Glarmorgan

I totally disagree. The Israeli court is not racial and in fact, is under a lot of fire from the Right wing parties, as they claim it's too leftist and takes care of Palestinians more than the Jewish.

This is why I am trying to look at things at a wider angle as possible. I can't "blame" the Palestinians for doing what they're doing, since I am not living their lives. What I do know is that you look at things from a western point of view, just as I do, and this is why it is extremely difficult to understand the situations. Everyone here has to remember one thing - the last chapter of Gaza-Israel was was initiated by Hammas. They decided to launch rockets at Jerusalem with no Israeli provocation. You can claim there is misjustice in Sheikh Jerakh or some foolish acts of the Israeli police in Al Aqsa. Still, these issued brought Hammas to launch their rockets at civilians in Jerusalem. What would one expect Israel, to ignore? Israel is more powerful, and for me - that's a good thing and as an Israeli citizen - I want my super strong army to retaliate against someone who just feels like launching rockets at my Capital city, because they don't like the way the Israeli police conducts itself. The fact that the IDF is stronger should be taken under consideration by the Hammas, before trying to make attacking move. There is no territorial dispute with Gaza. Israel withdrew completely, demolished all the settlements. There is no one Israeli, nor Jewish man or woman in Gaza strip. The only thing Israel does - is to close the border with Gaza, as its being ruled by an entity calling for its destruction. Mind you - there's another country bordering with Gaza, so they can move freely to Sinay and Egypt, and indeed, many of the Gazans found their way to El Qaeeda forces in Sinay... And as I stated before - I won't get into who's more just. I still think that people are not really aware to the whole picture, and that's quite understandable. I guess I would think the same if it was a conflict being run thousands of Kilometers from me. You also need to remember that the last conflict brought some inside eruption of violence, mainly from the Israeli-Arab population. Not the majority, but still - it happened. As a person who works in a mixed city, this is not only worrying, but also hampering the good relationships between the residents of such cities.

In general, people tend to over simplify the situation here. I quite understand this and that's why I decided not to try and get too deep as people who live in the UK or the US or wherever can't really understand what's going on here. One reads Chomsky or Pepe and thinks he knows better than me. Well - he doesn't. The next day he gets up and travel to wherever, while I get up and go to Ramla, teaching Jews and Arabs in high school. The situation is way more complicated. It consists of general mistrust, of past grudges, or Iranian forces mixing things, on families on both sides of the border and so on. People always try to find the one to blame, whether Netanyahu or Abbas or whoever. But there is no one to blame. There's no "Hitler" to replace with a peace faring leader. There are people here who had a wretched history and need to find the way to live together. This is not easy, as recent acts of violent acts within Israel show. This takes time and will power. In most polls, most Israelis support the two state solution, but at the same time - say this is a problem due to the general mistrust. What if Hamas would win the election and gain leadership in the west bank? Qalqilia is some 20kms from Tel Aviv. 9kms from Netanya. They won't need long rage rockets. They'll need mediocre snipers to do the damage. That's all.

