[Corsair]

I hate bringing up the Israel-Palestine conflict here because it always devolves into senseless head-bashing but...
I just got word that one of my friends who lives in Gaza might have been killed this weekend. I've been frantically searching all sorts of news websites looking for names of casualties from the weekend. It's ridiculous...too many people dead. And for what?

It makes me wonder why the hell the world is so screwed up. It makes me thankful that I don't have to worry about going to school or going out of my house or spending a night on the town or even just sleeping at night because I might get shot or blown up.

I won't find out until tomorrow if what I heard is true...

[an0n]

Anyone else think it'd be funny (in an ironic way) if, during one of these frequent bouts of land-grabbing, Sandwich ended up shooting some random HLPerson?

[StratComm]

My sympathies Corsair, it's always tragic when lives get lost so needlessly.  I sincerely hope your friend's ok.

This is the most unfortunate consequence of the unrest in much of the world.  It always ends up hurting people who want no part of the conflict.

[Rictor]

I thought they were pulling out.

[Corsair]

Originally posted by Rictor
I thought they were pulling out.

That was before Hamas lobbed a pair of rockets into Israel from Gaza. Now they're establishing a buffer zone before pulling out again.

[Rictor]

remind me, was this before or after Israel assasinated a Hamas leader in Syria?

bah, the whole mess is FUBARed. it'll be fun trying to see if Sharon can get the settlers to leave without firing on them, or without a fullscale coup within the military.

and best of luck on finding your friend. I hope it turns out well.

[Corsair]

After. And it is one enormous fubar.

[GoulMeister]

I really hope your friend is alive, the situation in the reigon baffles me most of the time, some reasonable agrement should be found so this mess can be sorted out.

[Clave]

Well, if Hamas behaved themselves, they wouldn't get slapped by the Israelis so often...

Tell your friend to move.

[aldo_14]

It's just another bit of usless, cyclical violence.

[an0n]

It's not useless. It reduces the number of Muslims, Jews and poor people in the world.

I'd call that a plus.

[Fear]

Originally posted by Corsair
That was before Hamas lobbed a pair of rockets into Israel from Gaza. Now they're establishing a buffer zone before pulling out again.

no that was before hamas fired few kasams to sderot in israeli holyday and killed 2 childs. thats the reason, and for now there is 70 casualsits from the palastine side all are hamas men/armed men. so if your friend wasnt armed or in hamas u can be sure he didnt died.
+
you can be sure this operation will be another week or 2, because the hamas still fireing at us.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Fear


no that was before hamas fired few kasams to sderot in israeli holyday and killed 2 childs. thats the reason, and for now there is 70 casualsits from the palastine side all are hamas men/armed men.  

Palestinian casualties are not exclusively Hamas, and of course include civillians.

[Fear]

all of them were armed.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Fear
all of them were armed.

Are you really so naieve as to think you can send an army into one of the most densely populated areas in the world and not have non-combatant civillian casualties?

[Genryu]

If only a few Christian Evangelist would have the guts to preach there... This way, all of the three major religion involved in killing/maiming/torturing for their faith would lose people daily. That would be the best thing that could happen
I respect all of those faith, but I don't respect what people have made of them.

[Rictor]

this ought to be settled David and Goliath style. The two sides send their strongest man, they fight to the death and to the winner go the spoils. Or better yet, Sharon vs Arafat, on pay per view. Now thats something I would watch.

[Clave]

There is no hope...

Hamas does not recognise the right of Israel to exist.

Overtime in our battle against terrorism we have concluded that there is no one solution to this problem. This is an ongoing operation, an ongoing process and it will continue as long as our forces estimate it will take to carry out this operation whether it be a matter of days or weeks

Hamas...receives some funding from Iran but primarily relies on donations from Palestinian expatriates around the world and private benefactors, particularly in Western Europe, North America, and the Persian Gulf region.

Last month Saudi Arabia transferred $15.4 million in advance aid to the Palestinian Authority. The transfer was made to a controversial Arab League fund, a product of the recent Arab summit in Beirut. According to Arab spokesmen, the money was hurriedly contributed due to the dire plight of the Palestinian people as a result of "vicious Israeli aggression.”

The IDF is considered to be one of the most high-tech armies in the world, possessing top-of-the-line weapons and computer systems. Beside of purchasing American-made weapon systems (such as the M4A1 assult rifle, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon jets and Apache helicopter), the IDF holds a large department of weapon develoment, Rafael (The Authority For Weapons Development), which develops new weapons and technology to the IDF. Most of the technologies are produced by the Israeli security industries including the IMI, Elbit, El-Op and the IAI.

And finally:

These chapters (40-48) contain one of most powerful arguments for the
existence of God.  Through prophecies uttered by His servants hundreds
of years before they are fulfilled, we find evidence that God exists,
and that He is the God of Israel!

Belief in one God, Allah in Arabic, constitutes the very foundation of Islam. There is no deity except Allah. He is indivisible and absolutely transcendent. God is the Almighty, the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe, Who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to Him

[Corsair]

No news is good news and I didn't hear anything today so he may be okay.
Fear, he absolutely wasn't armed. This is a kid who believes in peace, knows some Israelis and is friends with them. There have been a bunch of kids killed in Gaza over the last few days. Not everybody is armed...so many civilians have been killed.

And Clave, it's not exactly easy to move.

[Clave]

I understand.  I just have been in one of those 'lets stab everyone' moods lately...