In the meantime, civilians in the area are traumatized and in danger. An Israeli strike outside a U.N. school in Gaza cost 34 lives, bringing the death toll for Palestinians to nearly 600 with about 475 of those believed to be connected to Hamas.
With just two of the 58 Palestinians killed Tuesday confirmed to be Hamas militants, Israel is taking a beating on the world public relations front.
Israeli leaders are caught in a hard situation. Hamas militants are the sorts who hide behind civilians, lobbing death from behind human shields. Targeting only these militants, who will hide out in schools and hospitals, is impossible. Failing to target them puts Israel’s own civilian population at risk.
In essence, what Hamas and its furtive enablers want is a double standard — all of Israel is Hamas’ target, while only the Palestinian militants should be targeted by Israel.
How long this 11-day assault will continue is anybody’s guess. With some expectations, whether valid or not, that an Obama administration might be less supportive than the outgoing Bush White House, Israeli leaders may feel that their best hope of securing their people is to wipe out as much of Hamas as possible.
And that is what makes the cease-fire problematic. Israeli officials note that during the last six-month truce, Hamas managed to upgrade its weaponry and double its range. Now Hamas rockets are able to reach nearly 900,000 of Israel’s 7 million population.
Hamas, which has made it clear that obliterating Israel is its chief goal, has shown no signs of letting up either, firing two dozen rockets from Gaza on Tuesday into Israeli territory. Israel has been much more fortunate on fatalities with just 10, primarily because it has been on the offensive.
Stopping the violence will take the wisdom of Solomon. So far, such wisdom has eluded world leaders.
The solution is deceptively simple. Israel’s enemies could accept it as a legitimate nation and let it exist. So far, that seems to be too much to ask.
Failing that, an international community that is aghast at Israel’s actions could stop the fighting by disarming Hamas and preventing those militants from rearming themselves.
Until that happens, Israel should have to the right to defend itself and its citizens, and it is under no obligation to pause so that its enemies can regroup and renew their efforts to wipe it out of existence.
— The Albany Herald Editorial Board
Lee ADDS: Those that are critical of Israel defending its citizenry are both foolish and not worthy of being heard! If it were not for the terrorist acts perpetrated by HAMAS there would BE NO CONFLICT!
January 8th, 2009 at 4:00 am
Your tone “Lee ADDS: Those that are critical of Israel defending its citizenry are both foolish and not worthy of being heard! If it were not for the terrorist acts perpetrated by HAMAS there would BE NO CONFLICT! ” is the tone that perpetuates this old battle.
EVERYONE is worthy of being heard. Your statement is incredibly foolish. If you don’t consider everyone involved in this conflict you will die knowing that you did nothing to help Israelis and Arabs live in peace. Peace in the region is an absolute possibility, but only when both stop ignoring, shouting, fighting, bombing, and begin listening to one another’s concerns.
I have studied Jewish history for so many years of my life and understand Jewish concerns. Who has studied Palestinian history? Who knows about the conditions that Palestinians are living under? If you can’t say that you know the case of the Palestinians as well as that of Jews, then you really have nothing to base your statements upon.
I am an elementary school teacher. When a child presents with behavior or academic issues, I don’t punish him or send him to a different classroom. I do everything in my power to understand the root of his issues. If I have trouble understanding the root of his issues, I call upon the help of learning/behavior specialists.
It just seems so clear to me, that the way you define a problem determines the steps you take to solve that problem.
How is this not clear to so many people like yourself around the world. I don’t mean to insult you at all.
I am a Palestinian-Italian-Canadian, and after being in Israel, it just makes me so incredibly sad and angry that the Israeli government has failed to truly acknowledge the conditions that Israeli-Arabs and those living in the West Bank and Gaza are living under. Their anger has deep roots, as Jewish anger and deep sadness has its roots.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
aida, Please understand, if HAMAS STOPPED firing misslesinto Israel there would be no invasion!
Also, as a school teacher you should take into accoubnt the TOTAL NUMBER of students and spend time with all. The children that need tutoring must not detract from other students in need of learning!
Israel has acknowledged the Palestinian needs but due to the Palestinian refusal to acknowledge Israel as a nation after 60+ years of existence is not only foolish but cause for the world to doubt the sanity of some!