Outline of a possible Gaza truce emerges

If I’m not mistaken, this is not about two religious belief systems at war with each other.  This actually is a family feud that went from bad to worse.  You have the father – Abraham – being promised a son by God.  His wife, approaching age well past her child bearing years and thinking that God had forgotten His promise, thought that she was not able to produce the promised son so came up with a plan to have her husband have the child with her servant – which he did - producing a son.  Next, God made good on His word and Abraham’s wife became pregnant and produced the promised son.  The wife soon became jealous of the relationship between her husband and her servant and forced Abraham to turn the servant and her child out into the wilderness.  The servant and her child endured a hard life on their own in the arid region they inhabited but must have kept some ties between the two.  If I am not mistaken, when Abraham finally died, the two half-brothers met to bury their father in a cave which leads me to believe that there must not have been a violent relationship between them.  Jealousy, rejection and poverty were probably emotions on display in this relationship but they were still half-brothers, not mortal enemies bent on killing each other.  Obviously, over time, the bad feelings created by this relationship became more hostile and revenge seeking.  Tit for tat became more violent and we can see the results to this day.  How to stop a feud that has been going on this long?  No one knows.    

It's all about religion. Always has been and always will be. I would like to be an optomist here an think that a truce could be reached and eventually some type of peace agreement could be reached. But I am a realist and I just don't see that happening. I don't see Hamas as being able to stop the ezzeden al-qassam brigades, the militant wing of hamas, from firing the rockets into Israel. Nor will they stop islamic Jihad or al qassam martyres brigade

Jesus should weep he helped create this mess.There will be no peace while one sides feel its his god given duty to destroy all that doesnt  share his beliefs.

Jesus didn't create this mess...man did.

njmick....Why do you think Jesus helped to create this mess?

Neither side believes Jesus is the Messiah, they just acknowledge that he was a man that lived in the area 2000 years ago. 

I pray that someday soon ALL people on this Earth will figure out that no religion has a monopoly on the truth. All religions have a purpose, that is to bring people together in a sharing sort of way, to help each other in time of need. Religion should NEVER be used as a banner to rally one religious group against another in violence.

My father had a great saying he passed on to many, "God created man in his own image and, man being the gentleman that he is, returned the favor". He was not saying that God does not exist, but that we contour our God to fit our society. I think that the God we all worship for ourselves is one in the same, he has many names and many faces!

Because Hamas does not care about the people of Palestine.  I believe Hamas is only concerned about the Palestinian's being there so they can hide behind the woman, children and the innocent.  If you look up the word coward in the dictionary you will find a picture of the terrorist group Hamas.  As some else stated in this forum Hamas launched 14 more rockets into Israel today knowing that the innocent people they are hiding behind are starving, without medical supplies, clean water, electricity and the list goes on and on.  Their mentality is that of a vicious, rabid animal that doesn't have the ability to think and most of all reason.   

You take me too literally. What I meant was, people in the middle east have been fighting each other for thousands of years. Call it what you will, but the Palestinian people did not just appear out of no where in 1970! Their ancestors have been in the region since way before Christ.

Wrong again, Kevin. The "Palestinian People" never existed. The great Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Yassir Arafat used to say "if you tell a lie enough times, people will believe it is a fact". It was ancient Rome that, after conquering a land, would displace the people, replace them with people from other conquered lands, and change the name of the land, so that no one would be able to say the land was theirs. When the Romans conquered Israel in the year 70, they brought most Jews back to Rome, enslaved them, and changed the name of the land to Palestine. How many thousands of years later did the Muslims first show up on this planet?

Learn your facts before you continue to pass along their lies.

You guys are dead on. If anyone really wants to know the facts about the "Palestinian Plight", read "From Time Immemorial", a factual book with decades of unbiased research behind it, written by a non-Jew who was trying to expose Israel as a "mistake" which should never have happened. The author then realized the truth.

Ever heard the term..two wrongs don't make a right?

Have you every heard, if a child start acting up you put them in their place.

So you are referring to all muslims as children? What a way to look at things.  Since this is the way you want to look at it.....

Not everyone sees child abuse as a way of "putting a child in place". 

How did you get child abuse out of that statement???  Putting a child in their place could actually mean a time out.  Kind of makes someone wonder just HOW do You deal with children?

The slaughtering of innocent ppl is how I got child abuse out of that idiotic statement made by Nav...

As for how I raise my children..you go ahead and keep wondering. It's nosey instigating ppl like you that like to stir up idiotic comments in these forums. Mind your business regarding my family and stick to the subject at hand.

No Islam is acting like a spoiled chlld because they want everything their way, but will never give an inch.

Plus those so called muslim innocent, are calling for the destruction of Israel since its inception and to kill every Jewish person and non-muslim.  So they are not innocent.

Must have hit a nerve????  Try to stay on topic and you won't get infantile statements such as that. 

"The slaughtering of innocent ppl......" So now you understand just exactly how the Jewish people feel and have felt for years.  I'm not sure how many people would be able to trust those that "threaten to push them into the sea."  Have sweet dreams on that one.   

