Real cease-fire or just another 'time out'?

The violence continues in Gaza while negotiations between Hamas and Israel are taking place in Egypt. An estimated 100 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed so far. NBC's John Ray reports.

Despite rumors of an imminent truce, Israel and Hamas remain miles apart in coming to a real deal. Each side is blaming the other for starting the current conflict – and both are insistent that the other stop first.

Hamas’ leader-in-exile, Khaled Meshaal, summed up his organization’s defiant position at a news conference today in Cairo: “Let those who started this crazy war stop it, on our conditions.”

Hamas says 'land war' would cost Israeli PM Netanyahu the election

Feeling the winds of the Arab Spring at its back, Hamas seems intent on emerging from this conflict stronger than when it entered it. Its conditions include an immediate lifting of Israel’s naval blockade, the opening of all its borders, an end to targeted killings and cross-border raids, and international guarantees that a new status quo will last.

At the same time, Hamas is clear that it has no intention of ending its war against Israel, whose existence it doesn’t recognize and has pledged to destroy. “Gaza’s demand is not to halt a war,” said Meshaal. “Its demand is for legitimate rights.”

Israel, meanwhile, is demanding the opposite -- that Hamas shut down all militant activity, including rocket fire by all Palestinian factions, all smuggling of weapons into Gaza -- and insists on its right to go after “terrorists” inside Gaza in the event of an attack or even a tip-off about a future strike.

In other words, they’re at loggerheads. And so, after a surge of optimism about a deal to halt the violence that has cost dozens of lives in Gaza and three in Israel, reality was settling in late Monday in Cairo.

To add to all the tension, Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported another Israeli demand: that if Hamas doesn’t respond to Israel’s demands in the next 48-72 hours, it will launch the ground offensive into Gaza.

Influence of the Arab Spring
In the past, Egypt has been a reliable broker in conflicts involving the Palestinians and Israel, but that was before the Arab Spring drove Hosni Mubarak from power and replaced him with Mohamed Morsi, formerly of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization whose sworn ambition is to restore a Palestinian state where Israel now lies.

Related links:

Key players in the Israel-Gaza cross-border conflict

How Israel's 'Iron Dome' intercepts incoming rockets in Gaza conflict

Israeli government websites under mass hacking attack

Morsi’s situation is nuanced. Both Hamas and Israel know that he has had to moderate his views since becoming president, in part because he doesn’t want to antagonize Egypt’s powerful military establishment, which -- like much of Egypt -- does not want to tangle with Israel and is anxious that radical Islamists not  gain a foothold in  the country. In pursuit of this, he has cracked down on militants smuggling arms across the Gaza border.

In addition, the new Egyptian leader’s task is complicated by the need to appeal to both the Islamists who elected him and the United States, which supplies billions of dollars in aid.

Egyptian critics, such as former newspaper editor Abdel Moneim Said, think Morsi is in over his head and that he can’t deliver a lasting truce. “This basically means that Egypt has essentially lost its ability to handle the conflict.” Said said. “There is no [Egyptian] mediator, this time."

That, in essence, boils down to a stare-down between Israel and Hamas: between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said that Israel is no longer interested in just another “time out,” and Hamas leaders such as Meshaal, who on Monday said, with a proud smile on his face: “We didn’t ask for a truce. The Israelis did!”

At present, a time-out is probably the best that anyone can hope for.

/

Two sides exchange deadly airstrikes, rocket attacks.

Jim Maceda is an NBC News correspondent based in London currently on assignment in Cairo. He’s covered the Middle East since the 1970s.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

Discuss this post

Jump to discussion page: 1 2 3 4

Real cease-fire or just another 'time out'?

Is the title of this article a rhetorical question?

  • 2 votes
#1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:17 PM EST

Did I read this correctly, that Hamas wants Israel to cease hostilities while stating it has no intention of doing so itself? And Israel should comply why? Talk about nothing to gain and everything to lose. Hamas isn't very good at negotiating tactics, is it?

  • 17 votes
#1.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:05 PM EST
Comment author avatarChris-749391Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Th Iraeli Defense Force did a study some time ago on the effects of attacking insurgents on the overall insurgency itself. The study was quoted very widely by Gens McCrystal and Petreaus at various times. The study has been the "sourcebook" for much of the "hearts and minds" discussions among military leaders and for creating workable rules of engagement. What the IDF found is:

1) When you use asymmetric force (a fighter jet or tank for example) to kill an individual insurgent, it creates 1-2 "new" insurgents, usually from family members, mostly siblings and cousins.

2) When you use asymmetric force to kill an innocent civilian male, it creates 4-5 new insurgents drawn from both the person's immediately family and close friends.

3) When you use asymmetric force to kill an innocent woman, it creates 6-14 new insurgents, mostly from the woman's immediately and extended family.

4) When you kill a child, a pregnant woman, or a civilian elder, it created 15-100 new insurgents, mostly from the community at large.

5) When you kill a leader of either the civilian or military arm of an organization such as Hamas or Hezbollah, or when you target civilian apartment buildings, for whatever reason, it created 50 to potentially thousands of new insurgents, depending on the specific event.

6) When you commit atrocities, such as the IDF "habit" of breaking the arms of Palestinian pre-pubescent rock-throwers and let the incidents be videotaped and posted online, it can create more than 20,000 new insurgents. Similar numbers can be created if torture is used as either punishment or in an attempt to extract "intelligence."

