Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

Ceasefire?
1st ceasefire-315 rockets in 6 months.
2nd "" 538 rockets and Quassam in 6 months.
3rd " over 50 to date.
Gluttons for punishment I think.

Maybe the Israelis should have gone on and finished Hamas off as a military force in Gaza and Fatah could have taken over. It reminds me of Bush Senior not finishing off Sadman Insane in 91. You've only got to go back in and do the job properly in the end.
One thing's for sure, Gaza would be better off now, as would the Palestinian people generally, as would the prospects for a Palestinian state, if Hamas would have been destroyed.

Balanced debate eh fred. You put too much trust in the UN. Now remind me, why won't they let Israel join the UNSC?

This is just like the onesided war reporting you got on TV during the conflict....what on earth is this doing on a finance site like this ?

Why shouldn't shouldn't it be. There are many other threads of less value.
Remind me of "why won't they let Israel join the UNSC?"

Should this thread be suppressed? If so why?


It is a bit more relevant than the football thread to international economy.

No....ever heard of bet spreads on soccer ?....all you are doing is talking political clap trap....this thread has nothing to do with finance.

Never wrote that it did directly. But there is an indirect effect. (Oil prices.) Spread bets. I use them occasionally. But if you try hard enough you probably can get one on the colour of your bowel movement.

But what I am aware of, is the attempts to suppress debate of the Gaza situation in the media.

If that happens, it will explode again and Israel will lose more of the few friends it still has.

rf - please don't criticise this thread - Freddy is an entertaining diversion, far removed from all the sensible stuff we have to deal with on a finance BB.

Give the fool his oxygen.

I give up, sigh !, (for the moment) I'm off to monitor the sp's.....you are just like a politician !.

Remind me of "why won't they let Israel join the UNSC?"

The very democratic process of the muslim veto at every attempt so don't expect a balanced view from the UN.

For those who missed this.

Interesting!

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE5480Y920090513?feedType=nl&feedName=uktopnewsearly

Pope in West Bank calls for Palestinian state
Wed May 13, 2009 2:48pm BST

By Philip Pullella and Mohammad Assadi
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Pope Benedict witnessed the watchtowers and high walls that seal Bethlehem off from Jerusalem on Wednesday as he entered the Israeli-occupied West Bank and pressed his call for a Palestinian state.
The papal convoy drove slowly through three big steel gates in the fortified barrier of towering concrete slabs which Israel began building between the two holy cities in 2002, to stop a wave of deadly Palestinian bomb attacks.
A warm welcome greeted him along the steep, ancient streets of the town where Jesus Christ was born, from Palestinians gathered in anticipation of hearing the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics back their independence aspirations.
Cheers of "Long Live the Pope, Long Live Palestine" rose up as Benedict began his first visit to Bethlehem as pontiff.

"The Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with your neighbours, within internationally recognised borders," he told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a ceremony shortly after crossing from Israel.
The two-state solution is supported by Abbas, Arab nations and Western powers. But the new Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has declined so far to endorse it. This will be a focus of his talks next week with U.S. President Barack Obama.
In his address, Abbas denounced Israel's "apartheid wall" as part of efforts by the Jewish state to drive Palestinian Christians and Muslims from the Holy Land.
The Palestinian president spoke of "oppression, tyranny and land expropriation" and said Palestinians wanted a future with "no occupation, no checkpoints, no walls, no prisoners, no refugees."
Palestinians were fervently hoping that the pope, too, would call for the removal of the wall.
MANGER SQUARE MASS
A Palestinian flag nearly the size of a building hung before the pope as he said Mass for about 5,000 people in Manger Square, next to the Church of the Nativity that marks the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born in a stable.
Applause broke out when he expressed concern for Palestinians in the Hamas Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip, where over 1,000 were killed in an Israeli offensive in January. He said he was praying that Israel's embargo on Gaza "will soon be lifted."
It was strange, he said, that Bethlehem was associated with the joy and renewal of Jesus's birth "yet here in our midst, how far this magnificent promise seems from being realised."
The square was packed with Palestinian Christians and some had tears in their eyes as the pope arrived.
"There are fewer and fewer of us Palestinian Christians but we have strength," said Kandra Zreineh, a 45-year-old mother of four from a village near Bethlehem. "We are proud to have this visit because we are small and I believe he may be able to make a difference for us. I still believe in miracles."
Thousands of Christians have left Bethlehem since a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000. It was met with an Israeli security clampdown and the construction of the barrier, which cripples freedom of movement.
Abbas, who like most Palestinians is Muslim, described the hardships faced by his people, including the tens of thousands of Christians whose community is shrinking through emigration.
"On this Holy Land, there are those who continue to build separation walls, instead of bridges, and who try with the occupation forces to compel both Christians and Muslims alike to leave the country," the Palestinian leader said.
Israel's actions in the name of security were changing holy places "into mere archaeological sites, rather than places of worship, alive and bustling with believers."
"Jerusalem ... is surrounded by the apartheid wall which prevents our people from the West Bank from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and al-Aqsa Mosque," he added.
In his arrival address, Benedict acknowledged Israel's security concerns as well as Palestinian suffering, and urged people not to "resort to acts of violence or terrorism."
A full day of events in the West Bank may relieve Vatican officials of the strains that have dogged the German pope in Jerusalem, where Israeli leaders have complained that he did not express enough empathy and regret in remarks he made on Monday at the Yad Vashem memorial to the Jewish dead of the Holocaust.
The pope is due to hold a mass in Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, before flying back to the Vatican on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Reuters Jerusalem and Bethlehem staff; Editing by Douglas Hamilton)