Mildly entertaining, so are you claiming that all muslims are calling for the destruction of everything Jewish, or non-muslim?

I know my history well enough to know that Jews have been persecuted and are probably the most persecuted ppl in the world.  I also know that catholisism and some christianty nearly wiped out Jews many many moons ago. So you see this isn't just about being muslim. You ppl talk with hate in your mouths. Hate towards a specific ethnic group, knowing damn well that in your own religious background there are lot of the same atrocities. Destroy muslims and problem solved...world peace is made, that is your motto.

I don't care if you are jewish or muslim but this onslaught has to end. Was it deserved? rightly so but now it's gone to extremes. Have the decency to at least recognize that their are innocent babies in that county who have no control over what they are taught or are learning.  I don't have that same stupid "dispose of them" mentality because I don't think children are born to hate.  You on the other hand MsChessy can continue to jump on Nav's bandwagon of hate. You are just as hateful and spiteful with that big ole chip on your shoulder regarding muslims.   How about you try an original idea instead of respewing whatever garbage you read on these forums.

Oh btw, I sleep oh so comfortably at night. It helps when you can afford to live in a nice house by the ocean far far away from ppl like you.

I dont know what aot of you think or where you get your information, but include it all!  Is not America a part of the internation community? You spoke of the countries condemning Israel, Russia was included in that statement. Did you forget the russians have been arming the arab nations that have fought against Israel time and again.So that disqualifies them. As far as the UN goes, does anyone really care what they thbink? Look at how they manage to screw up Somalia. Read the autobiography of Anthony Zinni to hear about that. And as far as france goes, they are so afraid of aravb terrorists they say anything to placate them.

The muslims in Gaza have definetly brought this on them selves. Throw rockets at a bigger stronger neighbor continually, and eventually that neighbor is going to put your rockets up your hidey hole.

God Bless the Israelis for having the gumption to slap the poop out of a bunch of terrorists

I would love to see peace.  I have nothing against Muslims, Palestinians, etc., the only ones that I have a problem with are those that try to disrupt the lives of thousands and thousands of people by hiding behind women and children - Hamas is the problem, not the Jews, not the Palestinians, not the Muslims, etc.  The terrorists are disrupting the lives of thousands of children and yes, hundreds of woman and children will die during this sad time.  Husbands, sons, fathers, brothers will also die.  These terrorists are animals and will stop at nothing to get what they want, they have already exhibited that.  They will lie, they will kill, they will even sacrifice their own children to get what they want.  If they will do this to their children, do you think they care about the children of Palestine, Israel or really any place?  Pray for the innocent EVERYWHERE!

MsChessy

Your last comment hit it on the head. I wish you had worded things like this earlier.  I think one of the major issues with Hamas is their ability to hide behind innocent families with in their own land. Their own ppl are expendable in their quest to satisfy their own agenda. My problem is how do you aim at a target knowing there are innocent civilians in the way? This is where Israel needs to see reason.  I understand Israel's anger and yes Hamas deserves obliteration, but if the reports coming back from the middle east are correct regarding body count...more civilians have been killed than terrorists.

 - Thank goodness I had the sense to read your statement before I posted my response to you.  You attacked me personally. 

As for the reports on causalities - do you really think MSN, MSNBC, etc., are really going to report the truth???  Both sides have caualities, do numbers matter. 

Thank you for what could be considered an apology.

Truce;)

 - ".....Israel's needs to see reason."  I believe they have tried and tried to reason.  They asked and asked for Hamas to stop before they had to defend themselves. Just how many times to you allow someone to bomb you??  Just how many times does Israel have to tuck their tail between their legs and go home?  Just how many bombs measure up to be too many?  How many Israeli's need to die before it's to many?   

 It isn't fair for anyone to have to die because of the ego's of some terrorists.  Just how long does this have to go on before every country gets behind each other to rid at least Gaza of Hamas? 

The attacks on the Jewish people on this site is very disturbing, the same as I find for the Muslims, etc.  It may appear that I'm a little more sensitive towards this outrageous treatment towards the Jews and that is only because I have relatives that were in the Holocaust and the horror stories they told me sends chills up my spine.  And now to hear of the Israeli's still having to fight for their freedoms and rights just makes me sick, just as I'm sicken by the way Hamas makes human shields out of the people they live amongst.  If only they could agree to disagree regarding who is right and who is wrong.  At this point both are wrong although the Israeli's should not have to live in fear of rockets being shot at them.  Again it is a very sad situation. And yes truce.  I really think we are on the same side and our goal is to save the children and for there to be peace.

If the philistines or rather the palestinians had islamic brothers that actually cared about their plight they would not be letting this happen but rather it is in their liking that they sit and do nothing but instigate. The hamas has no real friends, save those who love to watch a murder fest. And any female protesters, go breed with these people a free man should have nothing to do with you.

Jews have been presecuted throughout history. Maybe you should learn to see things differently.

