The above photo is from the "Unwanted Blog" and the graphic tells the story.
The IDF is shrinking the Gaza strip by 40% and not one major news organization is reporting on it.
THIS IS HUGE!
I asked the question earlier. Why doesn't the IDF move the Palestinians to the West bank, reclaim the Gaza and make it a beach resort (like it once was) and deal with a real (as real as can be found in that God forsaken region) peace partner in the West Bank?
Before you answer the above ponder this. Why isn't Israel facing a two front war? Why aren't the Palestinians in the West Bank rioting and going insane causing this war to flare even wider?
The world is in chaos. Only Israel seems to have a plan that is working. The UN, US, EU are all powerless. What we do see is a strange alliance. Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE...even Syria and a few others are on one side. On the other is Iran, Hamas, ISIS and the other terrorists. Somehow, someway the US govt (which I separate from the American people on this issue...at least my circle anyway) is on the wrong side of this.
Looks more like a temporary no mans land for the duration of these operations rather than a Chinese Style Permanent ADIZ extension type manouvere.
ReplyDeletecivilians were told to move. this doesn't sound like the typical sort and clear op where you conduct operations to move out the terrorist, while leaving the civilians in place but a more permanent redrawing of the map.
Deleteyou have a real short term memory solomon and a skilled wishful thinker ( very George bush like ) Israel have always wanted to run away from gaza, since it occupied it in the 60s it even allowed them to have some forms of elections right from the start, it never wanted to ( clean the Palestinians sewage) as per moche dayan or how ever his Jewish name is spelled, buffer zone does not work, it didn't work before in lebanon Israel will back off again, or it will get a never ending headache.
Deleteyou definitely need to frame your statements to me in a much more respectful manner. disagree if you like but don't call me a wishful thinker. don't accuse me of having a short term memory. if anything you've shown yourself to have allied with terrorists. i say again. the Palestinians in the West Bank aren't lobbing missiles at Israel and are not suffering an operation aimed at stopping those missile launches.
Deletethe people you are trying to defend are.
additionally Hamas, a certified terrorist organization has sworn to destroy not only Israel but the United States.
you my friend are a terrorist sympathizer and i highly recommend that you consider carefully your next statements on my blog.
@Solo
DeleteCivilians were told to move? Where to move? =)))) Cant you see the Gaza on the map? Buffer Zone or Egypt? Or Israel soil? Where?
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DeleteI am sure all those Palestinians are filthy rich and taking their sweet time to make up their minds where to go. You know it's tough to decide if you want to finish the rest of the summer in Monaco or hit the Swiss Alps early....*sarcasm*
ReplyDeletefunny how the Palestinians living in the West Bank under "moderate" leadership and NOT launching rockets into Israel on a daily basis are being oppressed .... "sarcasm off"....the people in the Gaza Strip threw their lot in with maniacs and killers. this is what happens. cry me a river but understand that i feast on them. i save my pity for the weak, not the stupid, suicidal, lazy or crazy.
Deletethe middle east is more complicated then quantum mechanics...
ReplyDeletei think thats what we like to tell ourselves because we can't come up with a "solution" to the problem. i think its very simple. you have largely a group of people that follow 18th century rules living in the modern age. additionally those people that have those 18th century belief systems have access to advanced weaponry. mix that in with tribalism, religious fanaticism and add a huge scoop of a twisted economy propelled by petrol dollars and you have the resulting chaos.
Deletethe answer i believe is simple. next time a huge war flares up we let it run its course. we don't interfere and we let one side win. if our friends aren't involved then neither are we. i'm talking real friends. in that region i only count the Israelis in that camp. Saudi Arabia? fuck'em. they have an insurgency then let it run its course. if they hold on to power then cool. if they don't then we better get to work on new forms of energy OR we explore for oil in every place possible in the US.
after 5 or 10 years of unrelenting blood spilling in the middle east the entire region will settle down. they won't want war because they'll finally get there fill.
well most Americans will not agree to drive bicycles, they wont even settle for a Toyota prious they love the big trucks the best selling car in the US for over a decade is one big fat ford made truck.
