Israeli Troop buildup

There is currently a large tank and troop build up by isreal on the border at the Gaza Strip atm.

the media considers it a large attack force which is in place for a 'reinvasion'

Does anyone have any MORE news about this?

Here's a news story from earlier today that talks about a ground incursion into Gaza:

israelinsider
Israeli forces are preparing a broad ground operation into the Gaza Strip and will decide in the coming hours on when to launch it, Israel's deputy defense minister said Sunday.

Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim spoke about the planned strike after a three-day barrage of homemade rockets and mortar rounds on Jewish settlements in Gaza and nearby towns. One woman was killed in a rocket attack Thursday.

"We are going for a broad operation in Gaza. No one trusts Abu Mazen anymore. No one believes he is going to confront terrorism," Boim told Israel Radio, referring to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

A senior political source said that the IDF would hold a large-scale incursion for an unlimited time. "Abbas has enough forces to restrain the militants, and he only needs to decide to use them," the source told Israel Radio.

I'm not sure if that's what's going on right now.

I don't have any fresh news for you, but it is obvious that the Israelis can no longer tolerate the continued attacks. Abbas is clearly not in control of the Palestinian territory. I am puzzled by the sheer stupidity of the Hamas et al. attacks, though. Israel is pulling out of the Gaza. Isn't it better to let them do so? Why provoke an action that might actually result in more occupation of Palestininian territory, not less? Perhaps there is some kind of local rationale that makes sense to these people, but I sure don't see it.

I agree,

But not long ago when the destruction started i remember that Israeli's were battling Israeli's ...

Maybe they have splintered and decided we arent leaving our house..
we shall attack israel, make it look liek palestine.
So they come through and remove everyone, leaving our hosue here...


Once again it seems Israel is at the forefront of some very QUESTIONABLE military actions.

Typically the Palastinians are shooting themselves in the foot again. instead of settling down and getting more land THEN causing trouble they are destroying their own best interests.

This leads me to the conclusion that the palastinains are just the pawns of other powers, such as Iran and Syria. Those parties don't want peace deals with Israel as it diverts attention away from their own issues and keeps the populations quiet.

Its sad, that such a dowtrodden people are mere poltiical pawns for the bigger powers.

Each side is just claiming that their attacks are retaliations for attacks by the other side.

This is from June:

swisspolitics
Islamic Jihad has resumed mortar bomb and rocket salvoes against Jewish settlements in Gaza in what it calls retaliation for continued Israeli raids to capture wanted militants.

"The attempt yesterday to kill an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza signaled the resumption of the targeted killing policy," an Israeli security source told Reuters.

Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, warned of "terrible consequences" if Israel carried out assassinations.

"The calm would thereby end. We will not be dictated to by Israel," he told Reuters in Gaza.

Later, a senior adviser to Sharon said Israel could stage air strikes in Gaza, even at the risk of Palestinian civilian casualties, if militants tried to attack departing settlers in a bid to show they were chasing them out of occupied territory.

And here's one from a couple of days ago:

metronews
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli helicopters fired missiles at five Palestinian targets in Gaza early on Friday in Israel's most intensive series of air raids since a five-month-old truce took hold in February.

The raids followed a Palestinian rocket strike that killed a 22-year-old Israeli woman in a collective farm on Thursday and sparked the worst fighting between Palestinian militants and police trying to stop further barrages.

The rocket volley was a setback for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who had arrived in Gaza shortly beforehand to press militants to stick to their pledge of "calm" critical to hopes of reviving Middle East peacemaking.

Each retaliation is resulting in escalation by both parties.

NetChicken
Show me one group of downtrodden folks that aren't pawns in some game played by the big boys.

Situations like this make me think two things:

1.) Are these people idiots? Yeah, probably, since most people are, statistically speaking.

2.) Was this a false flag attack designed to build support for more incursions? Maybe, just maybe, Hamas is, and always was, a tool of the Mossad.

Hamas must either be incredibly shortsighted and ignorant of action-reaction dynamics, or, they are a tool for use by the extremist Israelis who need an excuse not to give up land rightfully belonging to someone else.

