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Gaza Crisis.

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Gaza Crisis.

Dear Mr.President Elect:

I am surprised that as Leader of the Free World you are not repulsed of the Oppression in Gaza by Israel. Well, did not Israel take away their land, bull doze their homes, kill their men, maim or make their children orphans, deny them food, deny them water, deny them medical supplies, deny them opportunity for education, deny them opportunity to make a honest living, deny them security, deny them recognition of their government, and etc. How do you expect the people of Gaza to make friendship with Israel under such oppression?

And don’t you admire the people of Gaza for RESISTING the Oppression with stones, primitive rockets, and etc, which do not in any way harm Israel? Is that not a hypocritical or biased right to self-defense?

Please DESIST from tacit, and any other approval and support of the policies of Israel, and immediately STOP the Oppression of Gaza, and reverse the IMMORAL policies of Europe, and USA in Palestine.

Thank You, Fazz.

141 Comments » Posted by FazzArthurKhan to Foreign Policy on 1/14/2009 11:58 AM

Comments

	northstar 1/14/2009 12:10 PM	we must stop our support of israel. it's with wisdom that god decreed an eye for an eye. israel suffered lack of protection under the law in germany. they of all peoples know better. israel makes no attempt to provide equal laws or eqal protection under the law. we must stop our support of israels unjust religeouse regime.
	LRosenth 1/14/2009 12:11 PM	I am so sick of this anti-semitism. Who fired rockets at who first? What is the Israeli policy towards aggression? Any surprises? To me it was that Israel allowed it to happen so long. Palestinians even killed their own kids firing at Israel. Bottom Line: Hamas was well aware of the repurcussions and instead of controlling their citizenry, they allowed the war like actions of Hamas. Terrorist organizations such as Hamas, put their children in front of them as they fire at Israel. They put their organizations and leaders in hospitals and child care centers, knowing that if Israel fires at them, it is bad press for Israel, and to Palestianians what is a few lives? Look at your maps and see the size of Israel compared to the Arab lands and tell me why Israel should give up more land to these aggressors? Are we planning to give up our lands to the non-aggressive American Indians? People complain about Palestinian poverty, yet Yassir Arafat died with $3Billion in his bank accounts from the US. That money was supposed to go to his "people". There is rampant corruption in Palestine, rampant misuse of funding, and still bounties on suicide missions. As long as the world considers little Israel the aggressor problems will exist. Read, review, look at maps, look at history. Let Saudia Arabia contribute land and money to fund a Palestinian homeland. Jewish people lost their homes in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, etc with no financial repayment n the 1940's - they lost the places that their families lived on for centuries - there is no protest for their families, is there? Regards Linda Regards Linda
	Mary38 1/14/2009 12:11 PM	I am shocked at the one sided reporting of the Israel war on the Gaza Strip. Americans are not properly informed of the situation in the Gaza Strip. The Jewish Lobby is too strong and manipulates the US government. The people living in Gaza have their hands tied and forced to live in poverty. The US should not be giving billions of our dollars to finance their aggressive military.
	Basel 1/14/2009 12:12 PM	Dear Mr. President, As you know, Palestinians have been oppressed by Israel since 1948. My dad was expelled from Jaffa after the creation of Israel. We paid and still pay the price of being refugees for the rest of our lives, although I fare better than the rest because I managed to make it to America. Please use your authority to ORDER the Israeli to stop immediately using American made weapons and tax dollar to kill over 1000 Palestinians in the name of security. Most jews in the U.S. oppose the AIPAC lobby and its PACs. Israel has to comply like any other countries in the world with international law. Israelis are aggressors not matter how you look at it. Yes you want to protect your citizens but you don't wipe out an entire population and destroy their schools, mosques, hospitals, kill the doctors, close the border, starve the people, block the fishermen, and repress basic rights of Palestinians to move, live, and work in peace and then demand they live in Peace with Israel. Facts are out there to see if only you can stand up to the AIPAC. Thank you
	coach 1/14/2009 12:14 PM	With both sides exhausted from the bloodshed which they can neither stop nor continue indefinitely, the time is ripe for new leacership to say to both sides, "Stop!" Then there could be a new peace initiative, not just moving the pieces on a theoretical chess board, as in the past, but by seeking to take both parties to a new level of hope and freedom. Using the rhetoric of the Inauguration Address, there may be a way to say, "We must reach for the stars! There is no victory in revenge, for either side." So, no more military aid for Israel, but Palestine must accept UN peacekeepers inside Gaza and elsewhaere to guarantee that no more rockets will be fired. Hamas must recognize Israel. And the US together with European nations will give money to create bsuiness in Palestine, diminishing their dependence on working inside Israel. In return, Israel gives up the idea of Greater Israel and takes down the walls. Palestine gives up the tunnels. Israel gives up the check points. Each side agrees not to react wildly if there are suicide bombers. There will never be a way to stop them other than to have a dramatically better life inside Palestine.
