to think that if you were shocked or saddened by Israel's actions today you could

[lowrib]

spare a moment or two to write a letter or an email to voice your protest.

For those of you who haven't seen the news, Israeli forces today stormed a flotilla of boats which were trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestine and shot dead 19 people, injuring many more. The people on the ships were an international group of unarmed civilians, and they were in international waters.

A friend of mine is on one of the ships. I'm yet to hear any news (Israel seem to be doing all they can to block any communication).

What you can do to help ...

(Copied from the Stop the War Coalition at stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1906/1/)

PROTEST TO FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE:

BY EMAIL: [email protected] AND [email protected] AND [email protected]

BY LETTER TO: William Hague MP, Foreign Secretary, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH

PROTEST TO YOUR MP:
findyourmp.parliament.uk

PROTEST TO DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER NICK CLEGG
EMAIL: [email protected]

LETTER TO: Nick Clegg MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Thanks.

Sakura - ?I mean, going by Israeli logic, why doesn't the whole world just re-claim land that used to belong to them years ago.?
That is exactly what the Palestinians have been doing.
There is an Israel get over it.

I am from Wales, I am not muslim and have no affiliation with the region.
But as an objective outsider what Israel is doing is wrong. YOu cannot simply go to a region and lay claim to it based on a religious tenet that is only relevant to yourselves.
Objective observors such as myself can feel nothing but distain for this.
I understand that Jewish people have been persecuted since the year dot, and that they have the right to a nation-state of their own. BUt it should have been established in the US, not in the middle east.
The only reason the Jewish state exists in the middle-east is for strategic purposes.
Do you think Israel would be as well protected by America if its wasn't in such a strategic position?

NO, the Palestinians have very recently been shifted off their land- within living memory. They have actually lost their houses to the Israelis, and they want their houses and communities back, and rightly so.
The Israelis believe they are allowed to be there based on some historical event that is irrelevant today. As I said, where do we stop?

I would like to know more about why 5 boats allowed themselves to be stopped and inspected but people on the 6th one fought back. I'd like to know if all the deaths were on the last boat. However I don't believe Israel had the right to stop the boats and inspect them in international waters. I won't trust Israeli claims to find weapons on the boats - if they were there I imagine they wouldn't have been wrestling guns from soldiers. I don't believe trained soldiers couldn't have stopped the boats without that many deaths.

If those inside the blockade rejected Hamas there would be no blockade. But Israel frequently act in horrific ways (like the phosphorus and this) which have lost them most of my sympathy. Faults on both sides but increasingly on Israel's.

Sakura ? Sorry if I implied you had an affiliation with the region. I am English and would also consider myself an objective outsider.
I would have to agree that the only reason it is protected by America is because of its strategic position, if it wasn?t they would have to fight by themselves, and I would still support their right to exist.
There needs to be a two state solution in the area.

tatt, if someone knocked on your door this evening told you to pack your bags and get out with your kids because the house your grandad left you in his will no longer belongs to you. It now belongs to a group of people who believed they lived on the land around 2000 years ago
Then they set you up in a camp miles away and starved you and wouldn't let aid get through to you...how rational would you be about the situation? Wouldn't you support a group that promised you they'D try anything to let you get your home back?

i think we should lose sight that innocent people are dying because of this conflict, innocent children lose their lives arguing about who is allowed to do what is ridiculous.

shdad, yes a two state solution is maybe the only answer now. But peace in the region does not serve US interests as far as I can see. Co-operating with the Palestinians would result in a net loss of power.
On the other hand, at some point the US and Israel have to start realising that this only creates anti-US anti-Israeli sentiment among people who have no stake in the region

MrsDrOwen

Children dying is the reason we are having this discussion.

Sakura No I wouldn't support them because it would probably cause my children to die. Like it or not Israel is not going to go away. So I'd negotiate for the money to set up elsewhere.

What Israel is doing is wrong, what Hamas is doing is wrong too.

Well, whatever the facts of the case, the film footage of Israeli troopers beating aid convoy sailors with poles is going to do them immense harm. It makes them look like a bunch of out-of-control thugs.

I'm wondering where all the protesting about Korea was done. I must've missed those threads. Or maybe the ones earlier in the week about Pakistan. Both nations allegedly nuclear powers.

Riven ? the Ashkenazi Jews were allowed to settle by the state of Israel. If you believe that only people with ?historical? connections with an area should be allowed to settle there you would have disagree with the majority of immigration into the UK for the last 60 years.

(I am not suggesting you believe this)

sakura i am aware of what the discussion is about thankyou, it was meant to have read as that i am shocked by the way of so called humans actions on each other and how most of the people have no lost sight of why they are arguing in the first place and are now just raised to hate each other. my ex use to make me so mad because he hated jews and really didnt have a clue why.

shdad how can you draw such a parallel between the Haganah and even recent illegal settlements and "recent immigration in the UK for the last 60 years"?

By all standards, that is a complete misrepresentation.

I don't see why the rest of the world allows this silly squabble between Arab tribes about who fucked whose goat a 1000 years ago or whatever to be become such a huge international issue.

The idea that any nation state has a 'right' to exist is ludcicrous for a start. Nations only exist when people agreed they do - they have no independant existance any more that RBS does. Does RBS have a right to exist?

Slim22 ? I didn?t. I just pointed out that if you had to have ?historical? connections to live legally in a state most immigration into this country would have been impossible. I said nothing about Haganah or the recent illegal settlements and for you to imply I have is just wrong.

shdad - do you think its possible that some people accept the right of Israel to exist, accept the right for them to defend themselves against terrorism within their own borders and still deplore the actions they have taken yesterday, as well as their illegal occupation of lands which don't legally belong to them? The two positions aren't directly contradictory IMO.

TheBossofMe ? Of course supporters of Israel can deplore the actions yesterday and I happen to agree that the illegal occupation of land is wrong. I just think the IDF were provoked yesterday, and I believe they had a right to board the boats due to the risk of terrorism, I know I it?s not a popular view and it is terrible people died, but if they had not tried to break the blockade/refused to allow inspection of the aid it would never have happened.

shdad - what about the fact that it was in international waters? Doesn't that make a difference?

The entire operation was cackhanded.

Even within Israel, members of the Labour party are saying the military should never have gotten involved.

Also why did they need to board the boats under cover of darkness? They couldn't ask to inspect during the hours of daylight?

Their intent was hostile, as the videos are now proving.