In 2009,hopefully there will be more ..uh progress as to what Israel is dealing with.F(orget)the Chews fo' a second;fo' the past several years,Brigitte Gabriel and Pastor John Hagee have presided over services at a local church outside Detroit.Chaeck out Gabriel's autobiography(and web site)'Because They 'Hate'-she lived in a bomb shelter in Lebanon for eight years.Also checkout Palestinianmediawatch.com.

Another "victory" for Israel. Although this is not his doing, this turns into the first mistake of the Obama regime. The Arab Language feeder service, Al Jazeera, or whatever it's called, ran lots of split screen views showing Barack Hussein golfing in Hawaii, and all the poor little kids named Hussein perishing in the streets of Gaza. It was great theater and did Obama tons of damage in the world of Mohammed.

I'm no fan of Hamas.  In fact, I consider them to be the root of much of the conflict in the Middle East for the simple reason that they do not want peace, and they will not accept Israel's right to exist.But what Israel is doing right now is not going to help.  Israel is martyrizing Hamas as we speak.  Their overwhelming show of force against a pathetic and beaten down foe is doing nothing more than justify the region's irrational, racial hatred of the Jewish state.  Gaza is a giant prison.  The rockets that fly over the walls are annoying, and occasionally deadly.  But the images of death and destruction that are floating out of Gaza right now will be used as justification for thousands of more rockets, if not flat out war against Israel.What would work in advancing the reason towards peace?  I don't have a clue.  But razing a defenseless Gaza is not the answer to the evil of Hamas.

Testing an image:

Lobbing rockets into civilian populated areas in Israel was designed to provoke Israel to retaliate. The magnitude of the Israelis response is what Hamas hoped for. People on this thread are calling for a more civil conflict, LOL...lets cut down on the killing a little guys, shall we? When a state (especially a terrorist group) commits an act of war, the response from the attacked should be decisive, or don't bother. The Palestinians voted Hamas (a terrorist organization) into power, now they are paying for that decision. Too late for a recount.

Really can't imagine how these two could ever "get along"... Way too much blood kinda flooded the "holy land"...

About as common nowadays as snowfall in Alaska-who cares-I'm sick of thiss Mid East nonsense-no one really careas anymore.

Couldn't this be an item on Events of 2007, Events of 2006, Events of 2005, etc.

Magellan does have a good point: Gaza is literally a prison for the Palestinians living there.  They have very little freedom of movement nor are they allowed to use their ports for commerce.  The unemployment rate is astronomical there, I remember hearing one statistic some time back showing that over half of the population there are jobless.   They're almost completely shut off from the outside world there. 

Nothing seems to work in the Middle East.  There's enough hatred for a hundred Nazi rallies, a thousand Klan meetings, and more besides.  I don't pretend to know a solution, and I won't try to be glib.  The Hamas are thuggish hatemongers determined to exterminate Israel.  The Israelis, understandably fearing for their very survival, fight back hard.  In the court of world opinion, neither is winning, but perhaps neither cares about world opinion anymore. 

Hamas is being Hamas again, huh? Now I'm not gonna say the Israel doesn't come in with a heavy hand here and there, but when you got rockets flying at you I suppose a heavy hand is the thing to use. Its too bad that alot of people are going to be killed and maimed because a few people are assholes.

Three years ago, Israel vacated the Gaza Strip, turning the land over to the Palestinians. Hamas was chosen as their ruling government. Hamas had a choice between developing an infrastructure that could have allowed many Palestinians to realize their dreams, or of creating a new terror base. They chose the latter. There was a three-year cease-fire between the two, which recently ended, during which time Hamas capped off an eight-year spree of lobbing ever more sophisticated rockets into Israel on a daily basis. With the end of the treaty and eight years of being terrorized by the rockets, enough was enough. The news reports are focusing on civilian casualties and global Muslim responses to the Israeli attack, while eight years of daily rocket launches have been a mere footnote. Muslim opposition to the attacks are claiming that this is a step backwards, while Hamas Leader Meshaal calls for more rocket launches, higher levels of martyrdom and a third intifada.

So? Is this what he calls "moving forward"? Israel has conceded a great deal to these people...going back to the 1993 Oslo Accords...but nothing has anesthetized their urge to annihilate the Jews. I believe that most Palestinians do not stockpile rockets in their closets and, in spite of their attitude towards Jews, only crave normalcy for themselves and their children. But, in spite of the fact these people, who are being held hostage by their own government in the densely populated Gaza, are also dying, it is the responsibility of the Israeli government to do what ever is necessary to secure the well-being of its own people.

I think that history has been written, here. Give the Palestinians more land with a ready-made infrastructure and there is no lull in suicide bombings, rocket launches and general acts of terror. Reach out with a cease-fire and there is no break in suicide bombings, rocket launches and general acts of terror. This would not have happened if Hamas had any thing other than the obliteration of Israel on its mind. I think that the most significant factors of the Israeli assault have yet to surface, as The Religion of Peace takes to the streets around the world. Does anyone believe that wiping Israel off the map will end this horror show? And the hits keep a coming