	palestinelives 1/14/2009 12:17 PM	The world community is pressuring the United States to stop arming and giving diplomatic immunity to Israel. This Israeli bombing of Gaza is ridiculous, inhumane and criminal and those responsible ought to be brought before an international criminal court of justice. The time has come for Israel to STOP once and for all its evil colonial occupation of Palestine. We have had enough with this domination, this unjust war against the Palestinians. Israel has engaged in an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, and in a outgoing expansion of their Jewish settlements on Palestinian territories for years now. Hamas is a consequence of the brutal, abusive and ruthless Israeli occupation. The Palestinian people and Hamas are simply resisting and fighting for their freedom. It's a struggle for liberation and self determination. And for an autonomy and sovereignty that Israel has deny them for way too long now. As long as Israel continues its heinous crimes against the Palestinians There will be no "security for Israel" and no peace in the middle east. We owe it to the Palestinian people to have autonomy over their territories without Israeli intervention, occupation and control of their borders. All the Palestinians want is a sovereign Palestinian state or Palestinian territories. And a peaceful coexistence with Israel. Guillermo Kuhl
	Omega Centauri 1/14/2009 12:18 PM	Given the strength of the AIPAC lobby, I suspect that challenging Israeli policy is a sensitive subject. I'm sure you are carefully evaluating which battles you should fight, and in which order you should fight them. Regaining full sovereignty for US middle eastern policy should be one of these battles. The current Gaza situation is very harmful to the interests of the United States. It might advance the short term political interests of some members of the Israeli political establishment, but it is hard to see how it will advance anyones interests, except for the radical islamists. Our unflinching political support, couples the hatred towards ourselves. I fear what sort of a nation we may become, if someone motivated by this crisis, achieves a large scale successful terrorist attack on the US.
	jane 1/14/2009 12:30 PM	Please stop all aide to Israel until they stop this murderous assault on the HUMAN BEINGS trapped in GAZA. It has been said when we were out there making phone calls and donations to your campaign we never counted on the same old horror show in Palestine. Please stop it now. Israel has now banned Arab Political parties from the upcoming election for disagreeing with Israeli Policy. YOU need to CHANGE the blind eyed subservience we had had to Israel right or wrong. How can a democracy be a democracy when it is a religious state. You are a smart guy, you know this is wrong. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF AIPAC. Like South Africa, the time has come to end Apartheid states everywhere and force them into the 21st century of a global world. Stand up and be a human--please. These people have been oppressed for way to long under the thumb of our dollar being burned alive, having their skin fall off from white phosphorus bombs , illeagal in confined civilian areas, that say made in America--how hideous is that? You are probably the only person on the planet who can stop it. The ICRC, The UN, The EU and most of the world has condemned these vicious assaults, how can you NOT stop it now? Peace: Jane
	Erez 1/14/2009 12:31 PM	I am repulsed by the blatant lies and bigotry of the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish remarks on this thread. This is nothing less than racist hate-mongering and should be denounced by everyone who seeks equality and justice in this world. The only way to peace is to stop the conflict and the only way to stop the conflict is for Arabs, Muslims and their supporters to accept that Jews, like all other human beings, are their equals and are deserving of the same human and national rights as accorded to others.
	Kmyd 1/14/2009 12:37 PM	<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Reading through these comments I feel that everyone see this sad old story with a different pair of eyes. One must understand that Palestinians nor Muslims in general are denying the right of Jewish people to live peacefully on the land where they currently reside, however Palestinians and Muslims are calling for justice as it is not just to strip the land from people and subject them to daily humiliation and killing under the banner of "Israel has the right to defend itself". What is prompting people to say that we do not want the Jews anymore on our land comes from the deep painful scars they carry for decades under the Israeli occupation. Muslims around the world blameno the Jews but the Israeli but their government that under the religious banner is creating, manipulating and maintaining the status quo. Without a doubt there is a group of the Israelis that believe that Palestinians should be completely expelled or killed and Muslim around the world do not agree with certain Palestinians political groups that advocate the destruction of the Jewish people. It is not the teaching of Islam; however Palestinian must regain dignity and sovereignty. I honestly believe the problem is political and lies amongst the politicians on both sides and the innocent civilians on both side have been suffering the consequences of this politic to nowhere.
	Kmyd 1/14/2009 12:38 PM	Reading through these comments I feel that everyone see this sad old story with a different pair of eyes. One must understand that Palestinians nor Muslims in general are denying the right of Jewish people to live peacefully on the land where they currently reside, however Palestinians and Muslims are calling for justice as it is not just to strip the land from people and subject them to daily humiliation and killing under the banner of "Israel has the right to defend itself". What is prompting people to say that we do not want the Jews anymore on our land comes from the deep painful scars they carry for decades under the Israeli occupation. Muslims around the world blameno the Jews but the Israeli but their government that under the religious banner is creating, manipulating and maintaining the status quo. Without a doubt there is a group of the Israelis that believe that Palestinians should be completely expelled or killed and Muslim around the world do not agree with certain Palestinians political groups that advocate the destruction of the Jewish people. It is not the teaching of Islam; however Palestinian must regain dignity and sovereignty. I honestly believe the problem is political and lies amongst the politicians on both sides and the innocent civilians on both side have been suffering the consequences of this politic to nowhere.
