So, it's good for Israeli militarists that Hamas and other Palestinian militarist groups gain power, because then of course it's easier to dismiss pressure to negotiate with The Enemy.

If you look at the history of the conflict, Palestinian Christians have been encouraged to leave, secular and moderate leaders have been killed or deported, moderates of all stripes have been discouraged, barred from entering, encouraged to leave. It's hard to seize land from and bomb moderates without the world getting upset. But bombing extremists? Seizing their land? They're terrorists!!! They deserve it. It's been a very effective strategy.

Glenn, agreed. And I think the points you make are all the more reason why we cannot be a mediator.

Given the rise of anti-American hatred coupled with our previous actions in the region, the US would not be seen as a balanced and fair arbiter of this conflict.

You seem a bit schizoid here. After days of spewing your racist beliefs, without any sources, such as:

"palestine was a nationality in about the same sense that texan is a nationality. or maybe more accurately, alaska; the place was a backwater of the arabian/syrian province, and arabs there intermingled freely with the surrounding peoples, not distinguishable by language, religion, clothing, names, or the other things that vaguely distinguish a nation."

And after trying to convince people to care about other conflicts instead:

"Which reminds me; anybody notice that ugandan rebels (who style themselves as Chrstian fundamentalists) have slaughtered over 400 Congolese civilians in the past couple of days, mostly "women and children, who were cut into pieces", for the crime of just being there when the rebels passed through? probably not, we have to ration our indignation to the most egregious crimes."

You now post something which basically validates the Palestinian military struggle for self-determination. If, after all, Israel is inserting its population into the West Bank and [previously] Gaza, then Palestinians have an internationally recognized right to resist militarily. This right is recognized in the Geneva Conventions and in the UN charter.

Doctor estimates 2,000 - 2,500 civilian casualties

Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza, told Sky News on Monday that that he believes Israel is deliberately attacking the Palestinian population, not just targeting Hamas as Israeli authorities have said numerous times.

"Just a little bit more than an hour ago, the Israelis bombed the central food market in Gaza City and we had a mass influx of about 50 injured and between 10 and 15 killed," said Gilbert, on the phone with Sky News.

"At the same time they bombed an apartment house with children playing on the roof and we had a lot of children also. This is really like from Dante's Inferno. It's like hell here now and it's been bombing all night. Up till now, close to 500 people have been killed and the number of casualties is getting to 2, 2 and a half thousand, which 50 percent are children and women."

"Are your hospital's reaching capacity?" asked the Sky News correspondent. "Can you deal with these people?"

"We have been doing surgery around the clock," Gilbert replied. "I just talked to to one of my colleagues in the ICU who has not been sleeping for three days and they hospital is completely overcrowded and we are running six, seven OR's and there are injuries that you just don't want to see in this world. Children coming in with open abdomens and legs cut off.

"We just had a child who left. We had to amputate both legs and the arms and the only crime they have done is been civilians -- Palestinians living in Gaza. The relief now is not more doctors and more drugs the relief now is to stop the bombing immediately. This can not go on. It is a disaster."

"You've talked about the civilians, the women and children, the men who aren't involved in this but are you also getting casualties that are Hamas fighters?" asked the reporter.

"To be honest, we came on New Year's Eve in the morning," answered Gilbert. "I've seen one military person among the tens -- I mean, hundreds -- we have seen and treated. So, anybody who tries to claim this as sort of a clean war against another army are lying.

"This is an all out war against the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza and we can prove that with the numbers and you have to remember that the average age of the Gaza inhabitant is 17-years. It's a very young population and 80 percent are living below the poverty limit of the U.N.

"So, this is a poor and very young people and they are able to escape absolutely nowhere because they can not flee like other populations can in wartime. Because they are fenced in and they are in a cage. So, they are bombing one and a half million people in a cage. And young people and poor people and, you know, you can not separate between the civilians and the fighters in such a situation."

This video is from CBS News, broadcast Jan. 5, 2008.

------------------------------------------------------

see it all at:

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Norwegian_doctor_in_Gaza_Israel_targeting_0105.html

or click sig

The thing that was interesting to me was Hewitt's basic stance, which did not change over the course of the interview, even tho he had to cede ground on some of his facts. I've seen the same psychological stance in my brother. It's bottom line is that the U.S. -- and Israel -- are endless victims, under attack by all these crazed Muslims (who are not rational, have no real grievances, are simply born hater-killers), under attack by lefties and horrible Europeans. These poor victims -- the U.S. and Israel -- only do good and really, really mean well, but these horrible others want to hurt them all the time. The poor helpless U.S. and Israel are Ringed by Relentless Enemies!!! and have no choice but to hit back because all these Relentless Enemies understand is force.

The strange thing is that while these people like Hewitt and my brother feel themselves part of a group of victims, they also are constantly trumpeting the amazing military strength and righteous might of the U.S. and Israel.

I don't understand how they can simultaneously feel like such put-upon victims, while at the same time strutting around saying things like "kick butt!" and "nuke 'em!"

You did good, Glenn. Kind of our side's version of Radio Free U.S. -- get the truth out, plant the seed.