ISRAEL: Death of the innocent

The tragic images on display today were all too familiar for residents of the Gaza Strip: the crumbled remains of a family home, the wailing relatives outside the hospital and the tiny white-shrouded corpses.

Equally familiar were the war of words and dueling accusations that ritually follow tragedies like today's explosion that killed a mother and four of her young children.

Palestinian officials placed the blame on "Israeli aggression." Israeli officials blamed the willingness of Palestinian militants to attack from areas crowded with civilians and laid ultimate blame on Hamas and other Gazan militant factions.

Later in the day, the Israeli military began heavily pushing an alternate version of events: It wasn't a tank shell that destroyed the home of the Abu Mutiq family. It was two huge bags of explosives carried by Palestinian militants, which detonated when they were targeted by an airstrike.   

The truth? Well, that's probably somewhere in between, shrouded amid the ideological rhetoric and the parallel realities that obscure almost every facet of this conflict.

And it wouldn't bring back those four dead children anyway.

—Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem

Photo: Mourners carry the bodies of four Palestinian children and their mother of the Abu Maateq family during their funeral in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, 28 April 2008. The children, and their mother were killed in Israeli operations in Gaza. In addition, one militant also died in raids. Credit: EPA/ALI ALI

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Comments

[the q]

I really don't know why Israel does not insist on giving the palestinians a homeland, because then they could obliterate them legally.

Let me explain before you think I am crazy.

Hamas fires rockets from Gaza into Israel which have killed less than a score of Israelis over the last decade.

Really, this is more of a nuisance than anything. But, Israel when retaliating, kills hundreds of Palestinians, including the ugly scenes of women, children and housing destroyed.

Of course, Israel, is scorned by the international community and the result always is a public relations disaster for the "smart" Jews.

Now contrast this scene if Gaza was part of a Palestinian nation and those same rockets killed innocent Jews.

Israel could then declare war on "Gaza" and kill with international impunity since no nation can tolerate their citizens killed by another nation's bellicosity.

Instead of pariah status, Israel could "legally' kill as many Palestinians as they wished and keep going till they have killed everyone.

Instead of threatening Israeli security, a Palestinian nation would be hesitant to send suicide bombers across the west bank border because of the certain annihilation which could "legally" occur as Israel rightly could insist on protecting itself through a declaration of war.

They could also insist the UN recognize their right to protect itself from a belligerant nation as the UN has condemned Israel for illegally attacking Arab naitons.

This way, the UN would have to at least be consistent and actually condemn the "nation" of Palestine for acts of barbarity against civil law.

By.giving the Palestinians a country, Israel would be enhancing her security because declaring war against an occupied territory is not feasible and in fact makes the Israelis look like "bullies".

Declaring war against a nation state and killing occupants of said state is completely permissable if said state attacks another soverign governtment.

For proof of my theory, look no further than the U.S. and Afghanistan.

The Taliban "attacked" the U.S. by giving succor to Al qaida, hence the U.S. "legally" bombed the hell out of them and the world did not condemn us since they could look no further than the WTC attacks as the basis for the violence.

By clinging to the myth of Israeli survival by keeping the Palestinians down, the Jews are giving their anti semitic enemies the rope with which they will hang them.

Any comments?

[Michael of up West.Orig.Manhattan.Now Jerusalem.]

Hurry, shoot before the cease-fire / Blast in Gaza By Amos Harel

Haaretz in English Tuesday April 29,2008age 1 Center,On fold.;until other notice.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978736.html

Mother, children die at breakfast By Fadi Eyadat and Yoav Stern

Page 2 Top Right Third of the page;picture captionalestinian mourners carrying the bodies of the children during their funeral in Beit Lahiya,northern Gaza Strip yesterday.

Five family members, a mother and her four children, and a Palestinian militant were killed in an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun yesterday.

According to Palestinians, an Israeli missile struck the house of Miyasra Abu Muatak, burying her and her four children - Salah, Rudeynah, Hanaa and Musad, between eight months and six-years-old - beneath the rubble. Israel Defense Forces claim the main blast was caused by explosive devices laid by Palestinians that were intended for Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Neighbors say the incident occurred just as the family had sat down to eat breakfast. The children were killed instantly, and the mother died of her wounds after being pulled from the debris in critical condition. An Islamic Jihad man standing near the house was also killed in the blast.

At the time of the explosion, the father, Ahmed Abu Muatak, was out of the house with another of his children. "He lost all his children from his second wife," a local Beit Hanoun resident said of the Bedouin man, who has two wives. Two of the Abu Muatak's other children were also hurt in the blast.

Images of the children's bodies at Gaza's morgue were aired by Arab television stations yesterday and pictures were put on the Web.

[Frank]

Yes, I agree with you about Israel. If they just stuck to offering scholarships for Jews I would support that. Just like I support the following organizations in their scholarship sponsorship effort:

http://patrioticactivist.com/2008/03/04/new-white-community-scholarship-program/

Enjoy,
Frank

[aeropapa99]

So, "The truth? Well, that's probably somewhere in between," - another feeble attempt to portray this as a fight between two squabbling parties. Nonsense. If I see the night and call it black, and you call it white, the truth is not in between. It is still black.

The Palestinian terrorists hide their fanatics in houses, schools, and mosques. When Israel targets these murderous thugs, innocent civilians get killed either because they allow the terrorists in their midsts, or actively try to hide them. Israel GAVE Gaza to the Gazans and instead of trying to finally build a state of their own, they choose to continue their pathetic jihad at destroying the Jews. Until they learn to love their children more than they hate Israel, there will never be peace.

[Tony]

Israel is a despicable racist state!