	Arby 1/14/2009 12:40 PM	To LRosenthal, Your comments are just another example of the official Israeli propaganda line. None of it stands up to any rational scrutiny. You know nothing of the chronology of events that led up to the enlarged firecrackers that Hamas fires. You don't even seem to know anything other than selected fragments of the history of the conflict. I don't have time to educate you here but there are now a number of tremendous Israeli voices that can fill you in where the AIPAC propaganda team has failed you. You might want to start with historian Illan Pappe. Palestinian corruption is not the issue and besides every Israeli Prime Minister since Yitzhak Rabin has been tainted with corruption. Who assassinated Rabin but Israeli fundamentalist terrorist fanatic extremists. This may be over your head but if Yasir Arafat had NOT been corruptible the West would never have allowed him to get as far as he did. It's all part of the same strategy used all over the world. As a Jew you have a choice. You can continue to believe that all criticism of Israel is motivated by anti-semitism and that you live in a world surrounded by people who hate you for what you are or you can begin the more painful process of learning the truth and mature in understanding. There are many Jews who can help you; Rabbi Arik Ascherman in Israel, Professor Neve Gordon, Adam Shapiro, Noam Chomsky, Rabbi Michael Lerner, the list goes on. Good luck, Russell Branca
	Smit 1/14/2009 12:42 PM	it's time to clip Israel's wings. What is going on in Gaza is akin to what went on in Rwanda. Israel is annilihating the Palestinians with U.S. weapons, while the U.S. does nothing. Hamas is the legitimate governing party in Palestine, yet neither Israel nor the U.S. will hold talks with Hamas. This will not change in the new administration,, according to Hillary Clinton's testimony in the Senate yesterday. Barack Obama has had plenty to say about the economy, but his lips are sealed when it comes to the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza.
	Judy R 1/14/2009 12:43 PM	I don't like the rhetoric, but it is true that what Israel is doing in Gaza is wrong. It is causing tremendous suffering. It is against the deepest principles of Judaism, and not in Israel's self-interest.
	calmom94 1/14/2009 12:44 PM	Our citizens are not safe as long as the US supports Israel with a blindfold on. Our leaders go to Israel and spend days there seeing the conditions which the Israelis live in, what US leader goes and spends days in the West Bank or Gaza to see with their own eyes how the Palestinians live? Aren't all human lives precious? What makes one person's life more valuable than anothers? Please open your eyes and your heart to see the plight of your fellow human beings in Gaza as well as in other parts of the world. I hope that diplomacy will be used more than weapons in your administration, maybe that will help 'stabilize' the world and keep you, your family and all families safe in their beds at night.
	capefirefly 1/14/2009 12:47 PM	Please IMMEDIATELY stop all aide to Israel until they stop this murderous slaughter of the people in Gaza. Everyone is afraid of "offending" the Israelis; that any criticism is "anti-semetism". What they are perpetrating on the people in Gaza is murder, pure and simple. Raining phosphorous down on civilians is nothing short of chemical warfare and on par with Saddam. Stopping all aid to Israel is the only thing they'll respond to. Otherwise, America is no less than complicit.
	Abdullahi 1/14/2009 12:51 PM	It is fairly obvious that Sharons boast that he US government will do anything Israel wants is being proven true once again. For a government claiming democratic legality can operate in a manner so contrary to the wishes of the majority of the people surely makes a mockery out of the term. The government being run by Hamas has more of the characteristec of a true democracy than the good ole USofA. When I sit here and listen to George W. Bush and his Secretary of the Status Quo, talk about Hamas being responsible for the present suffering in the Gaza strip I nearly vomit in revulsion. All the more sickening is the fact that if the USA was as big and bad as it thinks it is one phone call from GW Bush to Prime Minister Ohlmert could syop this slaughter in a minute. Finally, I think that Israel should no longer be given preferential treatment in terms of arms supplies as it has proven time and time again that it does nothing but abuse this privilege in the worst possible way. If Israel and the USofA truely want to stop rockets going into Israel then the should get out of the occupied territories, end the blockade on Gaza and recognize Gaza right to exist.
	Tom Paine 1/14/2009 1:01 PM	It appears that only the end of Israel will satisfy the pro Arab lobby. In 1948 the State of Israel was created by the United Nations. Immediately Israel was attacked with the object to drive the Jews into the sea. In fact Israel won the war. Again the Arabs tried to destroy Israel in 1956. Israel won the war. 1967 the Arab nations were preparing to attack israel. Israel won the war. 1973 again the Arab nations started. Israel won the war. Each time it was Arab aggression which cost the Arab people loss of land and drove them further from a possible peace with Israel. It makes no sense for Israel to spend its money. time and blood aggress upon the Arab people, but it is in fact the Arabs who have brought loss upon themselves. Now we are in the Gaza crisis. Who broke the cease fire agreement brokered by Egypt? Not Israel. It was the Hamas, committed to the destruction of Israel which began to fire rockets upon the cities and civilian population of Israel. The pro Arab advocates decry the killing of women and children by Israel. That would not be if Hamas did not hide behind the cribs of children and skirts of women. They decry the killing of the innocents, all the while raining rocket terror on the innocent civilians of Israel. Hamas is not an heroic organization, but a collection of cry baby cowards who play a dangerous game resulting in the destruction of the people they claim to love and fight for. Shame on Hamas. The organization does not serve God, but some warped sense of self righteousness. They have shown that they cant be trusted and thus the tight security and checkpoints. Good neighbors do not require that their neighbors use such security methods. Historical fact shows that Israel voluntarily withdrew from Gaza. What did Hamas then do? It used the Gaza area as a launchpad to attack Israel. No nation would tolerate such behavior. It has an obligation to itself and its citizens to defend itself and them. Hamas has shown itself to be without honor, decency and is unfit to sit within the halls of civilized society.