I don't know how to break rhe quotations, so I'll answer in points. 1. First - your are not accurate. There was an Arab minister some years back. There were and are Arab PMs who are part of the "Israeli" parties. Not enough - I agree, but there are. You are talking of the Arab parties. which were never a part of the government. There are big differences between the Arab parties and a general dislike among themselves. There is the Communist party (which also include Jewish members), there's the Islamic party (RA'AM) and there is an Arab-National party (BALAD) and a one-man-party (TA'AL), lead by Ahmad Tibi, past advisor for Arafat. Up until recently, the general mistrust and the was these parties conducted their parliamentary activity deemed them impossible to cooperate with. At the same time - they refused to be a part of the government, as they don't want to be accountable for the Israeli government deeds. This was changes a couple of elections ago, as the unified Arab party decided to be more active and to support Benny Gantz. The last election saw the United Arab party breaking up, as the Islamic party declared they wish to be a part of the government, in oppose to the other 2 parties who wish to "support the government from the outside" at the most, while BALAD refuse to take any part, in any way. This decision by Mansur Abbas, the leader of the Islamic Party was a game changer, and Even Netanyahu tried to get their support. 2. Al Aqsa - I am not an expert. It seems that the breaking in and the use of stun guns was foolish, to say the least. At the same time I have to say there was a reason for the Police to intervene, as violent acts errupted "To save El Aqsa" or something like that, as if El Aqsa was under any danger. The religious acts bring a lot of heat... 3. Just this morning I read a long column, analyzing the situation in Sheikh Jerakh (or however its spelled in English). From a legal point of view - it seems the Jewish settlers there have the advantage. It's long and complicated, but all in all - the houses there are owned by Jewish groups and the Arab habitants refused to pay their monthly rent. In general, this is a civilian issue and the state of Israel has got nothing to do with it. As far as I know, there is no official plan to settle in East Jerusalem or to eject "non-desirables" from there. This is mainly an issue of the extreme right-wing groups here. In my opinion - settling in the middle of a hostile Arab population is not the smart nor the right thing to do, and I say that as a person who works in a mixed-city, working with Arab and Jewish teens.

I tend not to get into these discussion (as I find it hard to stand to the heat). Just wanted to say this is not accurate. If we'll look into the Israeli parliament - there are currently 10 Arab PMs (out of 120). They had 15, but the Arab party broke down and they lost some strength... When you get to the Jewish parties - there is only one party which I can say is racist, and it consists of 6 PMs which were heavily backed by Netnayahu. These are the only ones who consider the Palestinians and the Israeli Arabs as inferior. The rest of the right wing parties (Bennet, New Hope, Likkud) think that a two state solution is not a viable solution and their approach to this changes. Bennet, for instance, supports the annexation of the West Bank and the assimilation of the Palestinians in Israel. Hence, one big happy country. The Likkud is more into stalling, avoiding dealing with this issue. Mainly aiming towards a self governing Palestinian regime in the West Bank, as it is now. The rest of the parties sees the two state solution as a viable one. The discussion is when and how. The fact that there's a different rulers in the West Bank and Gaza makes this more complicated, since there are practically two Palestinian entities at the moment. I think this suits most of the parties now. 1. Hamas draws its power from the conflict in Israel. They wish to sustain it in some level. The rockets launched at Jerusalem last week are a good example. I don't think Hamas foresaw what's coming, as in most cases Israel retaliates quite softly to rocket attacks. 2. The Palestinian Authority is weak and the chance they'll lose to Hamas in General elections is quite high. The Palestinian Authority relies and cooperates with Israel to maintain relatively peaceful lives in the West Bank, as the Palestinian economy is dependent on Israel - mayn Palestinians work here, they export their merchandise into Israel and the Israeli-Arabs go to their stores to enjoy the cheaper prices. So they say harsh things, but in the end - they are still in control and that's what's important to them. 3. There is a general mistrust in Israel towards the Palestinians (leave aside who's fault is it as I don't think we'll come to an agreement over this), so stalling works just fine to Netanyahu who doesn't need to deal with this explosive issue. He uses Hamas aggressiveness to his benefit, making sure Hamas stays in control, hence - weakening the General Palestinian interests.

Regardless of who'll form the next government, I don't think there'll any major change in tactics concerning Iran. Israel is trying to hamper Hezbollah attempts to grab advanced weaponry and despite hitting the shipments hard, I reckon Hezbollah has got enough weaponry as it is. I am unsure of any big fights with Hezbollah in the near future as both sides have got too much to lose. In any case, Hezbollah has the ability in inflict damage on Israeli cities, but they are no real match to the IDF and they know it. This means that any aggressive acts towards Israel will bring the Israeli PM to send the IDF with all guns blazing, as a warning both to Hezbollah and to Iran. Lebanon will pay dearly in such case and I am unsure of their willingness to get into this mess at the moment. All in all - I think that if Iran and its proxies will get more aggressive, it will bring together Israel and the Sunni states, such as Saudi Arabia, as they are under a much greater threat than Israel is. It all depends on the US readiness to be active. If the US will be determined to keep Iran at bay - things will continue to be relatively quiet here. If Trump will do a Trump, things might deteriorate with time.

