Israeli troops on the ground in Gaza

[ladycat]

I just hope the fighting doesn't snowball over there or else we'll be in a world of hurt over here and in other developed countries.

[deuteronomy67]

I expect it to. Watch the northern border of Israel when the ground forces are in FULL force - Monday or so...and watch Iran/Hezbullah's response from Damascus.

www.theshininglight.info scroll down to the ISRAEL NEWS JAN 09

[beccachow]

This is all so frightening.

[seedspreader]

Don't be frightened. Really this isn't anything worse than has been seen before. Certainly anything in the Middle East has the possibility of flashing over, but this one doesn't have the earmarks to me. Too many disinterested Arab countries on the sideline.

Which brings about something I've been hearing about only on the fringes of the media. There is a serious financial hardship taking place in those uber-rich Arab nations because they've all been spending like lunatics also... and their income has dried up.

Granted, higher oil would benefit them... which really leads me to believe that they would much rather have some fear float through the markets than to do really too much to start an actual war.

Iran/Syria is of course the wildcard.

[hintonlady]

Israel and the Jewish people are no strangers to danger. From the skill of David to the cunning of Deborah they are a nation of religious warriors by necessity. This and their struggles are nothing new.

They have survived conquests and control by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Sassanians, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Crusaders, Ottomons and even Nazis

In May 14, 1948 the Arab Israeli war started which lasted a year. Israel fought against troops from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Morocco, Sudan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Between 1948 and 1952 Israel grew in population from 800,000 to 2 million, mostly comprised of holocaust survivors and refugees. People who for thousands of years had been hunted, persecuted and survived at the brink of annihilation. Israel is the homeland of the Jews and the only corner of the world they have remaining. It is as big as the state of Rhode Island and geographically a drop in the bucket in land mass when considering the size of the middle east.

In 1948 Israel was forced into a cease fire. In 1950 Israel was forced to retreat from territories by the U.S. and former Soviet Union. In 1967 Israel achieved a decisive victory in 6 days against Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

They led “operation wrath of God” after the Munich games massacre and several concurrent attacks. Israeli intelligence via the Mosad and worldwide networks is second to none. Militarily they have always been forced to stand tall with minimal resources and are very advanced considering population size and relative newness as an established nation in modern times.

The only people who should be worried are the Palestinians and their supporters in force. If they wanted peace they shouldn’t have sent an assault of rockets and assumed it would be met with a welcome wagon. The only thing that has saved their and their neighbors rears from certain doom is extreme restraint on Israels part and pressure from world powers and the UN.

I sympathize on the humanitarian front. Collateral damage is a shame no matter who it is. Perhaps then the Palestinians may want to reconsider not having their mouths write checks their rears can’t cash. Poking a sleeping dragon is never a good idea.

As far as the northern border..........same B.S. different day. They have thousands of years of experience. I’m confident all contingencies have been considered.

[texican]

The only danger I see is from outside players. Israel can level Gaza... but if they do, the terrorists in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran may want to come to their aid, and start lobbing missiles. If that happens, Israel will have to start thumpin' them, and then it can snowball in a hurry.

The scariest report I read was the Grad missiles launched from Gaza can hit Dimona. They hit Dimona, there'll be glass. I think if Hamas starts targeting Dimona, Israel will use some Daisy Cutter clones and level the launch areas. Without Dimona, Israel would be a hurting, bad.

[hintonlady]

Texican: I don’t mean to be argumentative but I don’t feel that Dimona is as significant as you may think for a power source. It is not one of the large significant cities either.

Israel Electric has been building power plants across Israel for over 80 years

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...609779,00.html

As far as glass goes I could only guess the range of impact. Dimona is in a no mans land so to speak. That portion of the country is minimally populated. The fact that the country is so small is what comes into play.




As for the rationale behind this disasterous situation:

The ridiculous irony of it all has been lost to many.

Grant it, there are some hotly disputed territories that cause a lot of tension. Both sides were forced into a compromise that neither may ever be happy with. Some lingering frustration is to be expected. Doesn’t remove the need to act like grown ups.

The stupid part comes in outside of border clashes.

The Palestinians want their own state and own leadership to run it. Seems fair enough.

What they also seem to want is to continue to rely on the infrastructure, facilities and commerce of the state of Israel. While they have spent quite some time crying foul on the unfairness of it all they have neglected a major point. Israel does NOT have to open her borders, allow free movement, use of schools, hospitals etc. to what are now technically foreigners.

Perhaps the Palestinians should consider that if they want to be “grown ups” in the world that it is now also time for them to create their own economy, their own industry and get on with it. All of the inner workings of Israel as a modern nation were created by the Jewish state. Palestinians seem to have a sense of entitlement to resources they did not build from scratch just a few decades ago.

Sharing and fairness is a great thing. Allowing open borders and free trade makes sense. Doing so whilst sending explosives of various degrees over to the hand that feeds you and expecting to get something tasty is delusional enough for even a kindergartner to recognize.