	Zenjenn 1/14/2009 1:02 PM	These comments are making me ill. Hamas attacks Israel from behind a shield of civilians, knowing Israel is reluctant to use force against civilian popuations. Israel has always shown tremendous restraint, and even when finally acting as any free nation would, to use its mililtary to protect is population from attacks at its borders, it announces its intention to bomb in order to give civillians an opportunity to seek refuge. Israel takes precautious to protects its civilians when attacked, and reduces its casualties. Hamas takes no such precautions, sacrificing its civilians that it might illicit support from blind, international audiences who will make their assessments, not by the truth, but by nothing more than the images that flash on TV. I encourage you all to read the statement issued by the URJ, a liberal American Jewish movement.http://urj.org/pr/2008/gaza/index.cfm?
	acepro 1/14/2009 1:03 PM	Dear LRosenth. If you are concerened about anti-semitism, please examine what the Israel government is doing in the name of all Jews. When Jewish people in greater numbers start to speak up and finally push Israel to get serious about peace, then people will be more willing to rally around the long-persecuted Jewish people.
	zari 1/14/2009 1:07 PM	The unspeakable history of anti-semitism and genocide against the Jewish people must never be forgotten - nor should genocide and oppression against any people anywhere in the world. Never again resonates in many nations and places. Unfortunately, the Israeli government is treating Palestinians very much like the Jewish people were treated in Europe for centuries. The UN has condemned the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza, yet our new administration -- if Clinton's comments during her confirmation hearing are any indication -- shows no signs of strongly condemning the violence by Israel in Gaza. We cannot continue to accept Israel's obstinence and then reward this rogue nation with unconditional U.S. support. Our entire credibility in the region - and in much of the Muslim world - now depends on how we forcefully let Israeli leadership know that the nation's actions in Gaza are unacceptable and must end now. Period. President Obama, please deliver the change in foreign policy that led so many Americans to support your clarion call. Yours in change, Zari
	shawk 1/14/2009 1:09 PM	Gaza the biggest prison in the world created by ISRAEL for 1.5 million peopleis, now are being slautered by Israel. Do not you see the meyham on TV. The promlem is the OCCUPATION of land & people of Palistine for more than 60 years. What do you expect from opressed , terrified people who are humilated daily.(Some Resistance ).Israel called the resistence TERRORISM, an abused word which every DICTATOR in the world took advantage of since created by Goerge W. YOU MR PRESIDENT NEED TO STOP GAZA KILLINGS NOW. Then immediatly become personaly involved in PUSHING for PEACE , otherwise we will have more opf the same for the next 60 years. YOU PROMISED CHANGE.. Send NEW Competant Envoyes to GET the job done. Do not use the old faces which most of the middle east MASSES know they are biased & pay lip service to word PEACE. shawk
	copter53 1/14/2009 1:11 PM	ifamericansknew.org look at that then speak
	alka 1/14/2009 1:12 PM	The Jewish organizations backed by Israel has successfully suppressed free speech in this country when it comes to Israel. LRosenth is crying Anti-Semitism, a loose description of any person that dares to criticize Israel for its wrong doing. I will be interested to know why Linda (Lrosenth) considers the criticism of Israel's policies in GAZA anti-Semitism? Isn't the killing of children and women in GAZA not worth criticisim?
	moonman43 1/14/2009 1:22 PM	The real issue to-day is not about anti - Semitism, Israel, Hamas or Palestinian, it is stopping the slaughter of what is now over 1010 people, a large number of which are not enemy combatants. On this issue Israel and the US are the only countries in the world opposed to stopping the bloodshed. While we squabble and posture about UN resolution wording, people are being killed at the rate of fifty a day. A
	moonman43 1/14/2009 1:22 PM	The real issue to-day is not about anti - Semitism, Israel, Hamas or Palestinian, it is stopping the slaughter of what is now over 1010 people, a large number of which are not enemy combatants. On this issue Israel and the US are the only countries in the world opposed to stopping the bloodshed. While we squabble and posture about UN resolution wording, people are being killed at the rate of fifty a day. Afer
	Sherri Lynn 1/14/2009 1:27 PM	Dear Mr. President, I have been following this latest Israeli military operation in Gaza, and I cannot believe what I am watching happen. I am watching in horror as a civilian population of 1.5 million human beings in a densely populated area occupied by Israel under international law is being targeted by Israel with bombs and air strikes and white phosphorous and other weapons, many of which the US provided to Israel. This has been going on for 19 days now, and over 1000 Palestinians have been killed, and over 500 of those killed by Israeli forces have been innocent men, women and children. We are seeing UN schools turned shelters being bombed, houses being bombed, mosques being bombed, fleeing civilians being attacked and killed. The shedding of the blood of the innocent is an abomination to God, Proverbs tells us. How long will the US allow Israel to continue these atrocities against innocent civilians in Gaza? Under international law, Israel has an affirmative obligation to protect the civilian population in lands they occupy. Gaza remains Occupied, as all international legal experts agree, as Israel maintains effective control over Gaza, controlling its borders and essentially holding its residents in an open aired concentration camp. The Israeli siege of Gaza has caused 75% of the population to be malnourished and 46% of the children to suffer acute anemia. This data comes from an article by Richard Falk, a Jewish American who is presently UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, and this data was recently printed in The Houston Chronicle. The US provides the equivalent of millions of dollars of aid to Israel every single day, and we alone have the ability to apply pressure upon Israel to stop this carnage against innocent civilians in Gaza. We need to start being a nation who shows we care about justice and human rights and international law. We need to stop the killing of civilians in Gaza, and pressure Israel to enter into a just peace agreement with the Palestinians, and pressure Israel to end their 40+ years illegal Occupation of Palestinian land, that violates the UN Charter and UN Resolutions and the opinion of the International Court of Justice.
