wow. when i posed the question on Gaza, i wasnt sure what to expect. some of you guys really surprised me with both how articulate and how passionate you are. when i studied poli-sci foreign affairs and the history of africa and the middle east were always the most interesting to me. some of the lines that europe and other colonialists and neo-colonialists drew seem so arbitrary, almost not fixable now… and some are now nearly impossible to investigate or discuss the humanity of people without a religious subtext.  i look forward to trying to get to gaza and see some of whats going on firsthand at some point this year, as well as the congo. i am not going to include my ideas on gaza here partially because i dont want to feel like im indoctrinating people, but, also some of you nailed some of my ideas on the head (im putting up a selection that stood out to me. that doesnt in any way negate yours, i have read them all). definitely a long read. if you like pictures of shoes or boys in bands kissing- this is not for you…
i tried to post a group of differing a opinions. the best advice i ever received on the politics of the middle east was from a professor who said ” be careful what your sources are and where you get your news from”.
can anyone name the number 1 and number 2 countries that the u.s. gives the most foreign aid money to?
also, id like to recommend a book that really has nothing to do with this topic but is one of my favorites: King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild

Al1 day agoplease choose one of the following nations/countires to rule the strip of land (according to historical ruler-ship rights)
1)Canaanites
2)jews
3)Assyrians
4)Babylonians
5)Egyptians
6)Greeks
7)Macedonians
8)Romans
9)Byzantines
10)Crusaders
11)Islamic nations
12)Ottomans
13)Brits

and i’m sure that i left a couple out of the list… 
going on with the God point of view….why did all these nations conquer this stretch of land?
why did the Jews disperse?
all these happened, and none can be changed, neither can the fact that there is now an Israeli country. so lets move on from this!!!
Again, THE PROBLEM, can’t be solved over night…..
anger can be dealt with, and over time will subside… but hatred… now that is a whole other thing.
there are radical groups on both sides, those who want israel destroyed, and those that want the arabs away from there….
but these groups are a minority, and i think that the majority of the people on both sides just want to fucking live their lives in peace.
in my opinion, if it where up to the people, the world would have less problems

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing

Blondiie2 days agoI think its hard when you dont get the full story, only whats on TV, its hard to get inside the head of people ready to kill each other, but at the same time there must be some motive behind it. My IDEAL soloution as far as i can see is no more deaths. What mother/father/sister/brother/uncle/nephew ect. deserves the death of a loved one? Thats what gets me the most.

ryan smith2 days agoalright, i know that you were a 3 year political science major and i know that this topic was most likely covered throughout your prerequisite courses. but to be honest, the country of israel is obviously an ally but in the order of general politics the citzens of gaza are being treated horribly only because of the israel occupation. in the end its a double edged sword because the u.s. will always bring tyrants into power only to take them out decades later.

sharoneee1 day agoI’m really happy you asked this question becasue it’s extremely important to me. I believe that Gaza should stop shooting missles over into Israel. This hasn’t been somethign new that has been happening, this problem has been going on for years, and I think they need to realize that they should be thankful for the land they have, and civilize, instead of try to obtain the land given to the Israelis/Jews thousands of years ago.

This topic really hits home to me and offends me when people say that what Israel is doing is bad becasue I have lived in that country for over four years of my life, and I know what it feels like to walk around with a little feeling inside for you that there is a slight chance of death. There was even a point, when I was about 9, that I had a gas mask, and sometimes we had to bring them to school. Right now over 40 of my family members are living in Israel and I am scared for their lives. I understand that there is a larger death rate for Palestinians than Israelis, but the thing is the soldiers are aiming to catch terrorists, and are killing people in their way, rather than killing random people by dropping bombs to whenever they feel like aiming. 

This was really long, but it offends me when Israel is made look like the bad guy in the situation, and it hurts that at this moment, my family is at risk of their lives.

i’msadthati’mflying1 day agoI think that Israel has definitely stepped over the line in terms of defending its people. Israel is estimated to have killed at least 1200 Palestinians, whereas only 13 Israelis have died, according to the New York Times. Not to make a death count be the center of the issue, but this massive amount of civilian deaths will definitely make Hamas be more popular.
Before Israel launched their attack, Hamas was becoming less popular. They had been elected over Fatah, the more moderate group, it’s true, but Palestinians were becoming tired of Hamas. They had elected them mostly because Fatah was viewed as corrupt and didn’t do much for social services for the people, not because the average Palestinian buys into the Hamas ideology. You can’t bomb people into moderation, as one observer has said, and it seems that Israel is trying to do just that - and is not realizing that it will only make their security situation worse.
An ideal solution is so hard to come up with. I believe that the U.S. needs to finally stand up to its ally and call for an immediate ceasefire. We can’t mindlessly support them, as the Bush administration has done. We do need to support them in every way we can, although it doesn’t help our standing in the Middle East at all. We can’t be the big silent bully force behind everything Israel does. 
I am not arguing about the right for Israel to exist. Israel should, of course, keep the boundaries that they have now, instead of continuing to take land and develop in Palestinian territory. This is a point I don’t think has been emphasized enough - Israel is expanding! No matter how crazy and radical some Palestinians have been about Israel, Israelis don’t have the right to keep taking land. The Israeli government has allowed this to happen to appeal to its conservatives.
I know that I’m not an expert at all, but I also know that many people share this view of how the conflict should be resolved. I believe there needs to be:
1. an immediate ceasefire
2. a halt to the continued expansion of Israel
3. more international humanitarian aid to Palestine
4. a new US governmental policy that involves a promise to mediate
5. the eventual creation of a Palestinian state
I know that Israel was defending itself from rocket attacks. But its retaliation went too far, and now it has only made things worse for itself.

