Comments on: Gaza

By: VirusHead

VirusHead — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:23:39 +0000

Thanks for playing nice. This is a tough topic for all sorts of reasons, and the U.S. (Bush, Rice) has not stepped up to the plate on it. You can’t help but notice how this offensive was timed. I am somewhat relieved that other nations are trying to negotiate some kind of agreement.

By: lvs

lvs — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:25:18 +0000

It has become politically incorrect to say anything against the Israelis today. While Israelis have suffered a lot in the past, that doesnt give them the license to impose the same suffering on others today. And what is being done today isnt even going to address the problems being faced by Israelis today.

By: Brokr1997

Brokr1997 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:27:51 +0000

Thomas Friedman in his book From Beirut to Jerusalem noted that Israel wants 3 things, but can only have 2 of them at time:
1) Jewish State
2) Democracy
3) Biblical borders of Isreal (ie, the West Bank)

By: Scooper

Scooper — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:07:57 +0000

This is what I think. And here is an opinion from Zaki, and one from Shrinkwrapped. Scooper´s last blog post - Gaza and Proportion

By: JollyRoger

JollyRoger — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:56:04 +0000

It is time for us to stop arming Israel, and become a truly neutral player in the region. I firmly believe that if Israel didn't feel that it has a permanent "get out of jail free" card, it would be trying harder to find ways to accommodate and live with its neighbors. They may have nukes, but realistically they can't use them without smoking a great many of their own people. The stuff they're using right now, they get from us, and it is just too easy to use it. JollyRoger´s last blog post - Now THIS Is GOOD News

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:21:47 +0000

I feel very sorry for the innocent Palestinians that live and work in Gaza. To have your power, water, and even road system torn apart by war is terrible. Many of the people living there are just trying to work and feed their families.
But at the same time, I feel sorry for the Israelis who have to live in constant fear that today might be the day that a random rocket hits their home and kills their loved ones. Or that that bus of restaurant that they are entering might contain a suicide bomber with the sole purpose of killing as many innocent people as possible.
It’s not an easy situation for either side and I don’t know for sure what I would do if I were in a position of leadership.

On the Palestinian side I would hope that I could set aside the bad treatment of the past and work towards peace. And I would hope that I would condemn the indiscriminate rocket attacks and the suicide bombings against civilian targets. That I would vote against leaders who spout hate and call for attacks against civilians. But it is more likely that I would be caught up in the anger over what seems to be a hopeless situation. And that I would see the rocket attacks as the only possible response to what is in effect an occupation force.

On the Israeli side, I would hope that I could push for a peaceful coexistence and a shared government. Because to be honest, regardless of the right or wrong of it, neither side is going anywhere. So both sides are going to have to learn to live with each other. But it is more likely that the desire for the safety of my family, friends and neighbors would trump my ideals of coexistence. And I would probably demand that the military protect us from the bombings and the rockets. Because when it comes down to it, it is more important to me that my family can sleep in their beds at night safely than that someone else is safe. And I think that most people(if they are being honest with themselves) would fall into this category. It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong when it comes to the safety of my family.

So as I said, it’s a bad situation all around and it’s hard to do the right thing. Thankfully, with the exception of a few isolated attacks, those of us living in the US don’t have to worry about bombs on buses, rockets falling out of the sky, or fighter jets shooting missiles at our infrastructure. So it’s a lot easier to point out what is wrong on both sides from here.

By: aldon @ orient-lodge

aldon @ orient-lodge — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:04:37 +0000

I've been trying to make sense of my own reaction to the situation as well. I'm on a mailing list of group psychotherapists, including quite a few from Israel. There are some heated discussions there. One of the best comments I read was from a therapist that does a lot of couples therapy. "When you speak of sides remember that there is only one side. That side is the whole population. The people may be mislead, duped, manipulated, but the ultimate goal has to be their welfare, health and survival." I hope to put up a longer blog post about this later. aldon @ orient-lodge´s last blog post - Bring Back Colin McEnroe