Scenes from the Gaza Strip

[Moby]

I'm not making any statement with these pics it's just that Boston.com does current affairs photos better then anyone on the Internet and these pics are beautiful, moving and emotional.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/scenes_from_the_gaza_strip.html

[foxbaron]

I'm not making any statement with these pics it's just that Boston.com does current affairs photos better then anyone on the Internet and these pics are beautiful, moving and emotional.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/scenes_from_the_gaza_strip.html


Great Photos. Looks like Israel is really kicking some ass. Hope they don't stop until all the bad guys are dead.

[SeedyROM]

Israel is a nest of bees, don't mess with the bees! Unlike Hamas, Israel sent text messages to Palestinian cell phones warning of the invasion just like they did in 2006. The Jews risk loss of life to warn in advance. They also risk compromising thier attack strategy.

[SeniorChief]

Thanks for posting those photos. DAMN! I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Looks like Israel is kicking some serious ass! Perhaps once they get deep inside, rather than screwing with the snipers and the coward PALs hiding behind children - they will simply say "fuck it" and nuke the whole Goddamned place.

GO ISRAEL.

PS - I didn't see too many PALs dancing in the street, ALA their reaction post 9/11. Sucks to be on the receiving end, eh?

[Smurf-Herder]

Hamas loves this kind of stuff. They'll sacrifice as many civilian casualities as it takes to further their cause. The only real weapon Hamas has is to get the world to hate Israel.

[Mr. Blue]

It's unfortunate that people can't realize that peaceful co-existence is possible. I'm not taking a stance on either side of this...it's just a shame that "civilized" people can't find a workable solution.

[disrupter]

These are atrocities committed by Israel & anyone who supports them is a war criminal.

Israel is an ethnically exclusionist state which is inherently UN-American,
& they are the worst kind of murderous bigots against Arabs.

A lot of American schlubs with lazy worthless minds would rather support anti-Arab bigotry rather than talk sense & solutions.

America is shameful, both supporting & subsidizing this to the tune of 3 billion dollars a year & committed with American weaponry.

Israel may be mostly ignorant bigots, but America,

YOU are a DISGRACE.

[SeniorChief]

Israel is an ethnically exclusionist state which is inherently UN-American,
& they are the worst kind of murderous bigots against Arabs.



You sir, are an idiot. Have you ever been to Israel? Hell, have you ever been out of your own trailer court?

I spent 3 months in Haifa. They are 100% more pro-American than you come across as being in these forums.

Seriously dude. Grow a brain.

[Smurf-Herder]

It's unfortunate that people can't realize that peaceful co-existence is possible. I'm not taking a stance on either side of this...it's just a shame that "civilized" people can't find a workable solution.

Hamas is not made of civilized people. They started as a Jihadist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel; and has never changed their charter.

Do you consider a suicide bomber to be civilized? More like organized psychopaths than civilized.

[Scumbag]

You sir, are an idiot. Have you ever been to Israel? Hell, have you ever been out of your own trailer court?
He's so full of shit, I doubt the fat fuck has ever been out of his own toilet!
http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/HUM1122.jpg

[Mr. Blue]

Hamas is not made of civilized people. They started as a Jihadist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel; and has never changed their charter.

Do you consider a suicide bomber to be civilized? More like organized psychopaths than civilized.

I generally feel compassion for innocent people stuck in the middle. Hamas to me is a pointless organization and should be obliterated, but that doesn't negate the fact that I do feel bad for Palestinians that are just trying to survive.

Much of human suffering is propagated by the few not the many. If you took an Israeli baby and a Palestinian baby, raised them together as brothers, taught them nothing of religion, land squabbles, or difference, would they love each other? I think the answer is yes.

So, if you notice my statement, I said I wasn't taking sides...you're trying to make it like I am, and I'm not...if you must politicize everything, including the human emotion of sorrow at seeing the foot of a dead baby...perhaps you're not the best judge of who's civilized and who isn't.

[Smurf-Herder]

I generally feel compassion for innocent people stuck in the middle. Hamas to me is a pointless organization and should be obliterated, but that doesn't negate the fact that I do feel bad for Palestinians that are just trying to survive.

