Saturday, January 31, 2009
Gaza Militants fire rocket into Israel
A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza exploded near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday, January 31 2009. Thankfully no damages or injuries were reported. Israel and Gaza are currently under a cease-fire agreement. Militants on both sides are to refrain from attacking each other during this agreement. So far, this pact has been breached many times and todays attack only adds more disruption to this fragile time. Efforts to make this cease-fire last are becoming increasingly difficulty because of attacks like Saturdays. On a good note, this was the first rocket strike since last Thursday.
Israel and Hamas rulers ended fighting in late January. Israel led a three week offensive strike and foot invasion due to the pointless and harmful rocket strikes. Israel had been dealing with these same rocket shrikes for nearly eight years. During the three week offensive almost 1,300 Palestinians were killed, which about half were civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed, and just three of the thirteen were civilians. Since the main offensive and cease-fire many sporadic rocket strikes have been reported. Israel has launched many counterstrikes against the border of Egypt to demolish the tunnels used to smuggle these weapons into Hamas hands.
I cannot imagine the frustration of the Israelis are going through right now. Try to imagine the fear of random, un-aimed missiles attacking your neighborhood. The rockets are meant to harm anything any everything they can possibly hit. The people firing them have no respect for innocent civilians. I think Israel has every right to launch the greatest offensive possible to stop attacks like this. If Canada or Mexico were launching rockets over the border into the United States we would no restrain ourselves to completely demolish all enemy forces. Israel has been bombarded for almost eight years. The united States would not wait eight days. Hopefully this will be resolved in the best way possible soon.
-Randy
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Randy, you are right; I'm sure there is much frustration involved in this complex issue that I myself wish I could fully understand. However, the things that really trouble me about this conflict are the following:
Israel was created as a place for the concentration camp refugees of WW2, mostly jewish people. The allies (UK,US,and France) came up with the bright idea to put two groups of people together who would undoubtedly hate each other, and right next to Jerusalem, the holy land, which the Israelis (although to be fair, not unprovoked) took from the palestinians.
What I have to say next has NOTHING to do with race, racism, anti-semetism, or anything of the nature. I am definitely not fully knowledgeable about the issue, but do follow it to some degree. There are people who are jewish, and then there are people who are fundamentally-religiously jewish. Unfortunately, you apparently can't say something about Judaism in America without it becoming an issue of race, of being anti-semetic.
This conflict has become a holy war, and one that we have, whether intentional or not, created, and fund. Read the article closely and look at the death toll of palestinians as compared to Israelis. I am NOT taking sides, so please, no one in the class hate me for what I'm going to say. Israel is given weapons and funding by the US to kill Palestinians, women and children included. Israeli soldiers don't just "defend themselves and their people," they retaliate and kill many many more times the amount of palestinians, provoking them further.
(Opinion - If I am wrong about facts, correct my ignorance, please)
No, the Israelis didn't start the war, but the ones fueling the war (US, France, UK) basically stole that land to begin with, and gave it to what is now known as Israel. I guess letting too many jews move to our countries' wasn't an option for some reason, so we stuffed them in the desert; almost giving them the holy land, but oh, not quite. This is interesting, because it's shady, but in a way which I cannot see the motive, assuming there is an ill intentioned one. Anyway...
Now, when I say Israel and Palestine, I refer to the politico-militant forces that fuel the conflict through the use of religion as a manipulatory tool.
THIS IS MY OPINION
I, at this point, doubt any proclamation of good intentions on our part. We knew this would be a war; a brutal one, and one over religion. Both sides are wrong and theologically f!@ked up, like most religions are. (Sorry, but some agnosticism could do the world a great deal of good) It's unfortunate, as we know all to well, that it doesn't take everyones support for a countries leader to decide to fight a war. Just some fundamental religion, funds, and a relatively communal sense of anger or despair.
However, regardless of my beliefs, for us to give guns and money to Israel just simply enables them to mass murder their enemy (also, protects them to some degree too, since they are being attacked all the time), over religious beliefs. Or rather, enables political forces to use religion to convince people to kill in the name of God or Allah or whatever sh!t; Jewish, Christian, Muslum, Islamic, what the ____ ever, it's all an essential array of useful theological tools to promote the idea of superiority and inferiority. Because, we have God on our side, and that makes it alright.
I don't take sides in religious wars; I hate all fundamentalism (and most religion in general); all I have to say is that the statistics are shocking. (As in; massive amounts of murdered Palestinians - soldiers and civilians alike.) It is vicious, it is genocide, and it is funded by the US, and carried out by some force that is out to control and expand "it's" power. I don't have enough info to speculate further.
This is a controversial stance on the issue; please don't hate me, because I don't take sides in war, unless the evil is clear, like Hitler or something; I just say that killing that many Palestinians, no matter if they 'ask for it' or not, is just plain god-damn evil of the United Nations to allow. I am also not an expert on this riddle that we call an issue, by any means. I however, see the forces of greed on both sides of the spectrum.
Take this with a grain of salt if you have to, because it's confusing (I am confused). I know that most people in this country practically have to take THIS opinion with a grain of morphine just to not leap through the IP port and strangle me for daring to "support Palestine" (which I DON'T).
I wish I could fully understand why this goes on; all I do know is that the use of religion as a tool of war is a major (in my opinion) truth about this conflict. It is essentially about control of land and people - "We rule you, we fool you." Who winds up buying the s__t? We do, remember?
"It's good and evil; always with no in between, cut and dry." Isn't that what a good old fun war is about? It's easier to think of the oppressed underdog rising up, like in the movies, and conquering the evil Palestinian empire.
"Never again!" they shout at the climax of the film, as they take back the holy land once and for all; a story of biblical proportions!
Then just for a pinch of subtlety and taste, throw in a couple shots of some dead babies, or a young woman with her face partially ripped off, by an Israeli missile. Or mass "victory graves" topped off with the bodies of Palestinian man woman and child. That's what these heroic individuals call mission accomplished; at least it was a palestinian baby, and not an israeli one, though, right? I feel evil as hell just being sarcastic about it, but God-damn the one who can even have entertained the idea of supporting Israel in that way...
Not to say that you do, Randy, I'm just being dramatic.
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