The Israel-Palestine conflict

With the recent upsurge of militant Islamism in the Levant, this may become the deadliest time there yet.
 
Impressive


Iron Dome racks up 90% success rate so far

The Iron Dome missile defense system has achieved a nearly 90 percent success rate since Monday night, an improvement over its performance during Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.

The defense system is activated only when the rockets fired by Palestinian militants at Israel appear likely to hit populated areas.

It has been activated to intercept about 27 percent of the approximately 180 rockets fired between Monday night and midday Wednesday. Of the times when Iron Dome was activated, it successfully intercepted the rockets nearly 90 percent of the time, and there have been few rocket hits or serious injuries.

The success of the defense system marks an improvement over the 84 percent success rate during Operation Pillar of Defense.

The comparison is not exact, however, especially given that Iron Dome had a slightly higher success rate at the beginning of the 2012 operation as well.

A senior Israel Defense Forces officer said Wednesday that the number of rockets to hit Israel can be expected to rise.

The army has made significant improvements to the Iron Dome batteries over the past two years that have made them better able to intercept rockets and to cope with rocket barrages, the army said.

Israel's seven Iron Dome batteries have been deployed across the country to protect populated areas from short-range rockets, with the assistance of the David's Sling missile defense system, which is designed to shoot down missiles with ranges of between 100 kilometers and 200 kilometers. Though the David's Sling system, sometimes called Magic Wand, is still under development, it has been integrated into one of the Iron Dome batteries.

Meanwhile, there have been some changes to civilian aviation, including takeoff and landing paths, because Hamas is aiming some of its rockets at Ben-Gurion International Airport, about 80 kilometers from Gaza. This has also affected flight schedules, which have been spread out over more hours rather than clustered together.
 
They can neutralize Hamas's ability to harm civilians, which gives the Israeli government the ability to conduct a war without the general population even caring. How wonderful indeed.
 
I have no hope that there will ever be peace in this region. It is the cradle of hate.
 
Israeli ground offensive in Gaza has just started. *sigh*

edit:

The Israeli military has begun a ground offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were extending their 10-day-old Operation Protective Edge.

They said it was in response to continued militant rocket fire and to strike a "significant blow to Hamas", which controls Gaza.

There was a five-hour humanitarian truce on Thursday but exchanges of fire resumed when it ended.

Some 230 Palestinians and one Israeli have died during the Operation Protective Edge period.

more:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28359582
 
No real shock ... hopefully they will disrupt Hamas enough to reduce their ability to keep up their rocket attacks and at least delay the next cycle of this
 
bearfan said:
No real shock ... hopefully they will disrupt Hamas enough to reduce their ability to keep up their rocket attacks and at least delay the next cycle of this
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Hamas is only disrupted for as long as it takes to get new members and new rockets. 2 years from now they'll start shooting rockets again.
 
pretty much ... the two year lull seems about the best anyone can hope for. In a best case, they can extend the lull longer
 

Footage from a pro-Palestine demo in Essen, Germany organised by the Leftist youth. All the necessary explanations are in English subtitles throughout the video.
 
While I think it's a bit imbalanced to the disadvantage of the Palestinians of the West Bank (anybody remember those?), this is still a well-thought out article that should definitely provide food for thought.

Why Don’t I Criticize Israel?
 
I read that earlier today, it was better without all the Notes I think it sums up the situation quite well
 
The article underestimates what Israel does before the violence started (or in between violence): they're building, building and settling on territory that is not their own. They're seeding hate. It's pure logic that people can turn radical when everything is taken from them.

Disproportional behaviour (be it landpicking, violence or causing other humanitarian problems) will never be ignored by the people who are suffering.
 
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What do we know of the Palestinians? What would the Palestinians do to the Jews in Israel if the power imbalance were reversed? Well, they have told us what they would do. For some reason, Israel’s critics just don’t want to believe the worst about a group like Hamas, even when it declares the worst of itself. We’ve already had a Holocaust and several other genocides in the 20th century. People are capable of committing genocide. When they tell us they intend to commit genocide, we should listen. There is every reason to believe that the Palestinians would kill all the Jews in Israel if they could. Would every Palestinian support genocide? Of course not. But vast numbers of them—and of Muslims throughout the world—would. Needless to say, the Palestinians in general, not just Hamas, have a history of targeting innocent noncombatants in the most shocking ways possible. They’ve blown themselves up on buses and in restaurants. They’ve massacred teenagers. They’ve murdered Olympic athletes. They now shoot rockets indiscriminately into civilian areas. And again, the charter of their government in Gaza explicitly tells us that they want to annihilate the Jews—not just in Israel but everywhere. [Note: Again, I realize that not all Palestinians support Hamas. Nor am I discounting the degree to which the occupation, along with collateral damage suffered in war, has fueled Palestinian rage. But Palestinian terrorism (and Muslim anti-Semitism) is what has made peaceful coexistence thus far impossible.]
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What do we know of Israel? Israel has a history of targeting innocent noncombatants in the most shocking ways possible. They've killed way more people than the Palestinians (Hamas) did. They've massacred teenagers. They've murdered children. They shoot at schools. Israeli disproportional behaviour has made peaceful coexistence thus far impossible.

