to not understand how you can fire missiles targeting civilians and it not be a war crime

[Itsaboatjack]

now I'm not especially knowledgable about the problems in the middle east but surely firing missiles into a city intentionally killing civilians is some kind of war crime?

The Palestinians are certainly not innocent in all of this. While the Israeli government does have much to answer for, and I would unfortunately agree that the current administration does not genuinely want compromise (although previous ones have and the Palestinians managed to undermine it all), this does not absolve the Palestinians of responsibility.

The Palestinians are also not pushing for peace. Most Palestinians in Gaza do support Hamas. There are no demosntrations AGAINST firing the missiles while in Israel there are plenty of demonstrations against what is happening in Gaza (although increasingly unpopular as it is seen as unpatriotic when the country is under fire). In fact, one demonstration in Tel Aviv had to disperse due to an air raid alert (rather ironic).

I don't believe for a second that Ahmed Jabari was some kind of secret peace negotiator. That's BS. He was a child murdering bastard. I agree it probably wasn't prudent of Israel to kill him at this moment and wonder about the reasons for it but I have no rose tinted glasses about who he was and what he did.

Sorry Nalaik, the Palestinians are not some innocent party in all of this but have equally created the conditions for all that has happened. The south african ANC was lucky to have Nelson Mandela to lead them to peace, the Indians had Gandhi, the Israelis had Ben Gurion - all of these leaders were visionaries and contributed to the success of the national campaigns for freedom....the Palestinians got stuck with Yasser Arafat who instead of genuinely negotiating a peace deal when the time was right and Israel was in a position where there was support for compromise, fucked it all up and dragged the Palestinians back down into the abyss.

THe first intifada was completely justified, the second intifada was simply futile and unecessary

He's a Track 2 negotiator (unofficial but operating with the knowledge of the Israeli government). He helped negotiate the release of Gilad Shalit as well.

He didn't meet with Jabari because Jabari would not ever meet with Israelis. He met with his representative.

Negotiations such as these are always short on proof. You can only rely on what people say happened. To this day the main participants at Camp David disagree over what happened.

Would Jabari have agreed to it? Would Netanyahu have agreed to it? Who knows. But clearly some kind of negotiation was in the works, and the Israelis didn't bother to wait to see how it turned out.

If I were a Palestinian, Nalaik, I think I would ask myself if 60 years of fighting or retaliating against Israel has really done me any good and maybe if I'd have had a bit of foresight and accepted the UN partition plan of 1947 or the ISraeli offer of peace (all the WB and Gaza prior to the settler movement starting up) in 1967 or the Olso accords of 1992 - or maybe if I'd have pushed for more democratic institutions and civil society - maybe my life would be a lot better than it is right now.

But Elaine, again, which Palestinians are you talking about, when you say they're not innocent?

Supporting Hamas does not make you a legitimate target of war, not unless you are actively involved in military activities.

In the same way that UK civilians don't deserve to be blown up because their government commits violence against others.

Unless you want to argue that all 1.5 million Gazans are actively involved in the military struggle against Israel, then what Israel is doing there is illegal.

I find it disturbing because I sense sometimes and I hope you are not arguing this, I'm not saying you are but sometimes it seems as if some Israelis feel that if you are Palestinian and don't agree that Israel has the right to exist, then you deserve to be harmed or killed.

But merely thinking Israel should not exist does not make you a target under international law. Unless you directly contribute to armed violence, you are a civilian and should not be harmed.

Nailak - if I were Palestinian I might very well strap on a suicide vest and throw rocks at the soldiers, rejoice if our rockets hit civilian targets - but feeling 'right' and justified and put upon with no control over my destiny is not going to improve things for Palestainans stuck in Gaza. They will continue to be stuck in this terrible situation but at least they will have the comfort of feeling that they are the only victims and are morally right while the Israelis are the evil aggressors. And nothing will change.

'The Palestinians caused their own tragedy.'

Anyone who comes out with a statement like that can have absolutely no credibility.

Does everyone in Britain deserve to be blown up because we were led by a war criminal, Tony Blair? (I voted for him, had no idea he'd start an illegal war and help the Americans conduct a campaign of kidnapping and torturing people.) Blaming the Palestinians when the Israelis have far superior power - three Israeli dead, 20 Palestinians - is deliberate blindness to the facts.

If you can accept that you can be Israeli and not agree with Netanyahu, even though he's been voted into office, why not extend the same idea to the Palestinians? And acknowledge that whatever terrible things are done by their leaders and terrorist groups, not all Palestinians are responsible for them.

Dreaming - I'm not sure who you are referring your question to. I don't think anyone here has said that all Palestinians back Hamas. I'm sure there are quite a few who don't (Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish is an inspirational example) but it would be nice if those voices were heard a bit more. Certainly no one said that because Palestinians think Israel shouldn't exist, Israel has the right to bomb them, you're making things up!

What I do say is that Palestinians as an entity, just as Israel is spoken of as an entity, are just as responsible for the situation they are in as Israel is. This doesn't give Israel the right to violate the Palestinians' human rights or engage in war crimes, and where these things happen censure is correct, ideally from within Israel as does happen.

