[Merged] Arafat Dead.

[TigaSefi]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

From a friend of mine in Tel Aviv, she happened to call me around 5pm as I'm off out there later this month

U lucky boy!! I wanna visit Israel to see my relatives but i haven't got round to it for 4 years.....Maybe next year.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by TigaSefi

U lucky boy!! I wanna visit Israel to see my relatives but i haven't got round to it for 4 years.....Maybe next year.

Flights are only about £250 in November with El Al (booked through lastminute.com).
Last time they x-rayed my shoes, but when a beautiful woman asks you to take your shoes off for that, how can you complain?
Looking forward to seeing the new airport too, and going to take one of my MCSE exams out there as they're only $30

[Xaccers]

Just heard from a muslim colleague of mine that he's been denied entry to Israel again.
We told him he should have gone to the embassy first to make sure everything would be ok because of the trouble he had before, but he wouldn't listen

[punky]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Just heard from a muslim colleague of mine that he's been denied entry to Israel again.
We told him he should have gone to the embassy first to make sure everything would be ok because of the trouble he had before, but he wouldn't listen

Did they say why?

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by punky

Did they say why?

I don't have all the details but the phrase "prove you're not a terrorist" apparently was said.
We're not sure why he was originally denied access last year when he tried to get in from Jordan, depends how he answered their questions (he can come across as a bit arrogant). Of course I think they denied him access back then because his passport photo made him look like Jesus and they weren't too keen on him either *grin*
In all seriousness though, he should have contacted the Israeli embassy here to sort things out, because the border guard who blocked him would have recorded his passport number and marked it as "entrance denied"
If he had flown El Al then he'd probably have been turned back at Heathrow or have been able to sort it out with them there and then.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Just heard that Israel may change it's policy on censorship of terrorist bombings and actually show the world how bad each attack actually is.

I have a link to a movie (12MB WMV) showing the aftermath of some bombings.
I will not post it in forum as it is certainly not something that should be taken light heartedly or be seen by anyone under 18 (think the beach landing in saving private ryan)

As with saving private ryan, after seeing that no one could say war is glorious, after seeing this no one can say suicide bombers have a legitimate reason.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

I have a link to a movie (12MB WMV) showing the aftermath of some bombings.
I will not post it in forum as it is certainly not something that should be taken light heartedly or be seen by anyone under 18 (think the beach landing in saving private ryan)

As with saving private ryan, after seeing that no one could say war is glorious, after seeing this no one can say suicide bombers have a legitimate reason.

Is it called: "doribenisraelkario/Three Days In Israel"? A friend of mine just sent it to me, very moving... I would like to point out it isn't a snuff film, it is a documentry trying to make point.

It has become so numbing and sanitised now. When we hear of a suicide bombing, we shrug it off almost. Can't image what it is like to be there...

I'm really hoping nothing happens while you are there mate.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by punky

Is it called: "doribenisraelkario/Three Days In Israel"? A friend of mine just sent it to me, very moving... I would like to point out it isn't a snuff film, it is a documentry trying to make point.

It has become so numbing and sanitised now. When we hear of a suicide bombing, we shrug it off almost. Can't image what it is like to be there...

I'm really hoping nothing happens while you are there mate.

Yes, that is the one.
As I said to my friend tonight, the most we see on the news is a bloodied survivor being rushed into an ambulance and then any sanitised burnt out wrecks taken much later.
We were so lucky that the IRA would phone up and give warnings before their bombs.

I'm sure I'll be fine, the wall is helping (remember, a lot of Israelis are from Berlin so they know how awful the wall can be), just wish it had been built along the Israel border line so wouldn't be causing so much extra trouble.
Over there after an attack you get a few days of people not going out, then things return to normal. Like us, they don't let it stop them going out their daily business.

I just hope that if Arafat dies or doesn't, they realise that peace cannot be found through deliberately killing civilians.

[BBKing]

We were so lucky that the IRA would phone up and give warnings before their bombs.

Um - no, they didn't - this was the exception. Most IRA bombings were totally unwarned.

Are a lot of Israelis from Berlin? A lot are from Russia, but Germany? In the German Jewish side of my family a lot emigrated to the UK and US and the rest were murdered.

And I'm not sure what's so much better about killing civilians with helicopters rather than suicide bombs.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Um - no, they didn't - this was the exception. Most IRA bombings were totally unwarned.

Are a lot of Israelis from Berlin? A lot are from Russia, but Germany? In the German Jewish side of my family a lot emigrated to the UK and US and the rest were murdered.

And I'm not sure what's so much better about killing civilians with helicopters rather than suicide bombs.

The majority of IRA bombings I know about had warnings.
No suicide bombings have had warnings. They also often have secondary bombs designed to go off shortly afterwards killing those who have gone to help any survivors of the first bomb.

After WW2, many Jews frome Western Europe returned to their countries of origin (the majority from Eastern Europe did not because of the continued anti-semetism and communism present in their home countries).
This included many who returned to Berlin who then later, or their children later emigrated to Israel. You also have those who fled the Nazi's from Berlin to the UK and the USA who then went to Israel.
That's one of the amazing things about Israel, on the jewish side alone you have about 84 different country backgrounds living together, and then there's the christians and muslims. No other country has so much human diversity living in peace with each other.

Yes that's right, because the IDF generals all sit round planning on which civilians to target next, they don't really go for militants, noo that would be far too dificult.

Any word if his dead yet? (didnt mean to sound flippent)

[Paul K]

Still alive as far as I'm aware, they seem to be arguing amongst themselves as to a successor at the moment. Think they need to decide on a burial place that won't cause even more conflict, Arafat wanted to be buried in Jerusalem which is not going down well with Israel Until the burial ground is chosen they will no doubt refuse to turn of the life-support machine as due to religious customs Arafat must be buried within 24 hours of "dying". They are saying that due to the circumstances this may be overlooked this time, who knows
BBC link

[TigaSefi]

Hey Xaccers I did my MCSE in Israel hehe... 9 exams for $70 bucks each heeh $30 sounds like a bargain heh....

[punky]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

The majority of IRA bombings I know about had warnings.
No suicide bombings have had warnings.

That's what I thought.

The big difference between IRA and Al Qaeda/Hamas/etc, is that IRA didn't want to kill anyone, only cause cause disruption with evacuations?

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by punky

That's what I thought.

The big difference between IRA and Al Qaeda/Hamas/etc, is that IRA didn't want to kill anyone, only cause cause disruption with evacuations?

And show that they could kill if they wanted to.
It also enabled them to try and shift the blame for the deaths onto the police for not responding in time.
I'm sure BBKing is right though in that a lot of attacks weren't forwarned, just the majority that I remember being told about had coded messages.
I have no idea what their policy was over in Ulster.
I think they knew that if they started slaughtering civilians they would quickly lose support

As for us negotiating with terrorists, try to think of it like this;
The pIRA called a ceasefire, and stuck to it (pretty much, as far as I know) during the negotiations, therefore we were not negotiating with terrorists, but ex-terrorists (put your Yes, Minister head on and it makes sense).
To my knowledge we're not negotiating with the RpIRA (can you have a real provisional?) although I could be wrong as it's been ages since I've seen any reporting on that situation.