The Palestinian Authority declares war on Israel?

[Thue]

Hamas Says It Will Resume Attacking Israel

JERUSALEM, June 9 — Hamas, the ruling Palestinian political movement, declared Friday that it would renew its attacks on Israel after the deaths of at least seven Palestinian civilians on a crowded Gaza beach from an apparently errant Israeli artillery shell.

Perhaps somebody should inform Hamas this saying and doing stuff has consequences when you are leading a country... This should be a short war...

[DRoseDARs]

It'd be nice if Israel would stop lobbing bombs into condensed urban areas for a change. If I were Hamas, I'd be using Israel's incessant military actions as a convenient excuse and justification for terrorism too... Israel needs to stop fueling Hamas' fire.

[Bosh]

That's not good. Also a guy that Hamas wanted to join it's government got blown up.

[Thue]

Yes, bombarding civilians is not cool - but I note that unlike Hamas Israel does not explicitly target civilians, but only hits them by accident.

In the current case the Israelis were aiming at a target which had been bombarding them with rockets. Assuming this is true, I can't really blame the Israelis for shooting back. And Hamas can't blame them either, if Hamas did not try hard enough to stop the people firing rockets at Israel.

[DRoseDARs]

I think we can all agree that sh*t begets sh*t, no matter who started it or why. Someone needs to draw a line: Either Israel needs to conduct a full military invasion of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (disaster in the making, to be sure...) or they need to militarily stop responding in kind.

[Az]

Either Israel needs to conduct a full military invasion of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (disaster in the making, to be sure...) or they need to militarily stop responding in kind.

That's awesome of you to say, but neither options are realistic - the first will draw the rage of the intl. community "give peace a chance", etc., while the second will allow violence against Israel to escalate.

But, again, thank you for your simple solutions....

[DRoseDARs]

Well, Hamas being in legitimate power of a democratically-elected government is a total farce, but it is what it is: Legitimate. However, their words and probable near-future actions indicate they have no f*cking idea what that means. They're still acting like they're some ragtag rebel militia fighting against those damn, dirty Jews. I think we all recognize the fact that if they want to be taken at all seriously in the international community in a future beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this sh*t needs to stop. Hamas doesn't recognize this simple truth. It's up to Israel (and moderate Palestinians, but obviously they're in the minority if Hamas being democratically elected is any indication) to draw the line. Israel can either be bold and crush these terrorists in the biggest clusterf*ck disaster since WW1 or they can be even bolder and take the Ghandi approach: Take your licks, but don't bite back.

[Az]

Israel can either be bold and crush these terrorists in the biggest clusterf*ck disaster since WW1

How so?

or they can be even bolder and take the Ghandi approach: Take your licks, but don't bite back.

again, how so?

your creative solutions sure are creative, but they aren't really, well, working.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Thue
Yes, bombarding civilians is not cool - but I note that unlike Hamas Israel does not explicitly target civilians, but only hits them by accident.

This is hardly reassuring.

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Az

Israel can either be bold and crush these terrorists in the biggest clusterf*ck disaster since WW1

How so?

You really think Israel can successfully end the attacks in this manner? Or do you think every Palestinian who can carry a gun will rise up and fight? And what of neighboring countries? You think they'll sit idly by?

or they can be even bolder and take the Ghandi approach: Take your licks, but don't bite back.

again, how so?

Close the borders (along internationally-accepted lines, not wherever-the-f*ck-Israel-feels-like lines) to general traffic, monitor them closely, check every person entering for explosives, and move people out of the illegal settlements whether they want to go or not. And stop shooting missiles back. Obviously, if the attacks haven't stopped after a number of years, or they increase in frequency or severity, or c/b/n agents are used, then Israel will have no choice but to respond militarily.

your creative solutions sure are creative, but they aren't really, well, working.

I don't recall Israel ever not responding to attacks longer than a month, a few weeks at best... oddly, my "creative solution" doesn't seem to have ever been tried.

[Gibsie]

Originally posted by Thue
Yes, bombarding civilians is not cool - but I note that unlike Hamas Israel does not explicitly target civilians, but only hits them by accident.

Just out if interest, how much compensation does Israel offer to the families of people it accidentally blows up? Serious question.

[Spiffor]

Originally written in the article
artillery shell

Maybe Israel might want to use less blunt weapons.

Actually, I've heard in the news that Israel has announced today it'll stop artillery bombing on the PA. If they're serious about it, at least there's a good thing that comes out of that crisis.

[Timexwatch]

When do we hold the Palestinians responsible for lobbing rocket after rocket over the border the past couple of months? Unguided, home made rockets are the definition of a blunt weapon.

[Gibsie]

How many do they kill? see also: "proportionate response"

[Timexwatch]

see also: "unnecessary provocation of a larger enemy"
see also: "non-violent resitance works"