestinian territory' but it is hard to criticise a military response when rockets are raining down on their cities. Proportionality of the response is difficult to assess without having been there to see the impact of the Palestinian terror tactics on Israeli citizens.
Fatah's legitimacy is lost by its own actions as Israeli agents. Abbas is a quisling.
History doesn't start when Gazans fire a few bottle rockets into the desert, despite the media's parroting of the hasbara chorus. "Israels" terror tactics are far deadlier and far far more frequent. The rockets have nought to do with Israeli actions other than serve as a cassus belli for western PR consumption.
There is no symmetry between the occupiers' violence and the occupieds' resistance. There is no Palestinian action that can be compared with the illegal, inhuman blockade of Gaza.
I don't agree with all of that, but there is a long and bitter history with blood on both sides that can't be summed up in a few posts. Certainly with the latest round of escalation, Israel's response seems disproportionate as their ballistic defences are stopping most of Hamas' rockets while Hamas can't do much to stop laser guided bombs from modern strike aircraft. Hopefully Israel will not proceed with the threatened ground assault as it will really become a bloodbath. As usually, the victims are the many citizens (on both sides) who just want to live their lives with some semblence of peace and quiet while Hamas and Likud survive and 'maintain the rage'.
1967 borders are the only reasonable way to go from here. But the far right in Israel (that are immune from military service!) have taken that option off the table with their illegal settlements.
It is an interesting situation because both sides claim to be the victims, and both sides claim the media is biased against them.
It is an interesting situation because both sides claim to be the victims, and both sides claim the media is biased against them.
To you it might seem so, but others may beg to differ. The IDF claimed that a large amount of children living in Sterot in Israel live with PTSD due to the Hamas rockets, but the amount of people living with PTSD in Gaza must be unbelievable.It's perfectly clear who are the victims and who are the aggressors. And the media bias toward "Israel" couldn't be more blatant.
The Palestinians are treated at best as non-people and more usually "terrorists" in their own land. It's a study in propaganda that highlights the absurdity we are led to believe is journalism and trashes the notion of having a free press.
It is an interesting situation because both sides claim to be the victims, and both sides claim the media is biased against them.
Well both "sides" have the PR game game down pat then, when in doubt play the victim and if that gains no traction, blame the media coverage.
On the media coverage here in OZ it's basically ABC feeding off BBC footage/clips with a correspondent in Washington covering the US reaction, and Sky News using the Ch9 feed with Stefanovic over on the ground. He was walking through the streets yesterday with the Palestinians and the mourning of loss.
I guess it's come down to the most minuscule detail in terms of the 'bias' as in whether news agency X mentions who fired first and the calibre of the weapon. It's not really overt for the most part.
To you it might seem so, but others may beg to differ. The IDF claimed that a large amount of children living in Sterot in Israel live with PTSD due to the Hamas rockets, but the amount of people living with PTSD in Gaza must be unbelievable.
Do you honestly think Palestine has anything that rivals the Israeli lobby and the hasbara?
The omission of context and of Israeli crimes is endemic in the Western media. The BBC is staunchly Zionist and the most polished propaganda organ on the planet.
It is no game to the Palestinians.
Israel are openly targeting journalists in Gaza now.