Larry is probably pen pals with the unrepentant Nazis living in Argentina.

lol

I would venture to say larry may be a very anti semetic skinhead

No, larry is just another childish troll, claiming jews dont care about anything but themselves, of course we all know differently, after all i could just go and look all the Medal of Honor recipents, as well as other millitary awards that were given to Jews, and dispite the crassness of my language, i am probably right in saying there are a lot of Jews that have sacrificed more than larry here.

Larry, were you born ignorant or is it an aquired deficiency? The sane kind of hate filled rhetoric was spewed by a little man from Germany in the last century with a funny little mustache. Do you by any chance sport a shaved head and a swastika tattoo? It sounds like it would be approriate for you! You certainly show no indication of having any real knowledge of world history.

LOL :)

You are talking about 2 different cultures, with very different belief systems. The Japanese were organized under one central strong authority, when the emporer said it was over, most people listened since they believed he was a demigod. They also faced a much worse reality than losing to the U.S., losing to the U.S.S.R. These people dont believe that about their leaders are demigods, and dont have a true central authority to unify them, so you can destroy all of their weapons, kill all of their leaders that raise up to oppose you, and rebuild their society better than it ever was, the extremeist will still fight you, the Japanese had them, the Germans had theirs, theirs were far fewer due to the organization they were part of.

Then move on to Al Quida, Hezbollah and any other terrorist organization out there.

I hope Israel takes your words to heart.

Israel has been working on the problem and seems to have it under control

I believe the quote was from Abba Eban, who said, " the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".

Sounds right.

bjk,

poverty? Have you ever been to Dubai or the emirates? Google and see the splendor.

Sounds nice on paper, but it's hopelessly naive.

Israel did not "occupy" the West bank or Gaza before 1967.  They won these lands from Egypt and Jordan in a defensive war. So Israel has every right to keep land that is essential for its security.

If Egypt and Jordan cared so much about the Palestinans, why didn't they grant them independence after 1948?

The answer is simple: the Arab world does not care about the Palestinians, let alone the citizens of their own countries.

The best the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza can hope for is to remain economic satellites of Israel.

Israel has a right to protect itself. Israelis have the right to live peacefully within secure borders without having to worry about the 7000 rockets and mortars that have been fired into Israel by Hamas in the past three years.

Why don't you direct your criticism at Hamas, the terrorist organization bent on the destruction of Israel? Why don't you plead with Hamas to leave the Israelis alone?

I will admit that Israel could advance the cause of peace enormously by removing all Israelis from the illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. However, that will never happen until Hamas changes it ways or is destroyed.

I agree with the first part of your comment strongly. However I don't think other countries need to be getting involved. This "war" is for lack of better words, in more of a personal nature. Anyone getting involved to mediate is going to find themselves in a bad  light. It is sadly a lose lose situation. I don't blame Israel for the onslaught but at this point they have most def gone overboard.

Conservative Democrat - I agree with you exept for your "illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank" statement. What makes land won in a war illegal? Would this apply to land Isreal LOST in the 1948 war (although they won other land)?. Would this apply to land the USA won in a war against Mexico, or Spain, or Great Britain?

By the way, you may recall that Israel unilaterally forced out its over 9000 citizens living in Gaza about 3 years ago yet that didn't stop the daily, indescriminate rocket fire into southern Israel cities (Sderot) that are not in "dispute".

Israel unilaterally withdrew from southern Lebenon as well a few years before that. That only enbolded Hezbollah to attack from the north.

Lebanon and Gaza have been "Juden Frei" quite a few years now. Why is Israel still under attack. Why do you think "it will be different this time" if she should for the so-called "west bank" to also become "Juden Frei". It will only give the muslim/arab terrorists another front from which to launch rockets into more civilian populations.

But you may be right . . . it probably would be "different this time".

You make it too complicated. Lock all of their most extreme, fanatical leaders in one room, give each side's leader a bomb detonator, the explosives tied to their chests, but the explosive on either side are enough to level the building and kill everyone present, and stipulate that an agreement will be reached, or the explosives will be detonated from the outside by a neutral party, watch the fun, because that is the only way peace will be reached.

And for those who would say that the Palestinians have been doing it for years, in the game of chess, you sacrifice pawns to win, not kings, think about it before you post.

Old timer - if Israel didn't exist, the Arab dictatorships would need to invent it in a hurry.

How else do you account for a simple fact - the Arab world has most of the earth's oil reserves yet year by year is spiralling towards abject poverty, famine, and civil war?

Israel is a daily reminder to this hopeless region that education, democracy, and freedom really do work.

And it scares them to death.

You are wrong, they would just blame the west, the russians, chinese, japanese, maritans, etc, etc. The incompetant leaders will blame everyone else in order to keep power, and people will continue to believe it, "its not him, its someone else, that group that looks different than us is keeping us down." Because after all, we have been doing that for centuries.

I suppose so. The contrast between Israeli success and Arab failure is plain for the world to see. Maybe in a few thousand years, the Arab world (or whatever is left of it) will change its mentality.

BRAVO STEVE!!!  that is one of the most concise and accurate statements to date.