That sentence in red: one lousy sentence! It's hard to take this article serious, when he underexposes this aspect so much. A paradoxal article indeed. Check this for instance:
[Note: I was not saying that because they are more careful than we have been at our most careless, the Israelis are above criticism. War crimes are war crimes.]
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Did he just say that war crimes are war crimes? And that Israelis are not above criticism? Yes he did say that. So: does he criticize Israel or not? I mean, he mentions war crimes but he doesn't use it in his main argumentation. Epic fail. In the end he is criticizing Israel, but he does it in his notes. Lame.
 
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Well, I have sent the man an e-mail.
Hello,

I read your article in which you said that the Israeli are not above criticism and that war crimes are war crimes.
Do you criticize Israel or not? I mean, you mention war crimes but you don't use this in your main argumentation.

It feels like you ARE criticizing Israel, but you're doing in it your notes.. almost as if you want to hide it a bit.
Would you clear that up? Because I feel that you are underexposing this issue. And also this:

You say:
"Nor am I discounting the degree to which the occupation, along with collateral damage suffered in war, has fueled Palestinian rage. But Palestinian terrorism (and Muslim anti-Semitism) is what has made peaceful coexistence thus far impossible.]"

Again a note in which you underexpose (only one sentence!) a very important aspect. The fueling of the rage. The endless building, the settling in a territory that is not their own. It seeds hate. People can turn radical when everything is taken from them. Disproportional behaviour (be it landpicking, violence or causing other humanitarian problems) should be taken into account. I miss this in your article. And I can imagine that more and more people are aware of that and that's why there's so much criticism. It's no rocket science. I don't understand why you leave it out.

With regards

Aad (Netherlands)
 
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Forostar said:
Israeli disproportional behaviour has made peaceful coexistence thus far impossible.
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So has Hamas behaviour. They used Palestinian children as human shields. They set up rocket launchers in Palestinian schools and hospitals. The point of the article is that this should be considered in addition to what Israel does. The guy simply refuses to take a side.

Once you pick a side in a conflict, it's always easy to show pictures of dead children and tell supporters of the other side that they're wrong and evil, and say their pictures of dead children are worth less because they died in a bunker or in a clean hospital.

Moreover, Hamas does not equal Palestine. People are not doing the Palestinians a favour by assuming Hamas speaks for them. Hamas wants a terror state, like Taliban-era Afghanistan, like the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and like Al Qaeda. They do not only want to get rid of Israel, but they want to create a radical Islamic dictatorship in its place. A couple of years ago, there was a civil war among Palestinians that ended with Gaza being controlled by Hamas and all other free Palestinian territories by Fatah. Fatah is an organisation that wants peace and said they will cooperate with Israel once the two are on the same level. Hamas wants war and will not stop until every Israeli is dead.
 
I am not sure about your last 8 words. Currently: yes. But what if Israel (also) changed their attitude (settling etc.)? Less fuel, less rage, less ground for Hamas, less Hamas?

We could criticize Israel for not changing their policies. What they're doing now could really make everything worse. More fuel, more hate, more radicalism.
 
Forostar said:
I am not sure about your last 8 words. Currently: yes. But what if Israel (also) changed their attitude (settling etc.)? Less fuel, less rage, less ground for Hamas, less Hamas?
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The Israeli settlements are in the West Bank, not in Gaza. Hamas is in Gaza, and they don't care if Israel withdraws from the West Bank. Hamas, by its definition, is an organisation that wants to destroy Israel and establish an Islamic theocracy. I have to pound on this fact, because this is very important to understand. They do not stand for Palestine and they do not stand for Palestinian resistance - but they want to. The past has shown that they will take up arms to become the leading Palestinian organisation and kill their own people for it. I can't stress this enough: Hamas is ready and willing to kill its own people. I think that has a lot to do with the radicalisation of Gaza's Palestinians.

My point is, just blaming Israel on everything fails to see the complexity of what is happening there. Yes, the Israeli army kills Palestinian babies. But Hamas kills Israeli babies too, and, in addition to that, also kills Palestinian babies.
 
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