	Roddy 1/14/2009 1:31 PM	Dear Mr. President, The Israeli-Palestinian conflict grew out of World War II, when it was agreed by the victors to set aside land for the creation of a new state in an area of the world where Jews could claim historical roots. What this act of "Jewish repatriation" achieved was to provide relief to Europeans at the expense of Arabs, and provide the United States with a familiar face in the Middle East. Today, the United States uses the state of Israel as a regional thug to spy on Islamic nations, leverage regional political objectives, and sanction unscrupulous military acts of aggression. Over the years this unhealthy relationship has poisoned the world community and caused the ruin of many lives both within the state of Israel and the region as a whole. The United States is no longer seen as a fair arbiter in the region, and the American people must stop pretending that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is between two peoples that cannot get along with one another. Indeed, in order to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict the United States must compel the Israelis to stand down. This can only be achieved by withdrawing its military and economic support, and if necessary prohibiting US trade with Israel. Supporting Israel, because it is the only established democracy in the region, while maintaining close military and economic ties with largely autocratic Arab governments, while the peoples of the entire Islamic world cry out in abomination can only continue to undermine our own democratic principles. I once believed in Israel, because I was appalled by the Jewish holocaust and blinded by my own religious, cultural, and racial prejudice. Mr. President, the dictators of 20th century Europe are now behind us and the communist threat has largely disappeared; unfortunately, the subjugation of peoples different from ourselves in the name of free trade and political democracy is still alive and well. That we do our best to bring an end to the current misery of the Palestinian people. Roddy Stegemann http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/earth/viewpoint.html
	sandysings 1/14/2009 1:32 PM	Regardless of the long history of conflict and war between Israel and the Palestinians, as a mother and a teacher, I cannot understand how Israeli soldiers could knowingly leave four innocent children laying in the rubble next to their dead mother for several days, and not allow anyone to come in to help them (and unknown number of other people). How could they put 100 people in a house, and then shell it? These are war crimes. The overwhelming force used on people who are trapped inside Gaza with no hope of escape or help is horrible, appalling, uncivilized, and a crime against humanity. I do not understand how the Egyptian government can stand by and not let Palestinians escape from the war zone. I do not understand why th US media is not providing "balanced" coverage of the war. I am a Causcasian, Christian, 60 year old woman, and a progressive Democrat. I support Israel's right to exist inside the borders established by the United Nations. I recently participated in a protest at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC, and a protest in Lafyette Park, and a march from and to the White House with several thousand other people. I have written my congressman and senators. Only one replied. I don't know what else I can do to help stop this war except keep going to protests and marches. In the meantime people continue to die. I do not understand why Barack Obama in whom I had so much hope, has not come out with a strong statement in support of the Palestians. I am disappointed beyond words.
	chs1972 1/14/2009 1:47 PM	Why is it that everyone has a short term memory? Gaza was occupied by Egypt thru 1967 - I do not recall any hew and cry then for independence. Why is it that past injustices (including the forcible repatriation of Germans after WWII to make room for Poles, or the flood of Jews fleeing Arab lands after 1948) are forgotten, and those on whom the injustices were perpetrated move on and make new lives, and the Palestinians stay as refugees? Is it possible because it is convenient for governments in the region to have something to take their citizens attention away from their own domestic problems?
	mbfromhb 1/14/2009 2:03 PM	at least here is a forum that i can finally address this concern. since this idiot bush has given his tacit approval for israel to conduct this attack, i had tried to send you pictures of the destruction and killings that are happening there now. you would find that a disproportionate number of kids are just being blown apart and devastated by the israeli army. its not the kids who are fighting. there's absolutely no press talking about why this is all happening, although kucinich is aware and has addressed it publicly. that since israel left gaza originally, they've maintain a blockade at the border controlling everything including food, medicine and basic essentials. if my family was starving and i was left with no choice, id be fighting too! this 2 state solution needs to take effect immediately. this would allow the palestinians to rule themselves without israel being involved. i'm a firm believer in them both to live their life the way they want and to mind their own business. living here in socal, i am around the "community" and they are absolutely pissed about this conduct and i am in full understanding and agreement with them. please put your best foot forward and get these people to the table to agree to allow each one to live life peacefully and leave each other alone!!!!
	FazzArthurKhan 1/14/2009 3:06 PM	When today there is no Berlin Wall, the construction of Israels wall is criminal. A flourishing Palestine is in the best interests of the USA and not a militarily superior Israel.