Israel commissioned the study and then completely disregarded it when its conclusion was that the targeting of individual insurgents, no matter how aggressive their activity, within the borders of their own country, was a situation that must be avoided. Their conclusion was based on simple math, not on cultural or religious or political issues.

As long as Israel continues on its present path, it will not have peace. It is in the position of a sixth grade bully who says, "If you hit me back or tell on me, my big brother will beat you up." And the United States is cast in the role of the big brother who will protect his sibling no matter how egregious the event.

How much credibility does anyone think that the US has when Israel has 75-400 (probably around 320) nuclear warheads and missiles to deliver them when the technology and key components all came from spies operating in the US? The Muslim world does not believe that Israel would actually spy on the US and over 90% of all Muslims believe that the US gave the Israelis nuclear secrets and parts in order for them to be used to annihilate the Arab/Persian peoples. Arab pundits point to the virtual absence of testing of nuclear weapons as solid proof that the US supplied the Israelis with nuclear technology "out of the box."

The situation in the Middle East is becoming so unstable that it is difficult to see how the US will avoid being drawn into a war that willk be much more costly that any war since WWII. More bodies than Korea, more innocent victims than Vietnam, and more expensive than Iraq. People need to be stepping back and looking at Pentagon assessments of such a war. The military conclusion is that such a war is no more winnable than Iraq or Afghanistan, but will be so much more expensive that, coupled with a disruption in oil supplies to Europe and the Far East, will immediately plunge the world into another Great Depression that will be so much more serious than the Bush Depression that it will take decades for things to even settle down.

The ONLY workable option at this point it to force Israel to actually put peace on the table and simply state that all aid to and support of Israel will cease permanently unless Israel divests itself of all nuclear weapons and honors all existing United Nations mandates on the "Palestinian problem." Israel has never been an ally of the US. Alliance is a two-way street. But with Israel, it is a one-way street that has Israel calling the shots and the US standing behind them helplessly watching as the Middle East falls into chaos. Never once has Israel ever even attempted to be an ally, not even once. They don't even share intelligence, provide logistical support, or help pay for wars like Iraq and Afghanistanm but they expect slavish military support without querstion.

I kinda find it disgusting that so many people support Netanyahu who refers to our President as "that swartzer", the Yiddish equivalent of the n-word. He apparently calls Hillary Clinton "the klafte" which is an obscene reference to a female body part. If you want to see what Israelis think of Americans, go to any of the scores of Israeli-government-sponsored "Free Pollard" web sites, or look at the op-ed pieces in English language editions of Israeli newspapers.

Netanyahu has long espoused a political philosophy called "ratcheting." In racheting, any conflict is used as a pretext to acquire more land. Then, when that pogrom has blown over, another conflict is created and some more land taken. Look at a year-by-year map of the region since the 1890's and you wll see Israel's constant growth and displacement of Palestinians into "reservations" modeled after Amnerican Indian reservations.

Unless we are willing to spend around $4-15 TRILLION more dollars and lots of dead American young men and women, we need to be putting some serious distance between ourselves and the belicose Netanyahu government. And Netanyahu has a timeline. He has scheduled elections for January. If he can start a popular war between now and then, he will retain his position. If he fails to start a war, he will most likely lose. He was hoping that Romney would win and that he could essentially bully a new President into writing him an open-ended check for a US-sponsored war with Iran.

  • 10 votes
#1.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:12 PM EST

Or the Israelis could just lay down their arms and roll over and die......

  • 11 votes
#1.3 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:21 PM EST

Weird Al jancovik comes to mind:

It's Christmas at ground zero
Now the missiles are on their way
What a crazy fluke, we're gonna get nuked
On this jolly holiday

What a crazy fluke, we're gonna get nuked

On this jolly holiday

You might hear some reindeer on your rooftop
Or Jack Frost on your windowsill
But if someone's climbing down your chimney
You better load your gun and shoot to kill

It's Christmas at ground zero
And if the radiation level's okay
I'll go out with you and see all the new
Mutations on New Year's Day

  • 1 vote
#1.4 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:25 PM EST

In that neck of the woods..all know this stuff been going on for thousands of years. And it will keep on going on for thousands more..impossible to stop this, even with nukes!

There always be others alive still to continue it.

  • 1 vote
#1.5 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:25 PM EST

Chris - You are completely clueless. Israel has more than once offered the Palestinians their own state and the Palestinians have repeatedly found some reason to reject the offer. The Israelis offered the Palestinians what amounted to 97% of the land on the left bank and that was not good enough for them. The truth is that neither Hamas or the Palestinians in general want peace with Israel. To accept peace would mean accepting that Israel has a right to exist and they will never agree to that. It is impossible to negotiate peace when one side's demand are so extreme and unacceptable that there is no way they will ever be met. The reality is that the Palestinian leadership needs to war with Israel to keep their people from focusing on how inept the Palestinian leadership is and how little they have done to improve the lives of the people. They need the war so that they have Israel to blame for all the problems. Without the war the people would turn on them for being the complete failures that they are as leaders. Their lack of interest in peace is made clear in the demands that Hamas is making now. Israel is supposed to unilaterally stop shooting while they plan on continuing their war against Israel. They want the blockade lifted so that they can bring in more weapons to shoot at Israel. They have put absolutely nothing on the table that would make Israel even consider reaching an agreement. The reality is that Hamas needs to war to justify their existence and to maintain the power they have. Hamas is useless when it comes to actually leading a people and working to improve their own people's lives. All they know how to do is destroy things. If Hamas spent the money they receive in aid from other Arab states on actually improving things in Gaza instead of on weapons, Gaza could be an economic success and the people could have good lives. They have beautiful Mediterranean beaches in the Gaza strip. The area could be a huge tourist destination if they ever stopped fighting so that people felt safe to come there. They could use the aid they receive for development and economic growth, instead they use it to buy weapons. They then use their own people as human shields, placing their rocket launchers and weapons stockpiles in civilian areas. This is so that they can try and score propaganda points when civilians inevitably are killed when the Israelis strike at these rocket launchers and stockpile. What do you expect to happen when the cowards in Hamas place their rocket launchers in school yards and next to hospitals and use the basements of civilian homes to store their weapons. Unfortunately, the only way there will ever be peace with Hamas is when there are no more Hamas left.