What relevance does the pope have?

He is the leader of a group of people who illogically believe in a supernatural being akin to Father Christmas. Why do we take any notice of him and other religious leaders? It must be time for moire states to become secular. There is no need to supress religion nor is there to give it any offocial recognition. Why does the taxpayer subsidise religious schools, give private religious schools tax breaks etc. We are in effect encouraging and supporting the passing on of the brainwashing of children.

if you want a nice balanced view of why it is so difficult for the real populace to secure peace in M/E, get a pic from the front page of today's Gulf News .... big photo entitled "Palestinians mark 61st anniversary of Nakba" ..... DYOR!

Not a good year 1948.

for wine, no but for israel and india (1947), something of a landmark ..... for the palestinians, nothing like the tragedy that the shit-stirrers would like to promote

Bad year for the Palestinians. It wasn't till 1948 that state of Israel as an independent state was established. It was a bad thing then and still is now. The conflict in that area will continue for generations till Isreal makes major changes.

one-sided blame then?

Cynic,

No. But the position, that Israel is taking to a to another group of human beings ie. the Palestinians, is abusive their human rights.

This is being done, due to their present superiority as a group, by the use of force. I think support from America for this balance of force or power is on the wane. (Probably, due to the raising of political levies via the internet etc..)


To my mind, the abuse being shown is similar to that shown in Germany in the 30s, where those of the Jewish Faith or association were abused. You use of language against a group of people or ideas you disagree with seems to me to be very similar to the expressions used to ferment ant-Semitism and hatred in that period. The difference being that the abuse by some factions in Israel and outside Israel, is that it is at another grouping of human beings. (Palestinians, Arabs etc..)

The abuse of Palestinians rights has been ongoing since 1947, with the bloody consequences.


The two state solution, may help to resolve large portions of the problems in that area. Perhaps, then with mutual respect, which has to be earned by both sides there may be peace and harmony for all the occupiers of that area of the world.

This would be beneficial to all sides in the present debacle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah......heard it all before........destroy Israel, slaughter the Jews ALL "THEIR" FAULT.....solve the world's problems......typical nazi and anti-semitic filth.....bad thing to have a country Jews can go to, but good thing to have a country for Palestinians to go to..........no no no that's not being two faced.....sure sure sure...too much hate mongering dressed up as "reason".
WTF is wrong with a country for Indians to go to if they choose, or Pakistanis or Israelis or Palestinians.....it's called self-determination and sovereignty.....freedom to choose.
No the time of the BNP nazi filth AND THEIR FELLOW TRAVELLERS is NOT coming, at least it would have to be over my dead body.

Not anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic, just anti-Israel. No one is interested in Jewish people as a race havving a country. They all have and have had countries that they come and came from. Isreal is no homeland for them, despite being pronounced so. Israel was happy to abide by the UN resolution that aprtitioned Palestine in 1947, but ignore all other UN resolutions since then. Perhaps at the very least they might like to move back to the 1947 layout of the map.

Even in the Balfour Declaration, which predates the UN resolution by many years there was a line inserted,

"it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".[

There was to be no mass exodus of Jews to Israel and the existing Palestinians were to be protected.