There really isn't another possibility, is there? If it's not one of those two, what then?

I can't think past those two items, maybe someone smarter than I can, and illuminate the rest of us with their findings.

But until then, I think those two possibilities are the only real possibilities. I lean toward the former explanation rather than the latter, generally speaking, because it's more believable, less complicated, and relies more on fact and less on conjecture.

Its important to distinguish reasons from excuses. I think in every case you will find that Israel is content to leave well enough alone - until some Hamas (or other group) hothead lobs a missile or sends a suicide bomber. Then the inevitable Israeli reaction is seized upon by the Palestinian militants as a "reason" to go again.

The essential difference is that Israel is a cohesive national government that is in control of its forces - all of them, and can exercize restraint (which they have, often) or go after their enemies, as a matter of policy. Unfortunately, the Palestinians can make no policy decision at all, without some splinter group undercutting what their "leadership" is trying to do. Un

I find that most Isreali debates are more calm and controlled than those of America, Iran etc..

I guess cause people here actually stop, look at facts from both sides, then voice their opinons.

Most other threads would of been a by now; lol


[edit on 17-7-2005 by evanfitz]

If Hamas is a "tool" of MOSSAD or the elites of Israel, why then do they still uphold the Hamas Covenenet?

Does MOSSAD or the elites of Israel seek to destroy themselves, because that is what the Hamas Covenent, which has yet to be abolished, amended, or recanted asserts: the total destruction of Israel?

Found this article:
Sharon gives army free hand; troops mass near Gaza

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he had instructed the army "to act without limitation to stop the strikes on Israeli communities" after rocket and mortar salvoes.

But Sharon later hinted Israel would not be quick to launch a major incursion into Gaza, telling his cabinet he would "weigh our response" to further truce violations.

Hamas is even attacking Palestinian police forces.

Again, why hasn't Palestine/Abbas done more to disarm or halt Hamas?




seekerof

Again, why hasn't Palestine/Abbas done more to disarm or halt Hamas?

Because if they do, they will get killed by their own people?
I suspect that has something to do with it.

Seekerof
Well, that would necessarily be part of the deception, no?

You couldn't very well pass for an extremist anti-Israeli group if your mission statement proposed ice cream and hugs for every Jew.

I'm really not a big fan of this theory, but I feel obligated to defend it superficially as the devil's advocate.

Just for the sake of argument, isn't it possible that an Operation Northwoods style action or three have been undertaken by Israel, using the justification of necessity?

Perhaps, WyrdeOne.
But as you have mentioned, as Devils Advocate, I'm not buying your flipside take on the Covenant.

I suppose time will tell.
In the ongoing conflict, both Palestine and Israel have rotated taking turns at shooting themselves in the foot.
IMHO, my sincere wish is that both sides would just reach an accord and end this conflict once and for all. I have my doubts over a lasting peace, being that their is significant bad blood and outside, as with inside, parties seeking to set their own agendas. As such, perhaps one day the people of Israel and Palestine will simply rise up and demand "peace, once and for all."




seekerof

Seems to me the dynamic is something like this:
1) Moderates come to an agreement.
2) Extremists take action to sabotage agreement.
3) Moderates, now under pressure by people seeking vengance, back off agreement.
4) Outbreak of violence achieves nothing, frustrates everyone.
5) Moderates get more support again, try to come to an agreement.
6) Lather, rinse, repeat.

This pattern seems to play out over and over on both sides.

To paraphrase a poster from above, I don't think there IS any unity among the palastinains, thats why Abu Mazem has so much trouble controlling it.

The PLO has degenerated to just another faction among the palastinains. Once Arafat had gone it lost any power over people it may have.

I think Hamas is the new power in the region.

Check out this article with a palastinian poet complaining about the oppressive Hamas banning music.

In the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, Hamas won local elections earlier this year with promises of better government services, but also with assurances it would not impose its religious beliefs. However, two weeks ago, Hamas banned a one-day music festival in town, arguing that the mingling of men and women at such an event was "haram," or forbidden by Islam.

Its articles like this that demolish the fallacy that Israel is behind Hamas.