I laugh at Egypt being the one trying to negotiate a cease fire while at the same time supporting Hamas and their terrorist actions. Erdogan from Turkey and many of the other Arab leaders are no better. They fear terrorist attacks in their own cities so they will not renounce Hamas for instigating this mess to start with. They are afraid that if they say anything negative about the terrorists then they will be attacked as well. Also, many of the weapons that Hamas is using to attack Israel were smuggled into Gaza through their border with Egypt. Since the fall of Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood controlled Egyptian government has completely failed in its responsibility to keep weapons from being brought into Gaza. Not only have they stopped trying keep the weapons from transiting through Egypt into Gaza, they have been actively helping to arm Hamas. Now Hamas has the nerve to make a lifting of the blockade designed to try and keep weapons out of Gaza a requirement for them to stop shooting. This is absurd. The blockade has not prevented any peaceful materials from being delivered to Gaza, it is just that Hamas wants to be able to import more weapons without having to try and hide it.

  • 17 votes
#1.6 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:34 PM EST

Chris

You are absolutely correct in that when Palestinians die it creates more terrorists. That is why Hamas is killing so many Palestinians, to create more Hamas terrorists. They do this by either using Palestinians as human shields or just out right killing them, and then displaying their sick deeds all over TV and the Internet.

Israel never targets civilians, they die when Hamas hides in houses, schools, and residential neighborhoods. Hamas stages pictures of dead and injured Palestinians to gain support from Islamists (and you) As you know this strategy works, you are proof.

And if you follow history, for example 1948 or Oslo, you would know that the Palestinians have been offered peace and rejected it.

As to Nukes, Israel has had them since the 50's. They have been attacked many times, at least twice when they had their backs to the wall. I don't remember Israel using nukes, do you. On the other hand, Islamists have demonstrated their lack of regard for life. They believe they go to heaven for killing infidels. A nuke can send a lot of Islamists to heaven for killing a lot of infidels. I trust Israel with a nuke a lot more than an Islamist.

  • 17 votes
#1.7 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:55 PM EST

when i read these posts, I cannot help but shake my head in disbelief. everyone of you actually thinks that what you have posted is true. What I know for sure, is that you have never even tried to find a single fact. all you know is what media is allowed to tell you. If our founding fathers are in heaven looking down, they must be shaking their heads also.

    #1.8 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:11 PM EST

    The reality is that the Palestinian leadership needs to war with Israel to keep their people from focusing on how inept the Palestinian leadership is and how little they have done to improve the lives of the people. They need the war so that they have Israel to blame for all the problems. Without the war the people would turn on them for being the complete failures that they are as leaders.

    From where do you get your information? Unless you work for the CIA or directly with the Israelis, I do not understand how you could understand a subject with such detail. Not even the President describes the situation like you.

    Your argument looks very familiar. It is the argument of any person here referring to Democrats, or people of certain ethnicity.I feel that after reading thousands of comments just like yours, except directed at president Obama, this is probably just your opinion.

    • 2 votes
    #1.9 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:12 PM EST

    Irespon

    If everyone posted facts we couldn't argue. :)

    And some of us may be operatives.

    • 5 votes
    #1.10 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:15 PM EST

    Irespomd

    Do you not understand what a war of attrition is? Hamas leaders and the Ayatollah have repeatedly stated that the more they fight and die the stronger they become. Lar understands this, most people that really understand history know this. Hamas is not fighting to win THIS battle, they are fighting to win the propaganda war through attrition and are willing to keep it going as long as it takes, eventually enough deceived liberals in the free world will start to take the side of Hamas, at that point Israel will have the world the battle.

    • 3 votes
    #1.11 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:21 PM EST

    Nice conservativly slanted post. Fact is Ken, most Liberals continue to support Israel and their right to exist. But you keep looking at half the picture if you like.

    • 3 votes
    #1.12 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:26 PM EST

    I think supporting Israel is common sense, not Political. I hope both Democrats and Republicans have common sense. Then again, neither party has a monopoly on stupidity.

    • 3 votes
    #1.13 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:39 PM EST

    Guns for the Arabs....Sticks for the Jews! Guns for the Arabs....Sticks for the Jews! Guns for the Arabs....Sticks for the Jews! Guns for the Arabs....Sticks for the Jews!

    • 3 votes
    #1.14 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:41 PM EST

    Bandit

    Repeating something doesn't make it normal. Infact.....

    • 6 votes
    #1.15 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:46 PM EST

    It is said that until all the rockets are used up the fight will continue. We shall see.

