Well, this Peace-In-Our-Time thing is going just swimmingly, isn't it? I wonder if Secretary of State Rice would still so confidently label the whole Gaza appeasement process a success. "Israel Vows 'Crushing' Response to Attacks," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel ordered ground forces to the Gaza border Saturday and threatened a "crushing" response after Israeli towns were hit by the first major Hamas rocket barrage from the coastal territory since Israel's pullout two weeks earlier.Israel also resumed airstrikes against Hamas targets, hitting several suspected weapons workshops, and imposed a blanket closure that bars all Palestinians from its territory.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his Security Cabinet for a meeting later Saturday to approve the military's response, expected to last several days. A large-scale operation appeared unlikely but the timing of the Cabinet meeting suggested a sense of urgency.
As long as there were settlers/pioneers/agrarians in Gaza, there could be no crushing responses. Yes, it's a sad day when people must leave their homes and be uprooted. Sadder still when they are killed by Jihadists.
Maybe the settlers were sold a rosy picture 30 years ago. No one had an idea of the true intentions of the enemy. Few have a clue at this point, right, Condi? Peace is obviously not the goal of the "Palestinians" and has never been. Slap-slap--get over it.
We have to learn to be Big Picture People if we are to fight without one hand tied behind our backs.
So does Washington expect Israel to sit back and allow this to continue?
They uprooted all these settlers, and the chaos continues, like we knew it would. The UN does nothing about it, our State Department does nothing about it, Abbas does nothing about it, so why should Israel be expected to commit cultural suicide?
They have a right to exist, despite what the blind sheep of Muhammad think. They have the right to defend themselves, and they should catch no flack from anyone for doing so.
Last year I wrote about the unintended consequences of Palestinian statehood and stand by those comments. The question now is one of degree rather than absolute. Does the UN Charter article 51 provide Israel the right to respond to rocket, gunmen, and bombing attacks originating in Gaza with the force that is truly necessary to neutralize them? We may not have to wait long to find out.
Overwhelming retaliation.
Thats what you can usually expect as a nation when you attack your neighbour from your very own, rinky dinky "sovereign territory".
Israel's military should humiliate Hamas over a prolonged period in response.
Show them that their futile attempts to murder civilians from their own soil will bring a massive, sustained & unbeatable response.
Speak to them in language they understand - violence - afterall, the land that has been given to them, the billions of Dollars in "development aid" & the idiotic international communities "solidarity" with them has made them think they are invincible.
"I told you so" may be bad manner, but it is fun. I recall that at the time when many posters on this site were predicting apocalypse, chaos and dark night as a result of abandoning this Arabic hellhole, I predicted that it would free Israel to use its military strength to maximum effect, with no hostages on the ground, and with a strategic position equivalent to a siege. Well, they haven't waited long. And as Albion says, they have the opportunity to humiliate as well as militarily overwhelm Hamas, breaking their sense of momentum.
Watch this interview with Hamas leader in Gaza Mahmoud az-Zahar. It was aired last thursday in the Netherlands. Mainly in English.
http://www.netwerk.tv/index.jsp?p=items&r=deze_week&a=191007
Like chips? Chips as in "retaliation?"
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-09/23/article06.shtml