Hamas is pure, unadulterated, evil batshit on one hand. This fact can not be denied. They are as extreme as you can get. They also help what is one of the worlds poorest populations. From CFR:
In addition to its military wing, the so-called Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, Hamas devotes much of its estimated $70-million annual budget to an extensive social services network. It funds schools, orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports leagues. "Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities," writes the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz. The Palestinian Authority often fails to provide such services; Hamas's efforts in this area—as well as a reputation for honesty, in contrast to the many Fatah officials accused of corruption—help to explain the broad popularity it summoned to defeat Fatah in the PA's recent elections.
The fact that they have a totally fucked up military presence in Gaza however, does not give Israel the right to use the full force of it's military to bomb Gaza off the face of the earth. There are a million and a half Palestinian's that live in Gaza.
They are not all insurgents. Anyone that says otherwise is not only uninformed, they are stupid.
Currently, over 345 residents of Gaza are dead due to Israel's bombs, with another 1400 injured with at least a third being innocent civilans. How many Israeli's have been killed by Hamas' crude bombs during the same period?
4
The whole fucking eye for an eye biblical bullshit is lost on me, but that said...this pissing contest between Hamas and the Israeli government is very lopsided. For a historical perspective, check out this McClatchy article:
It was the highest death toll from Gaza rockets and mortars in a single day. Until Monday, Palestinian rocket fire had killed eight Israelis in the past two years. Since Israel launched the air strikes on Saturday, four Israelis have been killed in attacks from Gaza.One of my commenter's had the audacity to state, in the post below, that all Palestinians are vermin, that they teach their children to hate Israeli's. Besides the fact that his statement is unprovable, its inaccurate as all get out. It's equivalent to saying all American's are vermin and hate Iraqi's just because the Bush Administration invaded Iraq and commenced tearing that country apart, installing a government as corrupt as Saddam's was and blowing their infrastructure to hell so that clean water and electricity are things of the past.
I see what Israel is doing as a ridiculous dance of futility. They will not endear themselves to anyone with their show of force. They already control how much food, energy and medical supplies get into Gaza, and they use that weapon to it's fullest. They force all Palestinians to suffer for the actions of the extremists.
They remind me of Bush, Cheney and the whole PNAC crowd... and we all know how that has turned out, don't we?
There has to be a better way to create livable conditions for both Palestinian's and Israeli's...there has to be. All Israel is doing now is alienating Palestinians that hold no allegiance to Hamas.
Like Bush and Cheney did in Iraq.
