[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by SMG

If Israel wanted to kill Civillians, they would never send in ground troops. The troops would stay safe while air power reduces the place to rubble. The fact that they have now started a ground offensive is to root out the people who are terrorising Civillians in Israel. They have already stated that their mission is, to stop Hamas firing rockets into their land.

You could equally argue that using ground forces will only escalate the situation still further.

They are doing exactly what any country would do

Except they aren't, negotiation is the only way this conflict and all the troubles in the area will stop, it's alright Israel saying they are peaceful but talk is cheap when they don't even keep to the terms of the previous cease fire, they point the finger at Hamas for firing missiles but under the terms of the agreement they were supposed to stop the blockade of Gaza, they didn't they increased it with a complete disregard for the people of Gaza, talk of trying to keep civilian casualties down and 'we are not their enemies' is utter rubbish when you are blowing them up and your previous actions caused them to eat grass and treatable cancer patients to die because they weren't allowed to leave and continue their treatment

---------- Post added at 06:04 ---------- Previous post was at 05:55 ----------

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Can I re-iterate what I have stated in this post before - I am not pro-Israeli, I am pro even-handedness.

So am I, pro people to be exact and on that subject members here keep posting links to how rabid Hamas are and some of them most certainly are however there are plenty who are prepared to negotiate, infact I even remember seeing some thing about a normalisation of relations with Israel if they pull back to the 1967 borders, what I haven't see anyone post yet is how equally rabid some Israeli's are, many don't believe in a 2 state solution and some of them are in very high up positions in government, they won't be happy until every Palestinian has been driven out and I believe I am right in saying a certain chap in a persistent vegetative state felt the same

btw, still awaiting substantiation of your claim that the Israelis are using Chemical Weapons

Is this enough evidence? The use as a smoke screen on a battle field isn't illegal but to use it in a built up area is but then most countries find the use of cluster bombs abominable but that didn't stop the IDF in the Lebanon did it.

---------- Post added at 06:08 ---------- Previous post was at 06:04 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

The United Nations? Few would be able to excuse an attack on a external army. Hamas attacks a British/French/German solider and they won't just have Israel to deal with...

Why's that then, Israel killed 4 UN peacekeepers in the last war, many say they did it on purpose, I dont know about that, what I do know is that they ignored many many warnings about their shelling of the position and when that failed to kill them they sent in an air strike, draw your own conclusions and nothing happened to them did it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/5215366.stm

---------- Post added at 06:15 ---------- Previous post was at 06:08 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

I wonder what their intended end game is? Do they really think they can get rid of Hamas? I suspect they could destroy a good amount of their military infrastructure.

I doubt it'll achieve anything really, they won't destroy Hamas, just like they couldn't destroy Hezbollah, Israel won't be any safer and the whole thing will carry on as before in time

---------- Post added at 06:17 ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 ----------

Originally Posted by Maggy J

I think he cannot say much beyond pointing at the present president for the next 18 days.After that I'm sure he'll be vocal enough.

I hope he is and a bit more even handed to boot