Deletebut if the US leaves the middle east it will be a better place, and as for the blood thirsty Israel, if the demographic bomb does not kill them first, eventually militants or armies will.
the west has been sticking its nose in the middle east since the Greeks classical era. it was always the places of riches.
personally i'd take pleasure in turning the region into glass. i don't know what your countrymen drive but i would bet that its probably pulled by some beast of burden.
Deletethat's done it cowboy. you want back in then you clean up your act. otherwise you're in the trash heap of blocked commenters.
Sol, it's not that simple, and you know it.
DeleteDo you want to pay $15 a gallon for you gas? How about Dow and NASDAC and the world economy? Qatar just signed an $11 Billion order for US arms, which provides jobs and has Kerry running to the Middle East to protect that order.
The only problem is the US shortsightedned and falsely understanding of the Middle East and how things work. Remember Obama's Cairo speach asking forgiveness from the Arab World and Muslims? That was a big mistake and the Arabs saw him as a weakling and since then the power and influence of the US has been down all the way. Remember the fiasco with the Lybian Embassador? Indecisions, waffling, delaying, talking to the wrong sides, no courage, no proacting. Look at how Iran is playing the US and Europe and I am saddened and ashamed at the way the US is going down. When are you citizens will have a more deserving President - another two years? I wonder how much damage he will cause till then...........
That 11 billion Qatar arms buy even caught me by surprise. But I guess the Apache really is the worlds premier attack chopper.
DeleteAre the margins in oil and gas really that much that a small little country can buy soo many weapons and still host the next FIFA world cup and all that infrastructure and still find time to buy European Football Clubs ?
Are those profit margins in oil/gas production or transportation or are they from all that greedy commodities speculation ?
Anyway, the way the Arab world has taken to all this Interest Attached Money and greedy Speculation......both forbidden by Islam i think...........it just spins my head.
The US is not in, Libya, Syria, or Iraq.
DeleteThose places are paradises of Islamic love for their fellow Muslim's, Jews and Christian's?
I think not.
I just watched a video of a mass murder of Syrian's by ISIS via rifles in a shallow mass grave and on the cement dock beside a river where each Muslim was summarily shot in the head and dumped in the river, the dock was covered with blood.
It had everything BUT American's.
America's involvement with Islam dates to the Barbary Pirates era in 1801-1805 who preyed on American ships in legal transit to do legal business not related to war, religion or land acquisition.
It is Islam and the Middle east that stuck it's nose in the west's affairs first.
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Deleteyou're not welcome on my blog. you accuse people of "supporting the murder of children" when nothing could be further from the truth. even more disturbing is how you can support an organization that wants to kill every Israeli and American.
Deletethe liberal left might enjoy supporting monsters and they might even fool themselves into thinking that they aren't on that kill list...but i know better. remember. this is my blog. its not a public forum for you to spout your hatred of the US. be easy though! there are plenty of people and blogs that support your point of view! have fun on them.
I overheard CNN coverage on Gaza and Anderson Cooper made a comment that got me thinking:
ReplyDeleteHamas has spent zero efforts on civil defense shelters. They have refugees and families hiding in apartment buildings, schools, etc
Another person later was talking about the investment in man hours/concrete in building tunnels from Gaza into Israel, etc.
Put the two together and Hamas has spent zero dollars or effort on building shelter for Palestinians. They have spend hundreds of millions of dollars and man-hours on building concrete tunnels that are kilometers long with the sole purpose of smuggling in weapons AND trying to harm Israel.
Hamas doesn't give two shits about Palestinians in Gaza. They fully expect their people are going to get wasted so they can make a PR campaign about it.
They'd rather spend money on tunnels than shelters.
CNN had a statement inside a tunnel from an Israeli soldier that said in effect, "The cement used in the tunnel was given to the people of Gaza to build homes, hospitals, and infrastructure. Hamas could have used this cement to build bomb shelters for the war they were seeking. It was used instead to build tunnels to attack Israel.
DeleteIt would be interesting if pictures of those displaced could be posted here just to verify if this information is correct or not.