    • 2 votes
    #1.16 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:59 PM EST

    Chris you should know by now that you just can't get through to a Flat-Earther. Facts roll off them like water off a ducks back. I'm starting to think that a lot of US Israel supporters are Christians who pretend to care about about Israel and the Jewish people because they hope they will be a vehicle for Armageddon and usher in the rapture. Of course all the Jews have to die for that to occur but once their "purpose" has been achieved who cares right. You can't reason with a religious zealot and they like to falsely pretend that Islam has the corner on that market.

      #1.17 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:05 PM EST
      jjsseDeleted

      Quote today from Shimon Peres, a true statesman.

      Mr. President, do you think that Israel’s response to the firing of
      missiles by Hamas, roughly 1,000 attacks in Gaza thus far, is
      proportional?

      At such a time, when the tension between the two
      sides is at its peak, it is important to clarify that Israel does not want war.
      The Arabs and the Muslims are not our enemies and we reiterate that we want to
      renew negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the “two-state
      solution.” Nevertheless, it is important to make clear, particularly to the
      Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and to the entire Arab world: Hamas and
      other organizations in Gaza are firing missiles on Israeli towns on a daily
      basis. Hamas is the one that initiated this latest escalation. There is no
      county in the world that would be prepared to absorb missiles raining down for
      such a long time on its cities and towns, on kindergartens and schools. It is
      an intolerable situation and the Israeli leadership had to make a decision in
      order to bring this to an end.

      Do you have a message for the people living in
      Gaza?

      My message is this – we do not wish you harm. Hamas and
      the terrorist organizations are the ones who are bringing disaster upon you and
      they are the ones dragging the sides into confrontation. For more than 12 years
      residents in the south, families and children, have been suffering from Hamas
      rockets. We are making every effort not to harm Palestinian civilians who are
      not connected with terrorist organizations despite the fact that the entire
      world already knows that Hamas hides behind civilians and conceals its weapons
      in homes and even in mosques. I hope that peace is achieved quickly, and I have
      not abandoned the hope that one day the relationship between Israel and the
      Palestinians will be different. Perez

      • 4 votes
      #1.19 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:50 PM EST

      Hey Lame Name kiddo, you should know what you're talking about before trying to be a smart azz, it adds validity to your sarcasm.

      According to Christian belief, the purpose of Armageddon is to PREVENT the death of all the Jews, not accelerate it. They believe the Messiah will return and destroy the armies that amass against Israel. And there are many opinions as to when the "rapture" occurs, but Armageddon is NOT a prerequisite. In fact, the word "rapture" does not even appear in the scriptures and there are debates as to whether it is scriptural or just a religious tradition.

      Everyone knows you just can't get through to a "liberal" anti-religion "enlightened" bigot such as yourself. Other people's opinions just roll off you like water because you are too superior to entertain the possibility that you could be wrong... even while you condemn others for being the same opinionated ignoramus that you are.

      Geore Pauljohn, if you know enough "facts" to make such a statement, and surely you must or you wouldn't know that everyone else is so clueless, why don't you try posting some of them and enlighten us all.

      The FACT is, all any of us know is what we read, see, and hear in the news media. Some people are able to add an historical reference because they have lived through this many times (a reference most people like lame name don't seem to have, whether through young age or just "liberal" bias) and they form opinions based upon that reference, similar to what JS, Lar, and Ken Trout seem to have done. Other people resort to the news media of other nations and regions, and form their opinions based upon the bias of that region. I would personally rather trust the information from MY NATION'S media and certainly not such establishments as Al-Jazeera, Iranian News, Russia, etc. etc. Then, coupled with years of historical reference, form my opinion.

      Because, after all, that's all we're doing is posting our opinions. None of us truly know.

      So, IMHO, the people of Palistine need to grow some balls and remove Hamas, install a peaceful government and work with Israel, who have shown many times in the past they are willing to settle peacefully. But since they voted in the terrorist government and their religion teaches them not to have peace with Israel, they're not going to do that. So seems to me they've made their bed.

      • 1 vote
      #1.20 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:21 PM EST

      Odin, ride to meet your fate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3WJX1cIuY4

        #1.21 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:07 PM EST

        Amazing, "journalists" calls Israel's retaliations which resulted in Hamas "terrorists" deaths as assassinations in another article.

        So what are these "journalists" going to call Hamas rockets killing innocent people ? "Revenge" ?????

        Guess we know who these "journalists" are rooting for.

        Wow, and I thought the Presidential election coverage for Mr. Obama was bad.

        • 3 votes
        #1.22 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:36 PM EST

        Notice all the bloody pics are of the Palestinians, as if not a bit of damage done to the Israelis. More propaganda from the left.

        • 3 votes
        #1.23 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:58 PM EST

        lets them solve their own problems. Americans should be focusing on our own economy.

        they can nuke each other into oblivion for all i care.

        • 2 votes
        #1.24 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:10 AM EST

        “Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations.”

        Yasser Arafat quote

        • 3 votes
        #1.25 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:28 AM EST

        That's funny CC. In my misspent youth in church I was taught the rapture would take those who had been "saved" by accepting Jesus as their savior and the son of God. Last I heard the majority of the Jewish faith don't believe that Jesus is the son of God much the the savior(except Jews for Jesus). So if they don't exactly do they get rapture anymore than other people who don't believe in the Christian faith? Which faction did you myth come from as not even Christians believe in the exact same things which is there are Baptists, Catholics, Protestant...etc. just as there are splinter factions in Judaism and Islam. Not even the people who supposedly believe the same thing can agree on the details.

