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?

I think that Fred is the last person from whom I'm prepared to take instruction in the English language.

Hamas are firing rockets into areas that are Palestinian land. The numbers hurt are tiny compared to the numbers of people killed by Israeli toops in Gaz, which come to thousands. I believe it was 1,300 just in the last Gaza incursion.

If the Israelis don't want to be fired upon by rockets, then don't live there.

Hays.

There is an area labelled grey, and the majority of us tend to live in that area.

I think the 1,300 is high, I think that figure includes injured. But I maybe wrong, but the action was at the least disproportionate, ultimately stupid and not gainful for Israel. The result was to refocus world attention on the area once again and discredit Israel even more.

However, one wrong does not justify another and taking another life is difficult to justify for me in any circumstance.

I can not see any possibility of Jewish Israelis relinquishing Israel and I think that the most the Arabs can expect in that state for the short while, is equal legal, political representational and human rights, for all those living within the borders of that state. it will have to be a secular state, which it already claims to be, for that to occur. The Fundamentalists of all groups have to be marginalised, but still involved, but their influence proportional to their number.


Long term, it will depend on the growth rate of the different groups.

The problems is getting all groups, including Hamas and Fatah, to the table
and them understanding and accepting some unpalatable "truths" and acting for the general benefit of all.

The negotiators have to be those who are living in that area or recently expelled from that area, with the possibility of external arbitrators.

I had hoped that Obama might knock some sense into the Israelis administration and the Arabs involved in the confrontations and use the pressure which the USA obviously has at this moment in time.

However, I am no longer certain that Obama has the stomach or courage to do so.

Israel claim 1,166 killed in Gaza during the last Gaza conflict and Palestine claims between 1,385 and 1,440. Thhere were 50,800 Gaza residents displaced. Over 4,000 homes destroyed and around $2bn worth of damage to Gaza.

This is a pictorial view of the numbers killed prior to the last Gaza war during January-December 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Israelis_killed_by_Palestinians_in_Israel_and_Palestinians_killed_by_Israelis_in_Gaza_-_2008_prior_to_Gaza_War.png

Gaza's in hospital after a car crash.

well, that's his world cup over, then !

gaza's more likely to pissed out of his mind, and now in tears

Iranian national radio reported today that Tehran sent two ships to aid the besieged Gaza Strip, confirming that one of the ships left the port on Sunday, while the other will leave by next Friday, loaded with food, construction materials, and toys.

That'll go down well. Two ships, flagged by a nation whose leader thinks Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth, are going to run the blockade with a cargo of "toys". Doubtless manned by peace-loving revolutionary guards and Hizbollah operatives.

israel has certainly made a rod for its own back by the inept handling of the first incident ..... for sure the iranian vessels will be intercepted, and it'll be interesting to see if they "resist arrest" and if so, how ..... of course it's as provocative a move as could be contrived, and assuredly nothing whatsoever to do with relieving the plight of the general populace in gaza - for whom i have huge sympathy

Cynic,

Agreed.

But, the "handling" or "dealings" with Iran have been from the time of implanting of the "Shah" by the British and America prior to 1979 was cynical and inept.

If acceptance of the political change had been accepted, rather than obstructed and undermined, then probably a more moderate Iran would have evolved.

http://www.mideastweb.org/iranhistory.htm

Excerpt from ran: Iran Brief History


"By 1953, General Eisenhower had become president of the US. Anti-communist hysteria was reaching its peak. An Iranian general offered to help in overthrow Mosaddeq, and the British were able to persuade the American CIA to go ahead with the coup in August. With very scant resources and a shoe-string operational plan, the CIA set out to remove Mosaddeq. The plan almost failed, and the Shah, never very resolute, had fled to Baghdad and had to be enticed to continue playing his part from there. The army was loyal to the Shah and Mosaddeq was overthrown and arrested. This coup earned the USA and Britain the lasting hatred of large sectors of Iranian public opinion, uniting communists, nationalists and Shi'ite clericalists behind enmity to foreign meddling. Mosaddeq became a folk hero of Iranian nationalism.

In the context of regional turmoil and the Cold War, the Shah established himself as an indispensable ally of the West. In the Middle East, Iran stood out as one of the few friends of Israel, a friendship that allegedly extended to Israeli help in running the SAVAK, the hated Iranian secret service. Domestically, he advocated reform policies, culminating in the 1963 program known as the White Revolution, which included land reform, the extension of voting rights to women, and the elimination of illiteracy.
====================


With the recent orchestrated sanctioning against Iran by the Americans and stupidities of Israel, one could have expected some challenges from Iran.

I hope that it does not escalate into a full scale confrontation.

========

Looking at this present period, one can see many economic, political and religious (positioning) similarities with the 1930s. The "frictions" , which "allowed" the extremists and fanatics to gain power and led to WW2.

It seems a very dangerous period.

Hope I am wrong.

=======================

fred - please take immodium and lots of it

He loves being stuffed up you know where

Cynic.

Don't need it as much as you do.

I am not incontinent like you seem to be.

i take the piss and i travel from continent to continent, but unlike you (and a few others), i don't have verbal diarrhea

Cynic.

A little more insight and self evaluation may be helpful in your case.


Probably, that would require a little more ability than you show.


Have nice day.

thus spake the genius who has no idea who i am

I am happy not knowing who you are.

But your auto-biography seems fairly apt :-

"an opinionated pain who neverthless refuses to take himself too seriously and rarely gets upset by acid retort from those whose feathers he has ruffled. "

of course it's accurate - i wrote it you dummy!
how would you describe yourself?
thoughtful? balanced? impartial? measured? ..... or none of those?

Probably, having a normal distributions of human frailties and fortunately aware of some of them.