Israel and Hamas trade blows yet again; may possibly escalate into a ground war

[gaelic cowboy]

This is merely and attempt to distract Israel and the rest of the world from degrading Iran's freedom of action in Syria/Lebanon.

[Sir Moody]

I think it is more to do with the fact we are all so used to these two bickering like children with explosive hardware - it doesn't have any shock value anymore and the discussion will always be the same

Hopefully there wont be any ground action this time or we may then have something to discuss...

[Idaho]

Gaza isn't a functional state. It doesn't have normal political or economic rights. Israel just wants it to dissappear.

[Sarmatian]

IIRC, this happened because Israel took out of the leader of Hamas' military wing. Not at all surprising, and as usual I sympathize with both sides.

I don't sympathize with either side. I sympathize with normal people on both sides. The clique on both sides should commit mass suicide and just maybe allow people to live normal lives.

+ points if they film it and release it on youtube.

[HoreTore]

The Israeli extremists truly believe they have a right to the land, and they've defended it valiantly for decades now. The Palestinian extremists believe the same. It is easy for people to say that they can't sympathize with militarists, jihadists, or whatever--but when pushed far enough you sometimes have to embrace violence to achieve your goals. The people truly in need of sympathy are indeed the normal folks, but I am not so high and mighty as to pretend the motivations of the 'bad guys' on both sides are foreign to me.

Nationalists are nationalists.

Anyway, back to the current situation:

I believe the Israelis and Palestinians are adding the situation in Syria into account when deciding what to do. Just how they assess the Syrian factor isn't something I claim to know, but here's a few ideas of what they may be thinking:

- Israel wants to reach their objectives(whatever that may be) before the Syrian situation is resolved. They believe the jihadi focus is currently on Assad, and wants to get things done before they can turn their eyes on Israel again.
- Israel wants to play it cool for the moment, not provocing a major conflict. They believe the Jihadis now engaged in Syria might spill over if they escalate the situation. Worst case scenario here would be a hostile Assad still in power combined with more jihadis in Palestine.
- The palestinian militants wants to do business while the iron is hot. They believe now is the time to strike because they are likely to gain assistance from the militants in Syria.
- the palestinians want a low intensity struggle, to keep things going until the jihadis win Syria, at which time they expect the jihadis to come to their aid full-force.
- With security council eyes on Syria, Israel/Palestine recons they can get away with things easier than previously. Thus, they will try to achieve minor objectives now.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Nationalists are nationalists.

Anyway, back to the current situation:

I believe the Israelis and Palestinians are adding the situation in Syria into account when deciding what to do. Just how they assess the Syrian factor isn't something I claim to know, but here's a few ideas of what they may be thinking:

- Israel wants to reach their objectives(whatever that may be) before the Syrian situation is resolved. They believe the jihadi focus is currently on Assad, and wants to get things done before they can turn their eyes on Israel again.
- Israel wants to play it cool for the moment, not provocing a major conflict. They believe the Jihadis now engaged in Syria might spill over if they escalate the situation. Worst case scenario here would be a hostile Assad still in power combined with more jihadis in Palestine.
- The palestinian militants wants to do business while the iron is hot. They believe now is the time to strike because they are likely to gain assistance from the militants in Syria.
- the palestinians want a low intensity struggle, to keep things going until the jihadis win Syria, at which time they expect the jihadis to come to their aid full-force.
- With security council eyes on Syria, Israel/Palestine recons they can get away with things easier than previously. Thus, they will try to achieve minor objectives now.

Syria is an escalation of problems for Israel regardless of outcome. Either Assad will be deposed and another government will form -- almost certainly following the tone set by Egypt of being less tolerant of Israel -- OR -- Assad will crush the rebellion and those fighters will be pushed out into the Bekaa. Either way, Israel "wins" more militants (recently trained) on its border.

[Major Robert Dump]

I'm pretty sure that Obama can fix this. The muslims really like him since that one speech fixed everything, so if only he would like go over there and talk to them and stuff, maybe get both sides to do a fist bump, we can fix this situation and put it off for another 12 weeks until it flares up again.

[Sarmatian]

The Israeli extremists truly believe they have a right to the land, and they've defended it valiantly for decades now. The Palestinian extremists believe the same. It is easy for people to say that they can't sympathize with militarists, jihadists, or whatever--but when pushed far enough you sometimes have to embrace violence to achieve your goals. The people truly in need of sympathy are indeed the normal folks, but I am not so high and mighty as to pretend the motivations of the 'bad guys' on both sides are foreign to me.

Which is the whole point - as long as both sides think they have an exclusive right to the land, the conflict is gonna go on. It can end when one side defeats the other or when both sides figure out a way to share the land and live together.

Nationalism and religious fundamentalism brings a whole lot of problems and doesn't really solve anything, and it is the ordinary folks who suffer, not the cliques in power.

[Ironside]

IIRC, this happened because Israel took out of the leader of Hamas' military wing. Not at all surprising, and as usual I sympathize with both sides.

Had some prehistory. Appearently some non-Hamas salafi militia killed Israeli soldiers in some border skirmish. Since it's Hamas' responsibillity to control those (Hamas being the goverment in Gaza) and they haven't done so, Israel got fed up (the situation in Syria probably influenced greatly) and took out that Hamas leader.

And fed up covers the issue pretty much.

[Fragony]

Had some prehistory. Appearently some non-Hamas salafi militia killed Israeli soldiers in some border skirmish. Since it's Hamas' responsibillity to control those (Hamas being the goverment in Gaza) and they haven't done so, Israel got fed up (the situation in Syria probably influenced greatly) and took out that Hamas leader.

And fed up covers the issue pretty much.

It probably even wasn't Hamas but Islamic Jihad who are much worse, that is also the difficulty Hamas is facing, even if they wanted to form a government more radical elements won't allow it. It ain't going to happen, Hamas will have to control even more radical factions if they try to be reasonable and become a target itself.

[Idaho]

No country or province in the world that is subject to blockade and military strkes is going to have a moderate and non-militarised political structure. Can you imagine the kinds of political front runners you would get in texas if Mexico locked down it's borders and sent in the occasional air strike?

[Hooahguy]

I hate my fellow Jews so much. Cant stand them. In an effort to show why the Palestinians might just be a bit angry at Israel I posted this image:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

with the caption: "It is important in this conflict to try to see both sides of the issue."

Oh boy did that open a storm.

I got three messages calling me a terrorist sympathizer and a storm of angry comments. Just ended up deleting the picture.

And people wonder why I am anti-Zionist.