          #1.26 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:18 PM EST
          Reply

          Please do not stop fighting until one side is completely destroyed. Please. I have been hearing about this conflict for over 50 years and I am sick of it. Finish it!

          This, as I have said before, will be also be a test of who is the real "Supreme Being" God or Allah? Which ever side wins the rest of the civilized world will have to realize who the real One is. If you lose, your Creator is either too weak to be the real One, or a complete fake and never existed at all. So let's all get on board with this OK? Can we all agree to this?

          So, again, please don't stop fighting and bombing each other until one side is completely destroyed. Your Creator will be oh so happy and victorious.

          • 9 votes
          Reply#2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:30 PM EST

          Agreed. However, when a winner is declared, they should start bombing themselves so we don't have to listen to their BS anymore either. The world will be fine without these two idiots fighting over some dumb S%@t!

          • 2 votes
          #2.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:48 PM EST

          fighting over some dumb s*&^?Their survival? a safer future for their kids??? about 50 % of US is still crying and bit&6ing about Obama's re-election...and you call this 'some dumb s*^&? wow!

          • 5 votes
          #2.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:11 PM EST

          seven has a really good idea too

          • 3 votes
          #2.3 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:29 PM EST

          It would be better if all these idiots woke up and realized there is no God.

          • 5 votes
          #2.4 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:32 PM EST

          Or Bobby if they all agreed that they are fighting over the same one. All three religions stemming from Judaism. But I guess they would have to stop fighting amongst themselves first. Different Brands of Jewish, Christians, And Muslims. Even they kill each other or fight over who is right and who is wrong.

          Heck if they are all going to heaven for fighting for GOD. Id hate to be in that Heaven. It would really suck.

          • 4 votes
          #2.5 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:46 PM EST

          hey joey more people have been killed" in the name of god" than for any other reason and it just keeps happening

          • 1 vote
          #2.6 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:21 PM EST

          really jim? I would believe humans have been fighting over religion longer than for any other reason.

          So you are saying The American revolution, Civil War, (in the United States) World War I, World War II Korean War, And Vietnam War was all over religion? I don't think so. Before those times I really don't think there where that many people on earth for the death toll to add up.

          • 3 votes
          #2.7 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:01 PM EST

          BAHAHAHAHAA Are you @!$%#ing serious? LOL!!!

          The one that wins follows a real god? That means absolutely nothing at all. The side that will win is the one with more weapons than the other, nough said. And it will prove NOTHING one way or the other if one god is real and the other false.

          It @!$%#ing morons lie you, all ALL the morons in the middle east and christian morons here in the states that think these kinds of wars help mankind.

          The sooner this world is rid of all forms of religion the sooner we can have world peace. Until that ghappens it will NEVER be possible. Even if one religion did somehow take over the world it surely wouldn't be a free world would it?

          • 1 vote
          #2.8 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:14 PM EST

          Jim

          Governments are the #1 cause of wars. Religion #2 that is the correct order. Both however are responsible for millions and millions of deaths.

            #2.9 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:26 PM EST

            Be Accountable-1433376

            What seven was saying is that no matter how powerful another country is, if your god is the true god your country and people will be victorious no matter what. So if the arabs really do believe in Allah, which they do, they can go ahead and try, but the Israeli military will absolutely level their villages and cities into the ground.

            • 2 votes
            #2.10 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:45 PM EST

            But, they both don't eat pork!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQJgZ2IUxRM

            • 1 vote
            #2.11 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:20 PM EST
            Reply

            both are insistent that the other stop first.

            yeah, but Israel can force Hamas to stop if need be. And thats what will probably happen.

            • 6 votes
            Reply#3 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:52 PM EST

            @wolfd89,

            It is not likely that Israel has the military force to stop it. The reason is that on one level, it is just Hamas at this point. But on a larger level, as soon as the IDF temporarily gets Gaza back under control, then the West Bank, or Jeresulem, or Lebanon, or Syria, or Iran will start up. Even Jordan and Turkey are under huge pressure to oppose Israel, mostly because of covert Israeli aid to the Kurds (which pisses off the Turks) and water issues (which have reached a critical point) in Jordan. Israel, even backed by the US, does not have sufficient military power to force the Palestinians to do anything. There are simply too many of them.

              #3.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:17 PM EST

              you're right, but they will most likely give them a good beating and usher in another 4 years or so of relative peace. and that's all they can really do to hold these ndividual factions back. Fear of retaliation. Isn't that why Hamas has been so quiet for these last few years? Every time the IDF goes into Gaza, they weaken
              Hamas, or in earlier times Fatah. No doubt we will be hearing about attacks
              from Lebanon soon, although right now they are probably busy with the whole Syria
              issue.

              Israel only exists today because they have never been shy about dealing with treats by using extreme force. Everyone is weary of them, and they want to uphold that image. I'm not sure how much longer that can work with both Egypt and Syria changing so drastically. Years of work in fostering relations with its neighbors is flying
              out the window.

              I had no idea Israel was supplying aid to the Kurds. Why would they want to do that? Sympathy because they, too, where once a large minority without a homeland perhaps?

              • 2 votes
              #3.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:42 PM EST

              Hamas forgets that they are the ones that instigated this conflict by firing rockets into Israel.