ReplyDeleteIf the Israelis do make this extension permanent, would it always be a no-mans land or will they allow Israeli settlements/farmland extension here after operations are over and area is sanitized ?
Nobody wants that headache, not even the Palestinian Authority or even Egypt. The "displacement" has two aims: to lessen civilian casualties in the area and to put pressure on Hamas with the large number of people flooding other areas. However this is not working out. Hamas does not give a shit about civilian casualties and the opinion of the population. Remenber, this is NOT a representative government. The armed force of Hamas seized power in 2006 and executed most PLO fighters/offials (throwing them out of 17th.floor windows and lining them up and shooting them, like ISIS is doing now in Iraq). They rule absolutely and the population has no choice/say but to obey. Additionally, deep down the population identifies with most of the aims of Hamas and are willing to suffer.
DeleteThere was a similar situation in Sri Lanka???
Thats for sure, no one wants the palestinians in their current state. Not the Egyptians and not the Jordanians. And I am sure that if Israel had a ton of money to burn, only then they could be motivated to take over Gaza.
DeleteIt seems the most horrendous of fighting happens for over the smallest pieces of land. Sri Lanka and LTTE included but their situation was a lot different from here. They also fought for a ridiculously small amount of land. But as is often in these kind of fights, its not about the land. Its not about the money.....its about something much more important and bigger. Its about the Principle.
Neither the Tamils nor the SInhalese were large scale transplanted to purposefully form a country by displacing another set of people so that a historically persecuted people could finally have their long lost homeland.
Their fight started with Language and then extended to the culture and religious domain. It happened when a country was bestowed with a new form of government when they were themselves not ready for its implications. Young upstart "Leaders" found it pretty easy to get popularity in this kind of a democracy by not working for the people but by flaring things up between people......magnifying their differences and criminalizing them for being different.
I would turn it into a mine field and a space between two big high walls.
DeleteThe area inside would be lowered enough to turn it into a large wet land to discourage tunnels.
Hamas is more interested in having the Palestinian civilians die telegenically rather than in saving their lives. See:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wBJcXhJF4w
As to the "buffer zone," we're pretty sure that almost all of the tunnels emanate from those areas, so we are trying to get the civilians to leave temporarily so that we can find and neutralize those tunnels. Israel has no plans to permanently occupy or settle that zone.
Hamas exist to fight Israel, without constant state of war Hamas don't have the reason to exist. Ergo Hamas will do everything to continue hostilities for ever... Israel will do everything to destroy Hamas and stop him. Vicious circle.
DeleteShas said: Hamas exist to fight Israel, without constant state of war Hamas don't have the reason to exist.
DeleteI will disagree with this Shas (no offense to you). This is what every militant (and their supporters) say in regards to Israel and any western non-Muslim state. They want to get rid of "non-believers".
Look at Iraq now. Iraq is now ruled by Arabs. Fellow Muslims now. Yet ISIS, a Sunni dominated group, is out to destroy the Shiite dominated rulers. What am I saying? If HAMAS is done with Israel (or US), they will turn against their mortal blood enemy. It will be another full-blown Sunni vs Shiite war.
It is long overdue that Israel strangles the little free space available to Hamas to operate from.
ReplyDeleteBut, a temporary stranglehold does not indicate that you will win the fight.
What is needed is stranglehold and then cut the jugular.
Do the Israeli leadership have the balls to go all the way?
Can they say to hell with the civilian causalities and tell the liberals & their media to F... themselves?
The insanity of this operation is that Israel falls for the same Hamas tactics over & over again -
Hamas thugs popping up from tunnels & ambushing the IDF.
Surely the Chief Of Staff & His generals should answer for this?
Some Israeli ingenuity of old is called for. On the northern Gaza border,
how about Digging a 200 meter deep trench from the ocean inland for 4-5 miles?
This will expose all of the tunnels into Israel & along the way Hamas rats can be eliminated!
This will go a long way to a complete stranglehold.
Even the Russians had to create a Permanent Presence in their Chechyan adventures. This was despite the casualties they faced. I wonder if Israel is ready for a Permanent Presence inside the Gaza Strip.
DeleteThey were there permanently until Israel was conned by the fake peace process under the Oslo Accords!
