Letters to the Editor

Letters posted here are associated with the following article:
Both parties cheerlead still more loudly for Israel's war As the body count in Gaza piles up, the U.S. Congress acts overwhelmingly to insinuate itself into the war with blind support for Israel.
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  • @ Jonathan, Here is one more "terrorist" in the pipe, and that's for sure

    http://eyestir.blogspot.com/

    Remember the little girl running naked from the napalm in Vietnam?

    Look at the picture I link to, no one will ever forget this picture. No one.

    This is one more who will be coming for you. You killed his mother, that's all he knows.

    Is this what you support?

  • LondonLad:

    Abbas has indeed been co-opted by Israel and her lapdog, the US. The Palestinian Authority loses credibility and popular support with each civilian murder at Israeli hands.

    The Israelis do not want peace; in fact, in the long term they're likely setting themselves up for an eventual rematch with Egypt. Mubarak's position is growing more precarious by the hour, and who knows which civilian massacre in Gaza will be the one which sparks the civil unrest in Cairo that throws off his pro-Israeli US puppet regime, installing some variant of the Muslim Brotherhood?

  • @karr(sic)

    Posters here and across the world come out of the woodwork to defend Israel. If this is what they do to stop rockets AND this isn't working, will they (do they) work just as hard to convince their own representatives to pursue the other alternative, namely peace negotiations, in good faith, no "pre-conditions."

    That's me! I'm one of those posters. And by attending peace demonstrations and arguing with my far-right wing relatives and friends, for hours, you could say I did what a good private citizen can do do to push a political agenda in a democracy.

    Israel has formally chosen the road of negotiations to solve the problem, and is currently in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. You know, the one Hamas overthrew in a violent, even grusome coup, where they killed hundres of PA people and threw a few off of roofs to make an impression.

    Israel even withdrew from Gaza. And what did we get? Terror, which today is in the form of rockets on Israeli cities. I and many others had to go back to other people, including people who are important to us, and tell them, well, you were right. Hamas is not a partner for peace, and giving up land right now is too dangerous for Israel, probably even with a peace agreement.

    And that's a real shame.

  • @Bill Owen

    This is one more who will be coming for you. You killed his mother, that's all he knows.

    That's too bad, but there are worse things from Israel's point of view. You see Bill, it's kind of funny, but to Israelis, rockets fired at Israeli cities really suck. It's kind of a pet peeve we all got.

    We WILL stop it. No matter what. Get used to it.

  • JonathaninTelAviv

    And by attending peace demonstrations and arguing with my far-right wing relatives and friends, for hours, you could say I did what a good private citizen can do do to push a political agenda in a democracy.

    Good on you.

    Israel even withdrew from Gaza.

    There's certainly reason to believe that this is not an accurate summary of what Israel did.

    But Sharon is an old general, a master of manoeuvres. While we are reporting the demise of the Gaza settlements, he is presiding over the creation and expansion of settlements in more strategically important areas, where few are watching.
    "The significance [of the withdrawal] is the freezing of the political process," said Sharon's senior adviser Dov Weisglass, in an interview last year so frank that his boss tried to distance himself from the remarks. "When you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and you prevent discussion about the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. In effect, this whole package that is called a Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed from our agenda indefinitely."

    http://www.newstatesman.com/200508150009

  • again it needs to be pointed out that many if not most of the most economically productive israelis

    could leave if they choose for the US or Europe and if they did the country would collapse economically and eventually politically and militarily as well. So if Hamas or anyone else can make life miserable enough for Israelis they can destroy the state of Israel. So the rockets ARE potentially a real threat.

  • @karr(sic)

    Your point about Sharon's goals is an interesting point, and a good point. But both sides need encouragement from other parties to reach a peace agreement. What if Hamas had accepted the Quartet's requirements, as the Palestinian Authority had, and stopped terror activities, AFTER Israel withdrew? Regardless of Sharon's (then) secret goals, the pressure would then have been back on Israel, and negotiations would have continued with Israel being looked to for the next concession!

    That's how peace agreements are made.

  • I give up on you Jonathan

    I will not speak to you again. I give up. If you are so hardened that you can look at that image and not be moved...

    I agree with you about stopping the rockets, where we disagree, violently is how to do that.

    Did that woman shoot rockets, did her son? Maybe she voted for Hamas? How is this justice, how does it help you? You are whistling up a storm. May god help you.

  • JonathaninTelAviv

    Agreed. But again, IMO the "pre-conditions" are a ruse to not negotiate and plenty of indications are that Israel has no intention of coming anywhere near 1947 UN borders. Further, Israel is eroding what support it has around the world, much again, to its chagrin. War crimes is no way to get their way. To circle back around, killing women and children have nothing to do with the rockets. Please do whatever you can to stop it.

  • @Gosh Bill

    I'm so sad you "gave up" on me. I guess that means I can't count on your supporting Israel any more, huh?

    I stand by every word I wrote. Until those rockets stop, you and the Hamas and the rest of the world had better get used to feeling bummed out by nasty pictures.

  • dworkin

    The present rockets are no such threat. Have you seen pictures of those rockets? Please. Smuggling longer range rockets however, is a threat. But countries all over the world exist with that threat.

  • @karr(sic)

    Please do whatever you can to stop it.

    And are you willing to try to convince pro-Hamas people to convince the Hamas to stop shooting rockets into Israel?

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