              Israel retaliated. Now Hamas is saying that Israel started it? HAHAHA.

              If they were smart, they would stop shooting rockets into Israel. I said if they were smart.......

              Israel should just wipe out Gaza and annex it.

              • 2 votes
              #3.3 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:05 PM EST

              Israel can push Hamas into the sea!! Pull a Nike Israel....JUST DO IT!!

              • 1 vote
              #3.4 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:02 PM EST

              I desire that Israel make a great Grand Canyon under these inbreeds. They could also send a few nukes over to Iran and do the same.. World would be a lot better off.

              • 1 vote
              #3.5 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:45 PM EST
              Reply

              Hamas has no intension of stopping hostilities with Israel. Their stated goal is to destroy Israel. They have been launching daily rocket attacks at Israel for as long as I can remember. This is a 3000 year war.

              • 7 votes
              Reply#4 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:00 PM EST

              If someone was shooting at me and said they wanted me dead and I need to stop shooting back while they can continue to shoot at me because thy want me dead is crazy. Let the two sides fight it out in war until it is over.

              • 2 votes
              #4.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:38 PM EST
              Reply

              Lets see, One side want them to stop shooting rockets into their cities, the other side wants to kill every last living Jew,,, One side produces Nobel Laureats, the other side produces suicide bombers,, Hmmm, who to side with, who to side with??

              • 10 votes
              Reply#5 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:03 PM EST

              Boy that's a tough choise,one side represents radical Islam , you know ,the guys that just butchered an american ambassador and openly wish us ill. The other has never shown aggression towards the USA

                #5.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:47 PM EST
                Reply

                No Truce. No stoppage until:

                1. Hamas is gone from government.

                2. Hamas is destroyed.

                3. People can find a way to Peace.

                4 It will take all of the above for any Peace to work. Odds are probably next to nil.

                • 5 votes
                Reply#6 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:08 PM EST

                Netanyahu said it best, "If the arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel."

                • 12 votes
                Reply#7 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:13 PM EST

                thank you...finally the truth.

                • 5 votes
                #7.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:58 PM EST
                Reply

                “Gaza’s demand is not to halt a war,” said Meshaal. “Its demand is for legitimate rights.”

                LMAO!!!

                "We're not going to stop trying to kill you, we just want you to legitimately recognize who's doing it!"

                I still do not understand that part of the worlds thinking!

                • 4 votes
                Reply#8 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:16 PM EST

                Hamas, you have the right to die! Now that Isreal has read you your rights, DIE!!

                • 1 vote
                #8.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:04 PM EST
                Reply

                Well I think that this situation will go on forever or another 50 years unless Hamas is completely wiped out,but for now they will go for a cease fire again, that is my gess.

                • 1 vote
                Reply#9 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:26 PM EST

                and i absolutly agree with cris he has a handle on the whole situatiom

                  Reply#10 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:27 PM EST
                  Comment author avatarTammy Mareynavia Facebook

                  Why don't you show a slide show of the destruction in Israel as well? People are in shelters for over a week because of the rockets fired at them...

                  • 4 votes
                  Reply#11 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:28 PM EST

                  Just a petite time out! Now let's see some real action! Less talk and more action!. There will be peace in the world when they all obliterate themselves in the mideast,

                  • 1 vote
                  Reply#12 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:29 PM EST

                  "Hamas’ leader-in-exile, Khaled Meshaal..."

                  That's Hamas code for "I don't need no stinking Israeli laser-guided bomb messing up my Mercedes with me in it."

                  • 5 votes
                  Reply#13 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:33 PM EST

                  Come on ye' Israelis start using those nukes on all that trash around you.

                  • 1 vote
                  Reply#14 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:34 PM EST

                  If I was Israel Hamas would cease fire tomorrow-that is about how long it would take to level the place no holds barred, plow it under with tanks the next day, plant some wheat the next day and harvest in 3-5 months. After that start planting the West Bank. Sounds like a plan to me. I am on the other side of the world and I have had enough of those folks.

                  • 2 votes
                  Reply#15 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:44 PM EST

                  The wrath of the entire Islamic world would rain down on Israel if Hamas was wiped out. The UN needs to come up with a plan to stop the flow of weapons to Gaza. Thats the only way to stop it.

                    #15.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:53 PM EST

                    lilDi

                    Yes I witnessed the wrath of the entire islamic world first hand as they got on their knees and beg us not to kill them in Iraq. I also know how formidable and ruthless the Israeli military is. There is not even a sword, you are merely rattling an empty scabbard. BTW you are talking to some that knows FAR more of what you are talking about than you do.

                    • 4 votes
                    #15.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:26 PM EST
                    Reply

                    totherepublic:

                    So you would like to see genocide? What a stupid posting!

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#16 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:54 PM EST

                    Hamas and the Palestinians that elected them, yes genocide! and I could care less about this group of terrorist morons!

                    • 1 vote
                    #16.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:11 PM EST

                    --funny how so many people want to kill all the arabs, when the jews are the same people, nearly identical in dna execpt for their european dna mixed in mainly from germany

                    --the jews were the first to use terroist activity to create isreal and fight the germans and their neighbors/enemys. google it

                    --most of the world identified jews as undesireable for thousands of years in many different countries.

                    --funny now that so many jews and many other people want to kill all the palestinians.