Much of human suffering is propagated by the few not the many. If you took an Israeli baby and a Palestinian baby, raised them together as brothers, taught them nothing of religion, land squabbles, or difference, would they love each other? I think the answer is yes.

So, if you notice my statement, I said I wasn't taking sides...you're trying to make it like I am, and I'm not...if you must politicize everything, including the human emotion of sorrow at seeing the foot of a dead baby...perhaps you're not the best judge of who's civilized and who isn't.

My point is, Hamas knows what they do brings this on.

[Mr. Blue]

My point is, Hamas knows what they do brings this on.

No, your point was to say that Hamas = All Palestinians and that's just not true and just not fair. Just like I think disrupter's constant attacks on Christianity because of a screwball is also unfair.

Sometimes you can look at the situation without politics and feel sorry that innocent people, and yes, innocent people are being killed, in this action.

My statement stood alone without indictment of either side and sorrow felt for innocent victims. The same way I feel sorry when I see that a car bomb went off and killed innocent children, the same way I feel when a Hamas rocket kills randomly, or when the Israel military accidentally shoots into a school.

Who's fault is it? Start a thread on it and I'll be happy to give my opinions on the region, who's to blame, and what America should do. Or I could just do it here...

Hamas is to blame in part. They're cowards that use civilians as shields. They're pushing an agenda that isn't about Palestine and more about a vengeful middle east that wants to destroy Israel.

Israel is to blame in part. They gave back Gaza, but basically hobbled and crippled the area from being able to grow, which more or less bolstered Hamas to win the elections in the first place.

America is to blame in part. Basically the Bush administration pushed for open elections and guess who won...the gaza strip needed more time to develop before elections were held. So, this "Spread of Democracy" basically fucking backfired.

Back to Hamas...they launch rocket attacks...intentionally trying to start a conflict with Israel because even if they lose they win...create a scenario where innocent people are bound to get hurt.

Back to Israel...they respond to rocket attacks with as much force as possible. This becomes a matter of collateral damage...which they're causing...and they're forever creating a new army of terrorists for the future. If you were a Palestinian and your child was killed because Israel accidentally shoots into a school...what would you do? What would you feel?

In the end Hamas gets stronger. More innocent people will be killed because they know how to stir the pot. So, yeah they're the most to blame, but others have to share the blame as well.

The only victims, the innocent civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, and for what? A piece of sand and religious convictions. Whoop-dee friggin' do.

[SeedyROM]

These are atrocities committed by Israel & anyone who supports them is a war criminal.

Israel is an ethnically exclusionist state which is inherently UN-American,
& they are the worst kind of murderous bigots against Arabs.

A lot of American schlubs with lazy worthless minds would rather support anti-Arab bigotry rather than talk sense & solutions.

America is shameful, both supporting & subsidizing this to the tune of 3 billion dollars a year & committed with American weaponry.

Israel may be mostly ignorant bigots, but America,

YOU are a DISGRACE.

There's still time to have you shipped to Gitmo for waterboarding or a good ass reaming by Bush, Cheney and Rove. :thumbsup:

[SeniorChief]

There's still time to have you shipped to Gitmo for waterboarding or a good ass reaming by Bush, Cheney and Rove. :thumbsup:

Nothing better than a good old fashioned water-boarding!

[Smurf-Herder]

No, your point was to say that Hamas = All Palestinians and that's just not true and just not fair. Just like I think disrupter's constant attacks on Christianity because of a screwball is also unfair.

Sometimes you can look at the situation without politics and feel sorry that innocent people, and yes, innocent people are being killed, in this action.

My statement stood alone without indictment of either side and sorrow felt for innocent victims. The same way I feel sorry when I see that a car bomb went off and killed innocent children, the same way I feel when a Hamas rocket kills randomly, or when the Israel military accidentally shoots into a school.

Who's fault is it? Start a thread on it and I'll be happy to give my opinions on the region, who's to blame, and what America should do. Or I could just do it here...

Hamas is to blame in part. They're cowards that use civilians as shields. They're pushing an agenda that isn't about Palestine and more about a vengeful middle east that wants to destroy Israel.

Israel is to blame in part. They gave back Gaza, but basically hobbled and crippled the area from being able to grow, which more or less bolstered Hamas to win the elections in the first place.