The elections have caused quite a mess around here, but there's some hope for something different. I went over some of the comments here. People just don't know what's going on here. Talking about annexations as if it's even an option. No one, NO ONE (!!!!) even consider it. Not Netanyahu, not Gantz. No one. But it's election time and Netanyahu tried to spin things a bit. Even his followers didn't but it. Theses elections had nothing to do with the Palestinians or Iran. They were around one topic and one topic only - for or against Netanyahu. Not Netanyahu's way (since no one really knows what's his way), not Gantz's economic beliefs. Not even close. It was pro or against Bibi's desire to keep ruling, most probably in order to protect him from the judicial storm he's about to face very soon. For now it seems as a draw with a slight advantage to the against-Bibi group (Yey!!!!). The interesting part is The Arab party's willingness to support one of the candidates. In recent elections they went AWOL and refused to take part in the game, but the growing desire of the younger-generation to become more "Israeli" drives their representatives to change their course and I am glad for it.

There is a HUGE gap between hating Israel and having 10 year old kids slaughtering and burning a donkey. But, if you want to better understand the reasons behind such hatred, you can check this article, regarding the UK funding school teachers who use "how to better use a slingshot to hurl stones at the soldiers" as a part of study physics . They also teach elemntry school children that scarifying their lives is the most important thing. Here's a link and inside the article - there's a link to the whole research. Link to the article

OK, so here's a link from CNN, stating the Hammas leader claimed that 50 of the dead were Hammas operatives. I am sorry, you can't just claim "MEMRI might be lying" just because it contradicts your opinion or thoughts. MEMRI is built on being credible. If you, or I, will find out it's lying, we will both ignore it. The problem is that the Palestinians tend to say things clearly enough. The western world tend to try and give its own interpretation to these words, as it's inconceivable that someone will say things so bluntly. Just listen to their words. If you wish for me to bring other sources to give such examples - I will do it. I am using "Google" and things come up. Link to CNN This sole example should bring anyone who thought that Israel massacres innocent women and children, to at least understand there are aspects which they are unfamiliar with.

Nope. We are entitled to the land here thanks to a UN resolution.

Oh. I can easily argue with this - it won't happen. The current political situation is as follows - Netanyahu, Bennet and Lieberman are fighting for the same voters. They are right wing people so they have to cry out right-wing sayings. Adding 2500 news homes is a part of these sayings, but this involves other stuff you are unfamiliar with. For example - these three are fighting a war of "who'll get the harshest stance against the Supreme Court rulings", since the right wing parties try to draw the Supreme Court as a body which holds them from fulfilling their policies. This is untrue, but it's easier to blame the Supreme Court rather than admitting of their inability to rule properly. I can give you a bunch of other examples, but I hope you get the picture right now. Lieberman, according to the latest surveys, hangs on a thread. If elections would take place today, he might not get into the parliament due to lack of voters, so he's trying to change the laws, to allows smaller parties to get in (hence, increasing his chances). 2500 homes? Give me a call when this will happen. I'll buy you a pint of anything you'd like (as long as it can be done via Paypal...)