                      #16.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:49 PM EST

                      Steven, actually it is not funny. nor ironic, and not at all surprising. In my twenties I was dumb enough to side with the Palestinians and now in my 30 I realize I have been paying attention to this for 20 + years, and it is always the same:

                      The Palestinians under one leader or another, shoot, bomb, or rocket attack the Israelis, the Israelis respond with force. As it is savages from the 19th century fighting a 20th century army the Israelis whoop some major butt and the Palestinians, having gotten the worst of the fight grudgingly accept peace (for a time) but, ONLY because the world at large has a pity party for the Palis and forces Israel to offer peace. Then low and behold a few months / years later once the Palestinians rearm with weapons from the rest of the Arab world they start a scrap all over again, rinse, repeat.

                      It is sad and pathetic but the truth is the Palestinians are simply dupes of the rest of the Arab world. No other Arab country wants them, they never have, instead they are simply used as a thorn in Israel's side, every now and again the thorn is jabbed in a bit to piss off Israel and continue the cycle.

                      Sadly, I believe the only real way to 'end it' is to simply get the rest of the world to stay the heck out of the way and let Israel go Old testament on that Palestinian arse. Killing every living thing in Gaza and the West bank will stop the conflict and lay bare the real cause, Muslim hate. Once the pawns are gone the big pieces will be more easily recognized and deal with able. Not that they are all that hard to tell now but, with the BS pity party for the Palis when they start a fight they can not finish causing an early halt to the fighting Israel has never been allowed to do what needs doing.

                      Do not misunderstand me, I know that is the worst thing in the world to most of the mindless masses but, in the end it is the only way human conflict ends when the hatred is bred into one side or the other over generations. Again, that is when the hatred is bred into one side or the other over generations as is the case here.

                      • 1 vote
                      #16.3 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:27 PM EST
                      Reply

                      Do any of you even know how this war started? In 1947 the United Nations (UN) decided that Palestine should be partitioned between a Palestinian Arab state and a Jewish state. And ever since then Israeli's have wanted more land, thrown Palestinian people out of their homes, killed innocent civillians all because they want to have ownership over all of Palestine.

                      I for one can say, that if someone comes into my home threatens my family and tries to throw me out of my own home- I will use any means possible to rid of them.

                        Reply#17 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:00 PM EST

                        Your "facts" are wrong. You've been duped.

                        You sound like a palestinian. Tell your friends to stop the goddamned rocket fire!

                        • 6 votes
                        #17.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:17 PM EST

                        Israel invited the Palestinians to settle in their country with complete religious freedom. The Palestinians declined unless Israel gave them land for a Palestinian state. Jordan then invited the Palesinians to settle in their country. The Palestinians moved to Jodan and immediately began a terrorist campaign demanding that Jordan carv out land for a Palestinian state. Jordan kicked them out. Not one single Islamic state wants anything to do with Hamas.

                        • 5 votes
                        #17.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:19 PM EST

                        Iran sure Likes Hamas! Let Palestine move there!!

                        • 1 vote
                        #17.3 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:14 PM EST

                        --you should read the books, see the movies about the hero's of isreal that fought the original first war to create isreal. the used lip stick tubes from france to make bullets in the dug out space beneath the laundry of the country club. when the war broke out, the isreal terroists jumped out and killed alot of arabs and took their land from them.

                        --in poland when the germans occupied poland, the jews threw fire bombs into the german troop carriers, and used snipers to kill the officers. heros. but the palestinians fighting the jews are terroists. there are books and movies about it

                          #17.4 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:56 PM EST

                          @Steven, What bizzaro world are you from? The muslim brotherhood had planned upon the hour of the British handover of power in 1948 to start a holy war to kill every Jew in the Israeli partition. The Israeli's had virtually no weapons or ammunition except what they had obtained covertly or stolen from the British but they were more organized and better trained and not broken up into mindless religious factions. Also your comment about the Jew in Nazi Germany occupied Poland is another example of just how wrong a person can be about world history. The acts your are talking about are an amalgamation of the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto which was a death camp for Jews created by the Nazis right in the city of Warsaw and the Jewish guerrilla fighters that hid in the polish forest and fought a 3 year campaign for survival. At times partnering with Russian irregulars. These Polish Jews decided that they would rather die fighting for their lives then be packed in cattle cars and shipped off to be exterminated. Your comments only act as proof of your ignorance or even worse, blatant stupidity. Either way you should be ashamed.

                            #17.5 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:13 AM EST
                            HelpWantedDeleted
                            Reply

                            Hamas needs to be destroyed.

                            Also I'm getting fed up with news slant about Palestinian casualties. The Palestinians never spoke out against Hamas rocket factories in Gaza, smuggled arms shipments into Gaza and firing rockets into Israel from Gaza. The Palestinians made their bed with Hamas which is using civilians as shields. You reap what you sow.

                            History lesson: What is called the Gaza Strip was once a thriving Israeli agricultural community. The Sharon Bush deal carved that area for the Palestinians and the Israeli Army razed that community displacing all the Israeli residents. Since then, the Palestinians have used that area as a base for terror and rocket launching. The reason why they are so poor is that all the money is used for weapons and not for the infrastructure.

                            I cannot feel sympathy for a people who have chosen the path of terror and violence and, continue to do so after making their conditions known! That is unacceptable.

                            The Israelis need to get into Gaza, gather intelligence, find out if weapons are Iranian and hit Iran destroying their nuclear infrastructure, weapon factories and ammo dumps.