America is to blame in part. Basically the Bush administration pushed for open elections and guess who won...the gaza strip needed more time to develop before elections were held. So, this "Spread of Democracy" basically fucking backfired.

Back to Hamas...they launch rocket attacks...intentionally trying to start a conflict with Israel because even if they lose they win...create a scenario where innocent people are bound to get hurt.

Back to Israel...they respond to rocket attacks with as much force as possible. This becomes a matter of collateral damage...which they're causing...and they're forever creating a new army of terrorists for the future. If you were a Palestinian and your child was killed because Israel accidentally shoots into a school...what would you do? What would you feel?

In the end Hamas gets stronger. More innocent people will be killed because they know how to stir the pot. So, yeah they're the most to blame, but others have to share the blame as well.

The only victims, the innocent civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, and for what? A piece of sand and religious convictions. Whoop-dee friggin' do.

No, I made it a point to differentiate between Hamas in Gaza and the PA on the West Bank, in their approach to peace.

I agree with virtually all you've said.

But the fact remains, someone has to stop the rockets coming in from Gaza, once and for all; because that is the catalyst for evey round of violence. Or the Palestinians living there will never have a chance for a peaceful life. And Hamas either has to change or be removed; because their refusal to accept Israel gives Israel a continual enemy on their border.

[Smurf-Herder]

You have to see Gaza in the broader context.

Analysis: Israel's Gaza offensive also confronts Iran
Israel's relentless offensive to crush the radical Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza is the opening salvo of the country's wider campaign to confront the mounting threat posed by Iran to the survival of the Jewish state.

While the Israeli military's immediate focus is to destroy Hamas's ability to terrorise Israel's southern border, the military campaign should be seen within the wider context of Israel's growing resolve to deal with the combined danger of Iran's continuing support for Islamic terrorist groups and its controversial uranium enrichment programme. The Israeli government sees both of these as direct threats to the country's existence.

So far as Israel is concerned, 2009 is the year that, given Iran's current rate of progress with uranium enrichment, will decide whether the mullahs succeed in their dream of becoming a nuclear power. Given the repeated statements President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has made about destroying Israel, the Israelis are rightly concerned that a nuclear-armed Iran would constitute a grave threat to its future survival.

At the same time the Israeli authorities are deeply alarmed by Iran's continued support for radical Islamic groups located on the country's northern and southern borders, both of which are committed to Israel's ultimate destruction. Both the radical Shia Hizbollah militia in southern Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza are funded and equipped by the Iranian regime, whose Revolutionary Guards travel regularly to the region to brief the groups on strategy.

Senior Revolutionary Guard commanders helped to supervise Hizbollah's rocket attacks against Israel during the war that erupted in southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006 after Hizbollah militants ambushed an Israeli patrol and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. And many of the rockets that hit towns and villages in northern Israel were provided by Tehran.

A similar pattern is now emerging in Gaza, where the majority of the Hamas militants engaged in deadly combat with Israel have been trained and equipped by Iran.

Last November, Iran's defence ministry made a commitment to increase Tehran's military support for Hamas, and resolved to increase the transfer of rockets and combat equipment to Gaza, which were smuggled into the territory through the complex network of tunnels that Israel is trying to destroy.

In December a high-ranking delegation of Revolutionary Guard officers visited the headquarters of exiled Hamas leaders in the Syrian capital Damascus, where they held several days of discussions with the organisation's hardline leader Khaled Meshaal. As a result of these meetings new consignments of military equipment were smuggled into Gaza, including the longer-range Grad missiles which are now being used by Hamas to strike Israeli cities such as Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gedera and Beersheva.

Previously Hamas had to rely on primitive, home-made Qassam rockets, which only have a range of a few miles, to attack Israeli residential neighbours located on the other side of the Gaza border. But the Grad rockets provided by Iran mean that Hamas now has the capability to hit targets deep within Israel's heartland, a development that precipitated the Israeli government's decision to launch the current offensive in Gaza.

Although, as yet, there is no evidence that Iran's Revolutionary Guards are actively collaborating with Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli government is in no doubt that Iran's involvement has led to a dramatic escalation in the threat Hamas poses to Israel's security.

In an interview with Saturday's Washington Post, Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, said that when Hamas first started firing rockets at Israel, "the missiles were home-made, made in the Gaza Strip".