But please don't paint the Palestinians as innocents as they are no more innocent than Israel is. They had opportunity, time and time again, to reach a peaceful solution with Israel. They didn't want to. They've never missed an oppotunity to miss an opportunity. Now things are shit on both sides so peace is even further than it ever was and the Palestinians are just as responsible for this situation as Israel is.

That's total rubbish Crescentmoon. The Zionist movement never intended to displace Palestinians. The land was bought and land was settled usually where no one else wanted to live.

Following the rejection of the UN partition plan, Israel (or what was to become Israel) was involved in a battle of survival with the Arabs although many Palestinians did stay put and did not become involved in the conflict - and they became citizens of the new State of Israel. There was no masterplan to expel all the Palestinians, indeed the mayor of Haifa went out into the streets begging Palestinians to stay. That's not so say there weren't massacres (on both sides - ever heard of the massacre of the Hadassah medical convoy???) and expulsions but it wasn't because that was some kind of Zionist plan. It was in the middle of what was, for Israelis, a battle for survival (imagine what would have happened to them if the Arabs had won).

I do hope you're equally concerned about the equal or even higher number of Jews who were expelled from Arab countries in retaliation. If you don't hear much about them, I think it's because they just got on with their lives.

I was asking based partly on some posts on this thread, and also just the wider discourse on this, where people are putting equal or more blame on the Palestinians and noting that they support Hamas and elected Hamas and don't think Israel should exist, and that they are 'not innocent' in all this.

It's a key point because in many conflicts, people justify attacks on civilians by finding ways in which they are not 'innocent' and somehow brought their suffering on themselves.

I see now that your interpretation of 'not innocent' is based on Palestinian rejection of partition plans, and not their feelings toward Israel. As I said, I didn't think you were making the argument I noted, I just wanted to ask.

I came back as I've just read some speculation that Israel may have kicked off this latest round as a means of reducing the stockpile of rockets and weapons in Gaza, so that it poses less of a threat should they attack Iran.

Now that is pretty terrifying.

I'm not sure I buy it, but it's worth thinking about.

It reminds me of the battles over Yugoslavia. The Serbs had held on to some long-ago feelings of injustice dating back to the middle ages IIRC and saw themselves as persecuted. This, they felt, justified slaughtering Muslims in Bosnia - horrific war crimes against civilians including children, women and the elderly. The Serbs had an image of themselves as the oppressed and used this to justify not just oppressing but torturing and murdering others.

Some people justify Israeli aggression in the same terms - millions of Jews were killed in WW2 so everything Israel does is right, including exterminating Palestinian civilians, women and children. It must be scary in their heads.

Edam - both sides use the same type of justification - it's an endless cycle of "you started it". Talk of "response" and "retaliation" is so loaded. Also I think pointless. It's a good thing most of the people on this thread aren't anything to do with any possible resolution.

Dreamingbohemian: the militants have been getting new deadlier weapons from Iran that can reach Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, obviously you know this. I don't think Israel would need an end objective to want to remove them. Removing them would be an objective in itself.

I think the answer would be no, then Crescent. Just say no if you want to.

What would you like to see happen then, crescent moon?

Brycie -- yes, they have, in which case escalating the conflict (as Israel did with the assassination) is more likely to see those rockets put into use (as they have been) than going for some kind of ceasefire, which would hopefully lock them down for now, and leave disarmament to be negotiated later.

On the other hand, if you are planning to attack Iran within the next six months, then you actually do want those rockets launched (and shot down luckily) now.

I don't really buy it though, Hezbollah is a much closer proxy of Iran and has thousands and thousands of rockets.

At any rate there are now reports in the news that a ceasefire may be imminent, which would be terrific.

Haaretz (Israeli paper) now reporting that the Israeli interior minister has said:

"The goal of the operation is to send #Gaza back to the Middle Ages"

twitter.com/haaretzcom/status/269870815401611267

Now to be clear, I am sure Palestinian officials are saying equally nasty things

But if he did really say this, then it sort of knocks a hole in the whole narrative of 'it's only self-defence'.

IMO governments of both sides are war criminals Its bullshit to say the civilians are not the target, unless you are 2metres away from your so called intented target.

I don't support either side, but I'm less sympathetic with Israel because they remind me of playground big bullies.

I lost in total 20 family members in the Nairobi and Kampala Al-Shabab bombings but I will never support any government that will fire missiles in Somalia. Why? Because I know there will be an innocent person who will be killed just like my innocent beloved ones.

Dreaming
Unfortunately I believe it from avigdor Lieberman, hes a racist bully. The whole situation depresses me beyond belief. I'm just glad Obama and not romney is president and he will keep Bibi and his gang of thugs in check.

Crescent moon
Personally, I'd like to see the western wall, al aqsa mosque and church of the holy sepulchre bulldozed and Disneyland middle east built in its place but that's as likely to happen as a one state solution. The question should have been realistic solution.