Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
Originally posted by mattpryor
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler
I'll happily admit Israel's biggest mistake, and that was unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza in 2005!
Pretty scary Matt Pryor, pretty scary, no wonder the world is such a war torn place? All of Israel's theft's of lands, kidnapping and murders, organ
trafficing, refusal to abide by U.N. Treaties, refusal to allow Atomic Energy inpections of it's nuclear facilities, war crimes, and human rights
violations and you consider their only mistake withdrawing from Gaza?
Wow!
I can easily see with attitudes like that just how the Israeli government would use humans as guinee pigs and make them drink uranium.
Scary, scary, scary Matt Pryor, scay indeed.
I know you're just trying to bait me into an over-reaction Proto, and that's okay. People like me need people like you, otherwise we'd have no-one
to argue with, amiright?
Wouldn't the world be boring if we all just agreed on everything?
The fact is that you and I both know that this conflict is long, tragic and bitter. We both know that there has been enormous suffering on both sides
of the fence.
It's sad to see Palestinians being held up at checkpoints on their way to work in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. It's sad that after Israel withdrew from
Gaza and elections were held, and the world thought that maybe - just maybe - peace might be around the corner, the Gazans elected a group that
rejected outright any prospect of peace with Israel. It's sad that that group continued to provoke Israel with hundreds of rocket attacks on
peoples' homes and schools. It's sad that the UN stood idly by while Israel
pleaded for something to be done, for years, and it's sad that
those pleas fell on deaf ears.
It's sad that only when the Israeli government felt it had no choice but to respond militarily - when quiet suburban streets were rocked by hundreds
of mortars and shells per day - then the world decided to pay attention and all people like you could do was criticise and scream "war crimes!".
How nice it would have been if you'd been able to offer your friendly, helpful advice on how Israel should deal with that relentless assault on
ordinary peaceful people
before they responded in the only way governments know
how to respond. You clearly have a much better idea of
how to deal with terrorist rocket attacks than Mr's Olmert and Barak - it's
sad that you didn't share your pearls of wisdom with them before
it was too late.
It's sad that residents of places like Sderot have to live their lives in fear, that children as young as 2 have to be treated for post-traumatic
stress. It's sad to read about the paediatrician whose face was horrifically disfigured when a Qassam destroyed her clinic.
It's sad to read about the school buses that have been blown up by suicide bombers, leaving wreckage, childrens' body parts, blood, spattering the
street. It's sad to read about Patrick's Pub when people who were guilty of nothing more that enjoying each other's company, music, dance, were
horrifically massacred by cold blooded IRA-trained extremists filled with hatred and bitterness.
It's sad that Palestinians are represented by people that reject every compromise, every opportunity for peace and dignity, in favour of continued
hatred and rejection of Jewish peoples' right to their own country.
But you know what strikes me as the most sad thing of all? That you only choose to see one side of the suffering. The other side doesn't matter,
doesn't count.
And yes, Israel's biggest mistake in this entire conflict was withdrawing from Gaza - unlike Operation Cast Lead they didn't have to do it - it was
inhuman and cruel and has caused nothing but pain and misery for everyone. It was wrong to drag people from their homes at gunpoint. It was wrong to
abandon beautifully tended university campuses and synagogues to be desecrated and destroyed. It was wrong to uproot whole communities and then
abandon them to live in motel rooms, homeless to this day. It was wrong to leave Gazan Palestinians to the mercy of extremism and hatred when what
they needed was law, order, clean water and a healthy economy, which Israel brings.