She added: "But not anymore. Now they are professional, coming from Iran."

And even if the Iranians are not directly involved in supervising Hamas's military response to the Israeli invasion, the regime has been highly active throughout the region in rallying support for the Hamas cause.

In Tehran last week a group of 200 Iranian students staged a sit-in at the main Mehrabad international airport demanding to be allowed to travel to Gaza to help the Palestinians in their war against Israel.

Their request was denied by Dawoud Ahmadinejad, the brother of the Iranian president who has recently been appointed to head the regime's civil defence committee. In another incident a group of students briefly occupied the grounds of the British Embassy in Tehran.

Elsewhere senior Iranian officials have been touring the region, with Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian Majlis, the parliament, travelling to Beirut with Saeed Jalili, Iran's national security chief, where they held extensive talks with Mr Meshaal and Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hizbollah.

Given the tension that currently exists between Israel and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, the Iranians are taking great care not to do anything to provoke Israel into launching direct military action against Iran. Several senior Israeli ministers last year publicly called for Israel to launch pre-emptive air strikes to prevent Iran acquiring the capability to develop nuclear weapons, and one false move by Iran over the Gaza crisis could give the Israelis just the excuse they need.

It is for this reason that Hizbollah, which has been completely re-armed by Iran since the 2006 Lebanon war, has - so far - not responded to the Gaza crisis, even though Israeli forces in northern Israel are on a high state of alert in anticipation of Iran attempting to open a second front.

Last week's rocket attack on an old people's home in northern Israel is believed to have been carried out by a dissident Palestinian group based in southern Lebanon rather than Hizbollah, which issued a statement denying its involvement.

Even so, few in Israel are under any illusions that the main enemy they have to confront, whether it is in Gaza or South Lebanon, is Iran, and that the military offensive against Hamas is merely the start of a broader campaign to curb the Iranian threat.

At the very least Israel will not curb its Gaza offensive until it is sure that it has destroyed the supply lines Iran has used to fund and equip Hamas.

When Israel signed up to United Nations resolution 1701 which set out the conditions for a ceasefire in Lebanon in 2006, it did so on the understanding that the French-led international peacekeeping force would curb the threat Hizbollah posed to northern Israel.

But the UN force has proved powerless to prevent Iran re-arming Hizbollah, which has more rockets today than it had in 2006. Israel is not about to repeat the mistake it made in Lebanon in Gaza.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4214324/Analysis-Israels-Gaza-offensive-also-confronts-Iran.html

[disrupter]

Senior Dipshit,

The reason there is no one-state solution is because Israel wants to be a religiously-ethnically exclusive state.

Please get your facts straight & quit parroting the propaganda.

[disrupter]

There's still time to have you shipped to Gitmo for waterboarding or a good ass reaming by Bush, Cheney and Rove.
SeedyROM is a bitch-assed torturer,

whom i will gladly skin alive . . . . . . . s - l - o - w - l - y.

Senior dipshit will be next on the slab for some good old time sadistic fun!

LOL <wicked laughter>

*sharpening my fillet knives in gleeful anticipation*

[SeedyROM]

SeedyROM is a bitch-assed torturer,

whom i will gladly skin alive . . . . . . . s - l - o - w - l - y.

Senior dipshit will be next on the slab for some good old time sadistic fun!

LOL <wicked laughter>

*sharpening my fillet knives in gleeful anticipation*

Bring it on disrupter, I'll sharpen my knives too.

The loser goes to Bush, Cheny and Rove. :D

[SeniorChief]

SeedyROM is a bitch-assed torturer,

whom i will gladly skin alive . . . . . . . s - l - o - w - l - y.

Senior dipshit will be next on the slab for some good old time sadistic fun!

LOL <wicked laughter>

*sharpening my fillet knives in gleeful anticipation*

More evidence you're completely out of your mind.

Seek help.

Seriously.

[Smurf-Herder]

Senior Dipshit,

The reason there is no one-state solution is because Israel wants to be a religiously-ethnically exclusive state.

Please get your facts straight & quit parroting the propaganda.

Tell me, is the population of Arabs living inside Israel, who will outnumber Israelis in the near furure, Jewish?

Get your facts straight.