DeleteI am calling for the Fakestinians to be removed from Gaza and to be delivered to the larger part of Palestine know as Jordan!!!
And Jordan will accept this new influx with open arms as it has always done.
ReplyDeleteAnd the US President shall Invite the Jordanian King, the Israeli PM and the Palestinian West Bank leader to Camp David where they will all try to be the "Last One through the Door".
Just for the record, Solomon, doing what you suggest in your question would be like playing with fire in a petrol station ! More factually, there are several reasons why not to do what you asking about.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, displacing civilians from Gaza to West Bank (or where ever else) would be a war crime, and liable as such under UN and international law. That's the last thing the Israeli government (and the US State department) want to achieve: giving Hamas and its supporters the legal and media arguments to campaign even more against Israel, which would then definitely appear as an agressor and transgressor of international law (and its leaders might be indicted as such). So there you have a first, sledgehammer size reason why not to do something this foolish.
Second reason is, such a development would be a game changer for regional actors/powers who are hostile to Israel but have so far been careful not to get involved directly ... You don't want the West Bank to go up in flames, which it definitely would, even though it's been relatively quiet thus far. The difference between both areas is that one has been in the hands of Hamas for years, while the other has stayed firmly under control of (corrupt) PLO leadership. But do what you suggest in Gaza, and the West Bank will turn into another powder keg ! You also dont want Egypt to let Hamas take over its side of the border, letting them bring in whatever arms and equipment they want ! You dont want Hezbollah to open another front in the North, and finally you don't want Iran or Saudi Arabia to activate its proxy terrorist cells around the globe and start anti-jewish/anti-israeli attacks ...
still another reason, linked very much to the first one, is the media war, which would be definitely lost by Israel if your suggestion was implemented. The damage done in terms of image and media coverage would probably be so bad, combined with the legal issues, that a lot of governments around the world would probably start taking sanctions, wether economic, diplomatic or both against Israel. And Israel is already isolated enough on the world stage, we don't need to antagonize more people !
I would also like to add that regardless of all the arguments going against such a drastic measure as the one you suggest, there is no reason to even consider it, as the aims of the Gaza operation will not be a lot easier to achieve even if you get ridd of the civilians ... you would still have to send in ground troops into an urban area, with possibly lots of destroyed buildings and gravel all over the place. Now, who ever has fought in Beirut, or whoever remembers lessons from places such as stalingrad too for example, knows that it's not necessarily an easier thing to win a battle in such a place, even if there's no risk of civilian lifes being lost. Gaza is not Fallujah, and an operation there is a totally different kind of thing ! The casualty level to except might not be much lower than right now ...
Finally regarding the monitoring of comments, thx for not letting the "Hamas" friendly comments unanswered, and ban this kind of crap if necessary ! On the other hand, it might be a good idea to check for the lunatic fringe among the pro-israeli posters here not to get away with murder either. There have been one or two comments definitely over the top, and I'm pretty sure they're not from Israelis but from people in North America who think they doing us a favour with their inflammatory language. Well, they're not and besides we don't need the crazies to tell us what we have to do in order to make sure we're safe ! ...
Well then, They must simply kill them all.
DeleteDeclare Gaza a state and nation, then according to International rules of land warfare declare war on that Palestinian Nation under the rules, regulations and laws of this and the Geneva accords legal total war can be fought.
Reprisal rules for the Hamas war crimes committed can be enacted and the Nation of Palestine can be destroyed in detail.
OR, Surrender unconditionally to the Israeli's.
Who can then take over, occupy according to the rules and does as they see fit.
You can legally kill them all under the rules of land warfare if conditions are met.
Sounds like a plan ! Wow, impressive
Delete"Before you answer the above ponder this. Why isn't Israel facing a two front war? Why aren't the Palestinians in the West Bank rioting and going insane causing this war to flare even wider?"
ReplyDeleteDont forget the Palestinians in Lebanon.
The GDP per capita in West bank is double that in Gaza and Lebanons GDP PC is 10x that of Gaza
Fight Israel, get poor is a message Israel is keen to impress on the neighbors,