Operation Cast Lead (continued)

And the operation continues. Very sad day today. A few Israeli soldiers killed, and more than 40 people - mostly civilian - are dead at the Palestinian side.

I guess that nothing good comes out of hiding weapons & shooting rockets from within schools. The poor residents of Gaza are hostages at the hands of Hamas... the very same Hamas they voted for government. I feel very bad for people killed on both sides, but hey - all Hamas has to do in order to avoid civilians being hurt is to stop using innocent civilians as shields.

I have read some extremely stupid Canadian commenting in CBC's website today, claiming that the claim about using human shields is fake and that nobody in their right mind would use women and children as shields. DUH. When you spend your life sheltered in your fancy house in the country, nobody shooting missiles on your house, it's really easy to think that the world is kind and good.

Claim #3: Israel is occupying Gaza

Israel controls the Gaza Strip but does not occupy it. It used to occupy it, however it withdrew all settlements from there in the summer of 2005. The reason it controls it though has to do with the 1967 war, during which the Gaza Strip has been conquered from Egypt.

There has never been a country named "Gaza".

Claim #4: Israel refuses to negotiate and resorts to war too quickly

While this claim would have been nice to believe in as it would make life so easy for so many people, unfortunately, it is not based on facts. If at all, all signs show that the opposite is true.

1. The Hamas party, which rules the Gaza Strip, is a terrorist organization - at least as far as the vast majority of Western countries are concerned (Canada included).
2. Since the year 2000, residents of southern Israel have been subject to constant life threat. Thousands and thousands of rockets have been fired towards Israel from Gaza during the last eight years.
3. Israel has attempted repeatedly to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinian people; see the Oslo Accords, the Wye River Memorandum, Annapolis and others.

However, as it turns out, negotiating with an entity that its sole purpose is to destroy you (read their charter) is trickier than what most people think.

Good night now. For real.

--
Isaac