sophia (london)2 days agoI totally do not agree with what is going on on both sides of equation, that is what Israel are doing to the people in Gaza, and what Hamas are doing to the Israeli people. Everyone can see that Israel have the advantage when it comes to military operations and aid for their people, but I believe that the Palastenian people have the advantage of unity. Everytime they are hit by bombs and bullets, they all get together to redevelop their country that has fallen so many times before, and I admire that alot.
As for an ideal solution, at the moment there is none. One country will not back down until the other admits defeat, and it is plain to see this will not happen until one runs out of ammunition or people, and sadly I think this will be experienced by Gaza in both ways.
We just have to wait and see if countries will come to the humanitarian aid of the people in Gaza, and whether the “higher powers” can condemn the action going on in the Middle East and do something about it.

Pete - To get the story from the Middle East side (we are solely getting it from the Western side), I recomend you check Aljazeera International ttp://english.aljazeera.net/

Sorry that was a bit long-winded, I feel strongly about Middle East affair

Sandra3881 day agohey pete, 
So i cant answer your question fully just because the information that i base my opinion on is directly from the media such as t.v and the newspapers which are all published and air through american businesses and press so it is most likely to be biased. THere are always two sides to any disagreement just like in a relationship. The way i see it is that Israel does deserved their promised land however, it wont be given up easier through violence. I am not saying Israel is responsible, I am saying that violence wont really help solve anything. Are we going to have to wait until some one is killed just like Martin Luther King or take away like Ghandi? I believe in non-violence because through history, it can be seen that more has been lost than gained through violence. I dont think that what is going on in Gaza will stop anytime soon. In simple terms, no side is doing the right thing. Both are responsible for their actions, pointing fingers through the use of bombs and violence isnt the answer. The reason why Singer’s counterpart whom which i forget the name of said that instead of trying to come up with ideal solutions, how about we get the best “ideal” we can through the realisticism we have. thats just my opinion, everyone is entitled to it.

TimSt1 day agoIt is worth noting that as of today, Israel has declared a unilateral ceasefire. other than that, I’m pretty sure everything i’m gonna say has already been said. but here’s my opinion anyway.
I think Hamas is the prime belligerent here. I read a news story the other day that said Hamas fighters were actually using hospitals and mosques, places where many innocent civilians congregate, as bases to launch their rockets on Israel. Of course, Israel, as a sovereign country (and let’s not forget, one of the only democracies in the middle east), can’t just let some outside force lob rockets into their territory. Do you think any nation would put up with that if it had a choice? So when they retaliate against these rocket sites, they end up killing Palestinian civilians. It would seem to me that that was Hamas’ plan in the first place - launch an attack, hide behind the civilians, wait for Israel to attack that position and cause civilian deaths, then use that to make Israel look like “the bad guy”. Then most of the blame gets shifted to the Israelis.
With that said, I also think that Israel should restrain itself. After all, the casualty count is much heavier on the Palestinian side than theirs. It’s just awful seeing the photos of dead children and demolished buildings in Gaza, and aid organizations should definitely be let in to help the hurting Palestinians because they can’t really help themselves when it comes to medical supplies and food.
I’m not an expert, but to me it seems like Israel isn’t attacking Gaza with the goal of killing civilians. But they do have to fight Hamas, and the places where Hamas fighters quarter themselves are heavily populated. 
Personally, I think the whole situation is messed up. And I don’t see a permanent end to this struggle any time soon, unless a two-state solution is enacted. And that doesn’t seem like it will happen in the near future.
The whole thing is not a “black-and-white” situation, it’s all very grey. But at the end of the day, I’d have to give Israel the benefit of the doubt. (But I hope and pray that they will let more aid flow into the Gaza Strip.)

PopARF1 day agoIsraeli Attack Injures 1.5 Million Gazans

This week the death toll in Gaza passed the 1,000 mark, after nearly three weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks. But surprisingly, no one has reported an even more appalling statistic: that there are some 1.5 million injured Palestinians in Gaza. How is is possible that such an astounding figure could have passed the world’s media by?

The reason apparently is that they have been relying on the highly unreliable statistics provided by official Palestinian sources. It appears that the Palestinian health ministry only records as wounded those Gazans who need to stay in hospital because of the severity of their injuries.

That means they only count the more than 4,500 Gazans who have suffered injuries such as severe burns from exploding Israeli phosphorus shells; shrapnel wounds from artillery rounds; broken or lost limbs from aerial bombardment; bullet wounds; physical trauma from falling building debris; and so on.

But in fact there is another, far more reasonable standard for assessing those injured, one that provides the far higher total of 1.5 million Gazans – or every surviving Palestinian in Gaza. The measure I am referring to is the one employed by Israel.

turbo_lover23 hours agoUN demands for a cease-fire have been ignored, and civilian casualties are horrific (naturally, both sides blame the other for this). Major sticking points for any cease-fire are the status of the Egyptian crossings - Israel won’t stop without a closure of the Egyptian border to all weapons smuggling, while Hamas will not agree to a cease-fire without an opening of that border (Gaza’s only border not controlled by Israel). It’s not really clear what Israel’s endgame is (or if they really have one), so it’s very difficult to tell if things will only get worse or if this is as bad as it will get. Needless to say, however, Israel shows no signs it will back down and Hamas shows no signs of being willing to accede to Israeli demands