	Eric from Buffalo 1/14/2009 3:09 PM	Mr Obama The "support-Israel-regardless-of-what- horrors-it-commits" lobby has a stranglehold on US politics that must be broken, so that a just and equitable peace can be achieved in the region. Unfortunately, you are the one stuck with this job: it needs to be done.
	Noel4Peace 1/14/2009 3:29 PM	Contrast the West Bank with Gaza. In the West Bank there is no armed resistance but what has Israel done? They have expanded their colonies, networked them together with Israeli-only roads and constructed hundreds of checkpoints so that Palestinians cannot conduct business, go to school, obtain medical assistance or in some cases even farm their own land without Israeli permission. And when Palestinians, monitored by foreign peace groups, hold non-violent demonstrations, they are attacked by the IDF with tear gas and rubber bullets and their leaders are jailed. In Gaza, America and Israel armed and trained Fatah to remove democratically elected Hamas in a violent coup. That failed so Israel blockaded Gaza, which is illegal collective punishment and also an act of war under international law. After starving Gaza for months, repeatedly violating the ceasefire and rejecting Hamas offer to extend the ceasefire in exchange for a loosening of the blockade, Israel bombarded and then invaded Gaza with its full might of American made and paid for planes, helicopters, bombs, etc. And they blame Hamas for it! The bottom line is that the Israelis are insisting that the Palestinians in Gaza stop fighting as a condition for peace while at the same time, the Israelis continue to brutalize and systematically steal land from the Palestinians in the West Bank who have stopped fighting. And you and I are footing the bill for all of this while our Congress and press lies to us daily. President Obama, only you can stop the violence. If you do not, our country will continue to be sucked into the downward vortex of bigotry and violence that brought us 9/11 and the Iraq war.
	DJRB 1/14/2009 3:32 PM	It is not anti-Jewish or anti-semitic to state what is objectively and patently obvious to all: Israel is getting away with murder and its claims of "self defense" are not factually supportable. Isn't it anti-Muslim and anti-arabic that the U.S. will recognize Israel's right to defend itself, but not recognize that Palestine has the same right? How can the U.S. expect peace in the Middle East when it blindly backs an aggressive nation like Israel, no matter what atrocities it commits?
	maryannB 1/14/2009 3:41 PM	What's going on now in Gaza is ethnic cleansing in disguise. If they kill them all (1000 a good start) then they won't have to share.....anything. We have created a regional bully. We are creating more terrorists with every American bomb dropped from American planes given to Israel. Mostly, I cannot believe that a people who were victims of genocide would do this to someone else. Unbelievable.
	PeaceThinkTank 1/14/2009 4:05 PM	Peace Think Tank; Gaza discussion and analysis Peace Think Tank discussion related to this issue... Peace Think Tank http://www.peacethinktank.org http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=3626&pst=970919
	Lynne 26 1/14/2009 4:12 PM	As many have written before me, I have done everything I can think of: written letters, signed petitions, donated to aid organizations and joined protests in my local area. This charade must stop! Like the many Israeli's and Jews who are opposed to their government's actions, the Palestinians who want to live in peace with fairness and oppose terrorism and the Americans whose voices are barely audible over the rhetoric of our media and our politicians, I wonder; where is the democracy? Where is the transparency? Every human rights organization in the world that is working in Gaza reports the devastation. The facts are clear but the people lost are not. While the official casualty report stands at a thousand, I wonder how many more lay beneath the rubble of Gaza. If we had any left, we are losing moral authority in the world. War crimes are being committed, and we are responsible both with our support and our silence. If we do not stand for the rule of international law, then why would (or should) anyone else? The Palestinians have and continue to live under oppression. The citizens of Israel live in fear. In what way can this action stabilize that situation? The people... the mothers, the fathers, the brothers and sisters of the world want to live in peace. Get it?
