the day that the USA leadership can effectively criticize...

[RainierBeachPoet]

israel's aggression towards the palestinians, is the day we will move toward a more lasting peace.

when the US essentially blames hamas for these disproportionate bombings by israel, we will continue to lose credibility in the world and further give islamic countries reasons to be suspicious of our own actions.

this will further lead to extremists using our own actions against us (like they have used abu ghraib and guantanamo) in their recruitment of others to their cause

but dont hold your breath because of the strong pro-israeli lobby is strong

what will obama do with this mess?

[Rasheed1]

israel's aggression towards the palestinians, is the day we will move toward a more lasting peace.

when the US essentially blames hamas for these disproportionate bombings by israel, we will continue to lose credibility in the world and further give islamic countries reasons to be suspicious of our own actions.

this will further lead to extremists using our own actions against us (like they have used abu ghraib and guantanamo) in their recruitment of others to their cause

but dont hold your breath because of the strong pro-israeli lobby is strong

what will obama do with this mess?

you are right on as usual RBP...

Obama wont do a thing.... he only got that gig because he was able to impress their lobby... he aint about to speak out of turn now.....

[Hawker]

We shouldn't even take sides. It's not our business so we just need to stay out of it.

[bada bing]

We shouldn't even take sides. It's not our business so we just need to stay out of it.

yes i agree but we are taking sides and putting the entire blame on the palestinians. When we repeatedly block UN resolutions when everyone else votes yes, that says we are being hypocrites. Obama is not going to do a thing. Its amazing how strong the jewish lobby is in the US and how far up the anus of our politicians they are.

if we talk about spreading democracy and unity to the world, we need to be fair in our judgement of Israel and Palestine. No one is saying to blame Israel 100% but no one is saying to not blame Israel 100% of the time either.

[rufuspaul]

The fact that Hamas is in the equation makes it tough because of our "never negotiate with terrorists" doctrine. Any criticism of Israel would be played as support for terrorism. If Obama fails, he joins every president in the last 2 centuries. Call me skeptical, but I don't really see anything new that Hillary can bring to the table.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Obama will do what every American President does: Nothing. How can America criticize Israel for bombing Hamas when we overthrew the Iraqi government in retaliation to a bunch of Saudis launching 9/11? At least Israel is going after the actual culprits. Personally, I always found it strange that the US was somehow supposed to be responsible for peace in the Middle East. There's a very simple reason why even when we try and negotiate a settlement it doesn't work: People want land to live on. Israelis and Palestinians both want the sme area and that's the oldest and most common reason to have war. There really is no "right" or "wrong" side to this, these people have been killing each other since before most of us were born, heck, you could even say it dates back to Biblical times. But somehow Obama's going to fix this? You know why he's silent right now? Because he probably knows, although he may never admit it, that he can't broker lasting piece over there. The people--not just the leadership, but the people--of both countries (well, whatever Palestine is) want each others land and hate each other for the constant acts of bombing/terrorism. Obama's going to go over there, give a nice speech, and fix everything? As much hope as he talks in his speeches Obama's a realist. If that situation is ever "resolved" it will probably be over a massive Palestinian grave. And that would be tragic, but when two peoples want the same land, that tends to be the "solution." Look right here at what happened to the Indians.

[oldschool]

israel's aggression towards the palestinians, is the day we will move toward a more lasting peace.

Funny, I think that hamas calling off their "we aim to destroy israel and we will keep this stance up even if it lasts forever, accomplishes nothing and actually hurts our own people" insanity, and the constant attacks on israel that draw out responses like what we saw a few days ago would help bring us towards a more lasting peace, but irrational people often don't like to hear that.

[InspiredLebowski]

I'm completely ignorant of this subject, so condemn/ignore me if you wish. But is "everlasting peace" even something remotely attainable in the region? I should really educate myself on this, but the history is what amounts to an entire degree's worth of studies and it almost seems futile to me.

[Real Men Wear Green]

The problem goes back to how the creation of Israel happened, really. After WWII the European powers felt bad about the shoddy treatment of Jews over the centuries, as well as the atrocities of the Holocaust, so they decided to create a Jewish homeland. The problem, obviously, is that there were already people living where they set it up. So the Palestinians were, of course, mad as hell, while the poor Israelis were just trying to live. IMO they should have created the new homeland in Germany, as they were the biggest culprits when it comes to Jewish persecution...whatever though.

[LJJ]

The US should just stop trying to lead the world. No country is completely free of hypocrisy and influence of other parties.

That is why the UN is such a good thing. The UN should have real power. USA needs to start conforming to UN agreements. No country should have veto's, especially when you can veto nearly unanimous decisions.

[oldschool]

"Palestinians" used to be Muslims, Jews and Christians.

But 80% of Palestine became Jordan, an Islamic country which banned Jews. This was in the early 1900's.

As for 2008, the problem will continue as long as the "we must destroy israel no matter how long it takes" stance of hamas and other extremists continues.

[InspiredLebowski]

So is the unabashed US support of Israel really as simple as the power the Jewish community has here?

[rufuspaul]

So is the unabashed US support of Israel really as simple as the power the Jewish community has here?

Not quite as simple as that. A lot of it dates back to the cold war. Isreal was a good ally to have against the Soviets.

[Sharas]

i already said my 2c on this...

no one disputes that hamas is a terrorist organization. they broke the truce and i don't think they really want good for their own people.

but israel's response is disproportionate and excessive to say the least, as it has been the case every time through the years.
if anyone else in the world did the similar thing, it would be labeled as the war crime. and rightfully so.

[gts]

but israel's response is disproportionate and excessive to say the least, as it has been the case every time through the years.
if anyone else in the world did the similar thing, it would be labeled as the war crime. and rightfully so.

it's war, there is no such thing as a "disproportionate and excessive response" the object of any war from theboxing ring to the gaza strip is to crush your enemy, this is not a tit for tat engagement... if somebody launches rockets into civilian territories not even trying to hit military installations but aiming to kill innocents there is no such thing as an excessive response.

now if hamas only hit military posts then that's one thing but they don't hit those, they don't even try... they aim soley to kill israeli citizens, as a country israel has every right to do what ever it takes to protect it's people