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Originally posted by Yelof
Israeli fear is fear to eat out at a restaurant, more of them die in car accidents each year then by bomb, the same cannot be said of Palestinians
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I'd be very interested to see facts which support your claim - i.e., the number of Palestinian deaths in car accidents for 2001 against the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli suicide bombing in 2001. Or even just bombing, period.
Now... just because the Hamas leader says that they would stop operations doesn't exactly mean that they would. For example, I can say "My penis is eighteen inches long", but this hardly makes it fact. What has been demonstrated so far is that when Israel is not attacking militants, Palestinian groups are attacking Israel, and when Israel cracks down on the West Bank, suicide bombings fall off very quickly.
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In terms of overall human suffering we'd be better off with the bombings, which without violent response and with instead dialog would eventually peter out.
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This line of thinking always amuses me. "I feel that the best offense is to run away. That way you instill fear into your opponents." Let's stop kidding ourselves here for a second and look at the situation. Israel cannot possibly afford to not retaliate for suicide bombings because in doing so, they enable Palestinian extremists. If Israel stops responding, it is the real-world equivalent of bending over and spreading your cheeks. Do you truly honestly believe that Palestinian extremists will stop the bombings if Israel discontinues the killing of militants? That's a foolish notion, and it's laughable. No matter what you read, no matter what they say, it is not as simple as "they want the West Bank and Gaza and Golan back." Let us not forget that those lands were acquired in the 1967 Six Day war which, while started by Israel, was a <b>pre-emptive</b> strike against nations that were preparing to attack Israel. There is hatred between these peoples that is simply impossible to comprehend from the outside. The West Bank is an excuse to wage war against a religion.
Your argument is for Israel to stop responding to attacks and create dialogue. Okay. How about... Palestinian extremists stop attacking and create dialogue? How come no one ever brings up that possibility? How come the pressure is on Israel? What <b>possible</b> justification would Israel have for attacking Palestinians if there were no suicide bombings or attacks on settlements? How the hell could they possibly justify that? They couldn't. The Palestinian extremists have the key to stopping the attacks and they refuse to use it.
Finally... do you really think that the Palestinian Authority is doing all it can to stop militants?
I sure as hell hope not. The lawlessness in the West Bank is unreal. Where else can people kill each other and then drag the dead bodies down the street without getting arrested, thrown in jail, tried, convicted and imprisoned? The PA and its police make almost no effort to quelch extremism and disarm militants. They are enabling it to happen.
So let's quit blaming Israel for everything. Both sides have caused a lot of the problems, and it's up to both to fix it. It's not as if Israel has the key and is failing to wield it.
[ Edit - ., $s/fo/of/ ]