	sheldonkanfer 1/14/2009 4:53 PM	To the Most Honorable President Elect: No people that stands by in silence and indifference as innocents are slaughtered, anywhere on this planet, can escape the severest judgment of history. We, the American people have already brought opprobrium upon ourselves for the installation, in year 2000 and again in 2008, of a malevolent and stiff-necked regime that has left nothing but catastrophe in its wake and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis dead. I believed and still believe that this is the CHANGE you compaigned for and that I canvassed for, hour after hour after hour. There is one essential problem in the Middle East right now: the OCCUPATION and ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION of Palestinian lands by Israeli military forces and the attendant strangulation of Palestinian economic, social, and political life. The cancer of this occupation is so virulent, Most Honorable Mr. President Elect, that it cannot contain itself in the space of that tiny land, in those tiny, teeming territories. Despite the efforts of Homeland Security or any of the other farsical security apparatus set up by the past administration, it must and will have out: it must and will bite us again because our hand is in it as a collaborating party. Mr. President Elect: would you call me naive and unrealistic to suggest that if the, who knows, hundreds of millions of dollars spent by Israel on the Gaza incursion were instead spent on a few water desalination plants or sewage treatment plants, then end might look substantially different? No dead children! No phosphorus burns! No destroyed homes, that were mere hovels to begin with! What possibly could have been wrong with that? Who would have been harmed, tell me! Why didn't the U.S. advise Israel on this alternate and more benevolent path, more consistent with American ideals? - at least, the ones you and I espouse. Mr. President Elect, you are soon Mr. President Elect no more. Please demand from your bully pulpit that the OCCUPATION end, that the 1967 borders be restored, that Jerusalem be shared as a hole site of three peoples. It will be in your power to pull the purse strings as well, and I humbly invite you to wield that power. OCCUPATION is violence and terror by another name. OCCUPATION means that my wisdom exceeds yours, my need for resources is more compelling than yours, and that my blood runs thicker than yours. The argument is made that Hamas hides its armament among civiliar areas. Hamas is by any definition a reprehensible organization. However, the decision of the Israeli government to pursue this full-throttled attack in the very face of that knowledge is just such a "my blood thicker than yours" decision, and illustrates the corrosive influence of 41 years of OCCUPATION on the Israeli body politic. The fact that Israelis support the operation means nothing to me at all; rather, it is emblematic of the very same political and spiritual impoverishment that led Americans to do what they did in 2000 and 2008. In closing, i adjure you as you adjured your own Cabinet: BE BOLD FOR THERE IS NO TIME TO BE LOST! DEMAND THE END OF THE OCCUPATION AND THE RESORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS! In deepest respect for your extraordinary accomplishments, Sheldon Kanfer
	sheldonkanfer 1/14/2009 4:58 PM	CORRECTION TO SHELDON KANFER'S COMMENT: FIRST PARAGRAPH SHOULD READ: No people that stands by in silence and indifference as innocents are slaughtered, anywhere on this planet, can escape the severest judgment of history. We, the American people have already brought opprobrium upon ourselves for the installation, in year 2000 and again in 2004, of a malevolent and stiff-necked regime that has left nothing but catastrophe in its wake and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis dead. I believed and still believe that this is the CHANGE you compaigned for and that I canvassed for, hour after hour after hour.
	RDPNYC 1/14/2009 5:16 PM	The slaughter of innocent people in Gaza is an international human rights incident with few equals. How can a people who have suffered so much themselves at the hands of injustice murder innocent women and children with such savagery? What Israel is doing is undoing any bit of progress the United States has made in the Middle East. What Israel is doing is criminal while we have troops in the Middle East trying to spread democracy and uplift people's lives. Every day Israel continues this slaughter it turns my stomach.
	truthbeam 1/14/2009 5:30 PM	Obama, your silence on this issue is echoing to the edges of the universe. You've let me down even before taking office, and I campaigned for you. STOP all military aid to Israel. When Israel attacks Gaza and the Palestinian people, it is with US tax payers' money. We have blood on our hands. I beg you to make it your number one priority to reverse the US/Isreali oppression of the Palestinians. Israel does nothing with US approval and financing. Tear down the wall and the check points, stop bull dozing homes, pay reparation, rebuild hospitals, schools, homes, and infrastructure, give the Palestinians their own country and voting rights and THEN you can demand that Hamas stop launching rockets. Never forget the Palestinians are the victims, resisting invasion, dating back to WW I. If you don't know this, then read your history.
	AnneR 1/14/2009 5:33 PM	Saddened and horrified as I am by the carnage, the failure of the US press to present even the barest outline of the events leading up to this catastrophe is criminal and craven because they know better. One of the conditions of the ceasefire was that Israel was to at least lighten the siege that was already killing women, children, men in the Gaza strip, reducing an entire people to poverty, neglect and pain. They refused to do this, and clearly, as they have admitted, used the time to arm and prepare for this bloodbath. It was not Hamas who broke the truce but the Israelis, who brought in forces on to kill Gazans with no warning or explanations before the truce was broken, in what many Israelis saw at the time as a clear provocation. Also, as pointed out by another writer, the US and Israel in another of their heavy handed and foolish games tried to overthrow the Hamas officials in Gaza using what has to be the most unpopular Fatah official (and that says something) in Palestine to lead the effort - Dahlan. He did not bother to even show up when it turned out that there was to be real fighting. But Bush liked and trusted him - his kind of man, he said, so our wildmen set fire to the entire Gaza strip in their foolish and fully visible effort that of course backfired on as always, all of us. There are no clean hands here, and the US and the EU who connived at the starvation of Gaza in order to punish them for Hamas bear a large part of the guilt. But obviously the real killers now are the Israelis, who are endangering US allies all over the Arab world, and tho the time may have come for these traditional allies of the US to fall, it is certainly not in our current interests to throw them away like this for a killing spree of Israel's.