Hi to you all. Sorry for my brief absence. It was a bit hecitic at work. First - Thanks to moderator BOF who helped me out with the post from last week with all the links to MEMRI. I will try to catch up on things. Still, before I'll get to business - I have to say it all over again - I expect one thing from any of you - to have the modesty (I hope I am using the right word) when trying to teach me how things work in Israel. I will give you some biographic details: 1. I am 42 years old. 43 this upcoming Sunday. 2. I am married with 3 kids. 3. I work as a high-school teacher in the city of Ramla. Ramla is a mixed city, hosting both Jews and Arabs. 4.I served as a combatant in the IDF. As a regular between 1993-1996 (age 18-21) and as a reserves soldier from 1996 up until a couple of years ago. I served in the engineering core and took part, mostly as a part of the first or second line. I saw things with my own eyes. Made decisions in the situations as the ones you see on TV, led soldiers into dangerous situations. 5. I despise Netanyahu as a person. I never voted from him and I will never will. This does not make any of his actions a mistake, but I would be glad if another PM will take his place sooner rather than later. I support a two-state solution. One as a home for Arab-Palestinians and the second as a home for Israeli-Jews, while still being democratic and giving for civil rights to any minorities living here - Druze, Arab and so on. 6. I support Aston Villa ever since I was a child. I also have a soft spot for Hartlepool United, but... well, I have no idea why I wrote that. I write this as I appreciate that chance for us all do discuss this situation, but at the same time - to bring you to understand that I am not some sort of an undercover Israeli agent, nor a hot-headed 20 year-old who thinks was is just like playing Call of Duty. My life holds constant involvement in Jewish-Arab interaction, right within the school I teach in. When my wife gave birth to our first born daughter (who is almost 11 years old), in the bed next to hers was an Arab woman in labor. I played, as I stated earlier, in a mixed football team named "Beitar Oranit" under an Arab manager, who was a guest at my wedding. Since I find myself, all too often, under a heavy set of "Apartheid" fire, I tend to retreat to the "defend my home country" stance, and this drives the entire conversation to a conversation of nothing. About nothing. You say "Yes" and I say "No" and vice-versa. If you wish to hear, to learn, to better understand - I will gladly take part of it. It does not mean you have to agree or to approve my opinion or Israel's actions. It does mean that in order for this to be fruitful - you have to accept that you don't know a lot of things, due to all sorts of reason. I read your comments and it's clear. Most of you have never been here. You have never seen Gaza with your own eyes. You have never strolled through the streets of Tel Aviv or Haifa or Lod. You are too unfamiliar with our parliament and obviously, you don't know the range of opinions around here. You know Israel is the strong force and is an occupier of a land ever since 1967 or 1948 (it depends whether one acknowledges Israel's right to exist or not) and the Palestinians are weak and fight for their freedom. This is partly true, but I can totally understand how this looks from afar. OK. Got that out of the system. Off to reply to some of your comments.

Just one more pic. You know. To give you a taste of what is going on here. You know, kids and their strange hobbies. I took the liberty to blur part of the picture. I am sure you'll have no problem locating the original nor understanding what's under the blur.

So your claim is that Gaza is currently under Israeli occupation? I think you should do some homework before bringing up ridiculous claims such as that. Israel withdrew all its forces, armed and civilian from Gaza strip. No Israeli is there. They are free to live their lives under their own elected government (I suggest checking how did Hammas took control over Gaza). The only thing Israel is prohibiting is the entrance of people from Gaza into Israel. They can leave anytime they want via their border with Egypt. Israel has not power there. So - what are your claims? What more do you think Israel should do? Come on, check your facts.

I like the game of video clips. I am sorry for sharing links. I can't figure our how to embed it in my post. 1. Here is one with a Hammas executive stating that out of the 62 casualties, 50 were Hammas operatives (hence, soldiers, armed forces. you name it). Unless you claim Hammas is not a military organization. 2. Here is another one, with a Hammas executive quashing your redicuilous claims of "peaceful protests". Unless, of course, you know better and he's lying. for some reason. 3. One more? No problem. The chairman of Hammas's Political Bureau states the idiology behing the "peaceful" protests. I am sure that fine Englishmen such as you will be able to spot the lines aimed not at the Israelis, but at the Jews. Then they go on with never recognizing Israel and so on. Maybe you'll tell my they are misunderstood, these poor sods. You might even tell me we have to put things into context. Or perhaps - there are only letting out steam. Instead of running with the flag of "We are the world", instead of lashing into me as you know... anything - go, do your homework. I don't bring you fancy TV shows, nor touching documentaries about the suffering of others. I bring you what they ACTUALLY say. Deal with that.