                            • 2 votes
                            Reply#18 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:00 PM EST

                            Allow all of the peaceful people to board ships. Have the IDF wipe out all that is left in Gaza. Then sink the ships.

                            • 1 vote
                            #18.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:29 PM EST
                            Reply

                            Who cares about palestinian casualties. They're subhuman and better off dead. The Iranian scum obviously have been the sole source of weapons. They must both be eradicated.

                            • 1 vote
                            Reply#19 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:04 PM EST

                            Perfect. This is how it starts...

                            • 1 vote
                            #19.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:19 PM EST

                            Born yesterday, Mifo? It has been "started" for a few hundred years now. If you can't refute Airborn's points...which are accurate, succinct and totally correct...then see if mommy will let you out of the basement.

                            The LAST people who care about Palestinians are Hamas. They will doggedly stick to their idiot position until all the palestinians are dead. Care about palestinians? Take their arms and force them to live in peace. If that doesn't kill them, then we'll be getting someplace.

                            • 1 vote
                            #19.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:50 PM EST

                            His points? Every post Airborn makes is a call for genocide. My favorite is this one: "They must all be eradicated - right down to the last newborn Palestinian baby."

                            You start by convincing people that they're not really human, and better off dead. It ends with mass graves and everyone wondering how such a thing could happen.

                            I have no issue with arguing against Hamas (or anyone else, for that matter). When you start preaching about sending them into the ovens, you lose me (and any other decent human being). WTF do you think 'eradicate' means?

                              #19.3 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:38 AM EST
                              Reply

                              I think this is a Family fight and everyone else should just stay out of it or end up in the middle.

                              • 2 votes
                              Reply#20 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:18 PM EST

                              Yes, folks, if you read it correctly, the U.S. gives billions of dollars to many countries, including Egypt. And now you know why. To buy political outcomes on the backs of U.S. tax payers that suffer and struggle at home:(

                              • 1 vote
                              Reply#21 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:20 PM EST

                              Actually, that money built LEVERAGE for the US in some of those countries. The reason why Egypt hasn't gotten more radically involved (at least, yet) is because of their DEPENDANCIES on US aid. (Same with other countries and situations, for example Pakistan.) The US has done the same with Israel and has been able to use that leverage in the past to prevent Israel from escalating. This "financial diplomacy" may not work forever, but it has many times in the past.

                              • 1 vote
                              #21.1 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:38 PM EST

                              Bribery IS cheaper than War. Too bad we didn't bribe Iraq.

                                #21.2 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:37 PM EST

                                iraq was the number one enemy of isreal, we took them out for isreal, their inaccurate intel did get us going sooner then we would have with out it though

                                • 1 vote
                                #21.3 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:01 AM EST

                                @Steven, Are you from another planet? Israel had nothing to do with either Iraq war. Iraq wasn't an enemy that Israel even cared about but Iraq did try to unsuccessfully draw Israel into the 1991 conflict by launching SCUD missiles at Tel-Aviv. I remember watching the f_cking Palestinians dancing on their roof tops and celebrating in the streets of Gaza and the West Bank as the SCUDs rained down on Tel-Aviv. I also remember watch these same f_cking Palestinians dancing and celebrating the deaths and the destruction of the World Trade Centre buildings on 9/11. You go live with these mutherf_ckers, you're just the type of person who should.

                                • 2 votes
                                #21.4 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:26 AM EST
                                Reply

                                as always, no peace settlement/treaty means a time-out. and there is no time limit on the time-out. north korea comes to mind.....no formal end of hostilities, just a time-out that can erupt at any time

                                • 1 vote
                                Reply#22 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:20 PM EST

                                The Qur'an teaches that any country that is taken over by Islamists will remain in their control. The fact that Israel exists is unthinkable to the muslims. It also says that no treaty with unbelievers is binding. For Israel, this is a heads you lose, tails you lose proposition.

                                The Roman General Titus conquered Judea and renamed it Palistine. He wanted to kill all the Jews and wipe their names off the map and history. There has never been a Palistinian people or a Palistinean homeland. These are Jordanians.

                                • 2 votes
                                Reply#23 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:21 PM EST

                                @Doug, yup they were Jordanians up until they tried to assassinate King Abdullah after Jordan gave them refuge after the failed attempt to wipe out the Jews in 1948. Then the Jordanians through them out. They were also expelled from several other Arab nations for fear they would try more assassinations. The Arabs dispise the "Palestinians" but they serve a purpose in the Arab political front against Israel.

                                • 1 vote
                                #23.1 - Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:35 AM EST
                                Reply

                                This is a question for Chris-749391. Why would you expect the Israelis to back down given the Hamas position quoted in the article as follows: "At the same time, Hamas is clear that it has no intention of ending its war against Israel, whose existence it doesn’t recognize and has pledged to destroy." If that is truly their intention, they seem to be acting more like a pandemic disease with a choice limited to isolation or extermination, with neither a very civilized option.

                                  Reply#24 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:22 PM EST

                                  The US should just srm The entire Middle East "to the teeth" with as much modern and technologically advanced weapons as possible ,including a few handfuls of nukes ..... Palestinians, Hanas, Israel , Iran , Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , Egypt , and anyone else I may have missed ..... Let them all just empty their entire arsenals on each other ........... Instant Peace !!!!

                                    Reply#25 - Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:35 PM EST
                                    Jump to discussion page: 1 2 3 4
                                    You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
                                    As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.