	powertenin2 1/14/2009 5:48 PM	To all decrying supposed "anti-semitism": A simple history/ethnography lesson will reveal to you that a "semite" is in fact a part of an ethnic group composed of people of middle easter origin...religion is not a determining factor. THE PALESTINIANS, AS A MATTER OF FACT, ALONG WITH THE SYRIANS, EGYPTIANS, JORDANIANS, ET. AL. ARE ALSO SEMETIC PEOPLES. FURTHERMORE, most Israelis, coming from Eastern Europe, Russia, Germany, etc. in the years proceeding WW2, aren't even semites at all. I suggest those wishing to ignorantly use the ever feared "anti-semite" argument learn the proper usage of the word before throwing it around so freely. Also, I highly doubt that anybody here is "anti-Jewish", especially those Jews speaking out against the slaughter in Gaza. The description you are all assuredly searching for is "anti-Zionist", which, as a matter of fact is not based on any religious or ethnic ideology. Instead, being anti-Zionist simply means that one is against an expansionist POLITICAL doctrine (such as "conservatism" or "liberalism") which advocates the forced removal of a people from their land. This doctrine, while certainly popularized due to the horrible atrocities committed against the Jewish, homosexual, roma, etc. people by the Nazis in WW2, does not have its origins in the Second World War. In fact, Zionism was an ideology that was founded in the mid-19th century, which became popular among many Jews (and, as a matter of fact, radical fascists, such as the Nazis, who initially advocated the removal of these people from C. Europe, not their fullscale extermination) from around 1885 to the early 20th century. The sentiments expressed by the many who have commented on this board are not "anti-jewish", and they are certainly not "anti-semetic". They are simply an expression of oppostion to a radical, expansionist POLITICAL ideology, not opposition to a Religious doctrine, and certainly not opposition to an ethnic group, which many of the people commenting here are a part of. Please, before you use terms such as "anti-semite" or "anti-jewish", make an effort to 1. learn the meanings of these terms, and 2. understand the historical and political significance of the terms being used.
	counselor 1/14/2009 6:00 PM	I became a social activist 40 years ago as a teenager because I read the Diary of Anne FRank and learned about the Jewish ghettos and concentration camps. The idea that we should never let this happen again is key to me. So I have been horrified by the actions of Israel (sadly with my tax dollars) in its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, in turning Gaza into a walled ghetto so people can be systematically starved, deprived of medical care, proper sanitation, heating fuel, access to employment and family members in nearby territories. So they cannot flee from an inhuman barrage of military Israeli might. This is only a "fair" competition of you count 1 Israeli life for 100 Palestinian lives. But that would be racist. Isn't that how the Nazi's justified the brutalizing of Jews to "protect" their citizens from harm? When you are treating others in this way you have forfeited your onw humanity. PLEASE LISTEN TO THE ISRAELI PEACE MOVEMENT. ENOUGH ISRAELI LOBBY INFLUENCE. What a lose, lose proposition--to send our tax dollars needed for medical care and underprivileged children here to Israel so they can create death and suffering in a large scale against the Palestinian people they are trying to commit genocide against. This is so SICK AND WE ARE THE BANKROLLER OF THIS HORROR.
	alchemistoxford 1/14/2009 6:10 PM	The nation of Israel is in violation of US law that prohibits the use of arms provided through foreign aid to attack civilians within its own borders. Dennis Kucinich voted against H. Res. 34 that approved of Israel's illegal attack on Gaza. Pleaae, appoint Dennis Kucinich to head the Department of Peace and confer with him on every occasion that military aggression is discussed. US military aid to Israel is unwise and should be deleted. Israel should learn to live in peace with its neighbors without brandishing the world's 3rd or 4th largest nuclear arsenal. Israeli aggression is a failure of US policy because we are responsible for arming a series of governments that have acted irresponsibly. Some of the Palestinians have acted irresponsibly as well, but they are the oppressed in contrast to the oppressors in the Israeli 'defense' and 'security' services. The Israeli practices of targeted assassinations and political detention are in violation of the International Declaration of Human Rights. The USA must demonstrate her commitment to international law from the very beginning of the Obama administration or risk the responsibility for the collapse of international law.
	faremax 1/14/2009 6:24 PM	No, let "peaceful" palestinians send rockets into Israel and kill Israeli children for 8 years. Bad deeds never go unpunished. Now its time for Hamas and their supporters to pay. And by the way, stop hiding yourselves behind your own children, you cowards.
	Roddy 1/14/2009 7:42 PM	You can pretend to be equal when you are not, but you cannot balance the existing inequality by pretending to be equal. This game, if President-elect Obama has understood it well, can more easily be ended, than it is difficult to play. Roddy Stegemann http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/earth/viewpoint.html
	sohailakmal 1/14/2009 7:48 PM	Everything I want to say is summed up in powertenin2 comment. He/ she hit it right on the money. Please educate yourself America. For those interested, check out this link to see what Israel has done to the Palestinian land: http://www.nogw.com/images/wiping-off-map.jpg As you can see by this, there is no anti-semitism aimed at Jews, it's just that they have become the terrorists. Again, wise up and brush up on history and facts before voicing opinions. The United States has defined terrorism under the Federal Criminal Code. Chapter 113B of Part I of Title 18 of the United States Code defines terrorism and lists the crimes associated with terrorism. In Section 2331 of Chapter 113b, terrorism is defined as: …activities that involve violent… or life-threatening acts… that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State and… appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and… (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States… [or]… (C) occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States…"
	badrabbi 1/14/2009 7:52 PM	Whenever there is a conflict between two people, there are always two sides to a story. Israel's side is that the Palestinians are shooting rockets into its territory, and they don't appreciate it. The palistenian story is that they want Israel to not exist. They want to take over a land that they consider to be theirs. Who is right? Well, it is complicated. Know, though that one side wants the total destruction and death, whereas the other side wants just to be left alone. Can you guess which is which?

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