Now that Hamas has added to an already bad situation with armed takeovers, rocket fire into Israel and other incursions, and a significant amount of support from a refugee population tired of the corruption Fatah has offered for decades, what will the U.S. and the European Union do to bring this flashpoint of the Middle East back from the point of total anachy? Hamas has a well-known practice of inciting violence against Israel and when Israel retailates, hamas fighters hide behind women and children only to emerge after the bombs have stopped and are quickly on the scene to help the very people they just put in danger. As a consequence, they win the support of the population and Israel becomes the enemy for having bombed innocent civilians. Fatah has lined it's own pockets for years and helped bring next to nothing to the people of Palestine. They are seen as more of the same by the population willing to back even a violent organization like Hamas rather than live with an ineffective corrupt group like Fatah. Given that Fatah can't even outgun Hamas, where is this conflict headed? We are again in the position of backing and arming a group of corrupt leaders against the wishes of the local population because the alternative is so much worse in our eyes. We either get to deal with a secular corrupt group like Fatah or a violent Islamist group like Hamas. Israel, the U.S. and the EU have already made the choice to lift financial and arms restrictions and back Fatah once more. The violence will only escalate as more and more arms pour in from counties like Iran and Syria to support Hamas and the U.S., Israel, and the EU arm Fatah. Don't look for a solution to this problem anytime soon. It's going to be a long hot summer fraught with strike and counter-strike. The victims, the Israeli citizens and the palestinian refugees.
The correct response for the US is to stay out of that fight completely. The US has no vested national interest there and should let others take the lead in solving this problem.
True enough but, we will throw more money and weapons into the mix anyway. Somehow more weapons is going to reduce the violence in the minds of the U.S. and our partners. Then we will be surprised when things only get worse and we will blame Hamas and they in turn will blame us. Neither side is completely wrong. In the 6 day war, things were going pretty bad for the Arabs so Nasser and his allies decided to blame their defeat on the American and the British helping Israel even though this was an out-and-out fabrication. After broadcasting the bad news and blaming the West for aiding Israel, the Israelis played an intercepted tape of Nasser's phone call in which he came up with the plan to blame the West for the defeat. He still had the backing of the Arab world after his lie was exposed. Is it any wonder Hamas can do or say anything they want and they are believed by the population at large? Is it any wonder that they hate the West and Israel?
Here's an observation. I read it in our local paper recently, and it is thought-provoking. Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip unilaterally, and Muslim militants took control. Israel remained in the West Bank, and more moderate (albeit rather more corrupt) Palestinians govern. Is this a lesson for the US in our situation in Iraq?
Just came back from that part of the world. The muslims want us to all to be under them as second class muslims or they want us all dead. The difference between a moderate and a radical is that the radical will kill you and the moderate will pass out candy and buy the film showing it.
VETFORLIFE, Your are correct! When the US was at war with the barbary pirates, some Americans were captured. They had to choose between being gelded or praying to allah. If it had been me then "where is my prayer mat and which direction is mecca?"
It will probably be taken as a lesson, but it is not. The US is a republic, not a colonial power. Regardless of the consequences, we should leave Iraq now and let them sort out the mess. We gave them a chance to be free from dictatorship, but what they do with the opportunity is up to them. Most likely, after the US leaves the Sunni and Shia will fight it out, but al Qaeda are viewed as foreigners by them and both sides will eliminate their presence. The whole country isn't worth one more American life.
About 1,073,000 Palestinians voted in the last election, a turnout of 77 percent of registered voters (Source: Hana Naser of the Central Election Commission.) With that, these "people" (I use that term loosely) voted in via a landslide an islamic terrorist group into power that lives and dies per islamic teachings and history. With that, I have no sympathy for people that support these islamic terror groups and hope they suffer the fate of all islamic terror groups...death! Go Israel, you are doing the civilized world a huge favor by killing these animals: Remember...when you kill a weed, you must kill the root too and these animals are breeding another generation of animls that must be eliminated.
Midas, you are correct. Bush's belief that he can transplant western-style democracy into the region is delusional. It's time for us to get out and admit we can't fix their politics or culture.
What does it take? 40 years or so? The same amount of time Moses wandered around the desset trying to get the Jews out of the mindset of being slaves into a free people? After all, when your whole life has been a "hell hole" and you don't know any better, it is NOT going to happen over night.
Best solution for Palestine is let them rule selves, then they all fight amongt one another and wipe themselves out of existence. Islam has more than proven it is not religion of peace or tolerance, but only of death and destruction.
Lets be honest here why bother! there own people left them to rot in camps for years yet screamed at the west to do something, they bombed and murderd our citizens yet screamed for more aid, they destroyed the Lebanon yet again they blamed the west. They constantly attack israil and call them the agressor. Finaly they get a place of there own and what do they do declair war on each other and blame the west for it. Now I see the US is about to resume aid to them & I expect my own ountry to follow on, how crazy can we get? :headbang:
It is crazy, Americans are being killed by american weapons that we have given various arab "allies" as foriegn aid packages. I myself was ordered to train Turks and Jordian special military units, Thank god I wasn't sent to Saudi, where some of those in Turkey I would trust with my life whereas in Jordan the units we trained gave us various death video tapes with candy and arab pasteries as taunting presents. That is a spat in the face which I wish I could have responded to but it is not like the movies, we have orders to follow and we follow them.
