Israel minister warns Palestinians of "holocaust"

[rogueyam]

I'd agree there is not much similarity between Israel and the Third Reich. But I don't think comparing Gaza to the Warsaw ghetto is so far-fetched. I don't think many Israelis want to send all the Palestinians to gas chambers but I was talking specifically about Palestinians fighting back. It seems like a natural human reaction to me. They don't recognize Israel and they don't like the options offered. It may be futile but they do it. Some of them think Israel actually wants to get rid of them!

 

You miss the point. The Palestinians have ample political avenues by which to pursue their legitimate aims. Instead they choose violence because they seek to destroy Israel and this cannot be achieved politically.

 

I'm not sure about the US helping them with 'billions of dollars in cash and weaponry'. Mostly the US seems to help Israel contain and repress them. Some Western countries do have aid programs but Israel seems to decide how and when the Palestinians get it.

 

You have your facts entirely wrong here.

[chuckwoww]

You miss the point. The Palestinians have ample political avenues by which to pursue their legitimate aims. Instead they choose violence because they seek to destroy Israel and this cannot be achieved politically.

 

No you have missed the point. Because Israel insists on total submission the Palestinians have no political options. And you are generalizing. Not all of them seek the total destruction of Israel. Hamas has offered an indefinite truce. Fatah would settle for a return to the '67 borders.

 

"I'm not sure about the US helping them with 'billions of dollars in cash and weaponry'. Mostly the US seems to help Israel contain and repress them. Some Western countries do have aid programs but Israel seems to decide how and when the Palestinians get it."

 

You have your facts entirely wrong here.

 

If I have my facts entirely wrong then so do you. Those are your words about the 'billions of dollars in cash and weaponry'. I'm not sure if Israel has loosened currency controls on the West Bank but the only cash that gets into Gaza is what the Palestinians can smuggle in. Some light weapons and armoured cars were initially supplied to the Palestinian police I believe, paid for by the US. The US has provided other aid to the Palestinians since 1993 but it is channelled through USAID and neither Fatah or Hamas are able to spend it how they want.

 

[color:red]As previously stated the US seems mainly interested in helping Israel keep the lid on Palestinian aspirations.[/color]

 

I've put that last sentence in red so you can isolate it for your next post.

[Steve]

Unlike most, I do have a soft spot for Israel. I would like them to remain a nation. However, I do want to see the Palestinians get some sort of homeland.

While to some (understandably) its the land that the Israelis are occupying that belong to the Palestinians, repatriating the Palestians is about as doable as the native Indians here to Manhattan island. Actually, less so.

 

I hope a solution can be worked out. The Israelis have not been innocent. They have bullied the Palestinians on occasion. The Palestinians are certainly no saints as well.

 

The people on both sides will some day grow tired of it all and find a solution. It could take generations, who knows. The Irish and the English took seeminly forever to come to where they are today.

 

That said, the U.S. does provide a few billion to Israel each year in monies and military aid. In fact, Israel relies (not exclusively but significantly) on that as well as the private donations of Jewish American organizations.