Why they fight............

[BKDJ]

Why They Fight

By Charles Krauthammer

Friday, July 14, 2006; Page A21

Next June will mark the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War. For four decades we have been told that the cause of the anger, violence and terror against Israel is its occupation of the territories seized in that war. End the occupation and the "cycle of violence" ceases.

The problem with this claim was that before Israel came into possession of the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War, every Arab state had rejected Israel's right to exist and declared Israel's pre-1967 borders -- now deemed sacred -- to be nothing more than the armistice lines suspending, and not ending, the 1948-49 war to exterminate Israel.

But you don't have to be a historian to understand the intention of Israel's enemies. You only have to read today's newspapers.

Exhibit A: Gaza. Just last September, Israel evacuated Gaza completely. It declared the border between Israel and Gaza an international frontier, renouncing any claim to the territory. Gaza became the first independent Palestinian territory in history. Yet the Gazans continued the war. They turned Gaza into a base for launching rocket attacks against Israel and for digging tunnels under the border to conduct attacks such as the one that killed two Israeli soldiers on June 25 and yielded a wounded hostage brought back to Gaza. Israeli tanks have now had to return to Gaza to try to rescue the hostage and suppress the rocket fire.

Exhibit B: South Lebanon. Two weeks later, the Lebanese terror organization, Hezbollah, which has representation in the Lebanese parliament and in the cabinet, launched an attack into Israel on Wednesday that resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers and the wounding of two others, who were brought back to Lebanon as hostages.

What's the grievance here? Israel withdrew from Lebanon completely in 2000. It was so scrupulous in making sure that not one square inch of Lebanon was left inadvertently occupied that it asked the United Nations to verify the exact frontier defining Lebanon's southern border and retreated behind it. This "blue line" was approved by the Security Council, which declared that Israel had fully complied with resolutions demanding its withdrawal from Lebanon.

Grievance satisfied. Yet what happens? Hezbollah has done to South Lebanon exactly what Hamas has done to Gaza: turned it into a military base and terrorist operations center from which to continue the war against Israel. South Lebanon bristles with Hezbollah's 10,000 Katyusha rockets that put northern Israel under the gun. Fired in the first hours of fighting, just 85 of these killed two Israelis and wounded 120 in Israel's northern towns.

Over the past six years, Hezbollah has launched periodic raids and rocket attacks into Israel. Israeli retaliation has led to the cessation of these provocations -- until the next time convenient for Hezbollah. Wednesday was such a time. One terror base located in fully unoccupied Arab territory (South Lebanon) attacks Israel in support of another terror base in another fully unoccupied Arab territory (Gaza).

Why? Because occupation was a mere excuse to persuade gullible and historically ignorant Westerners to support the Arab cause against Israel. The issue is, and has always been, Israel's existence. That is what is at stake.

It was Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization that convinced the world that the issue was occupation. Yet, through all those years of pretense, Arafat's own group celebrated its annual Fatah Day on the anniversary of its first attack on Israel, the bombing of Israel's National Water Carrier -- on Jan. 1, 1965.

Note: 1965. Two years before the 1967 war. Two years before Gaza and the West Bank fell into Israeli hands. Two years before there were any "occupied territories."

But, again, who needs history? As the Palestinian excuses for continuing their war disappear one by one, the rhetoric is becoming more bold and honest. Just Tuesday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, writing in The Post, referred to Israel as "a supposedly 'legitimate' state" ["Aggression Under False Pretenses," op-ed, July 11].

He made clear what he wants done with this bastard entity. "Contrary to popular depictions of the crisis in the American media," he writes, "the dispute is not only about Gaza and the West Bank." It is about "a wider national conflict" that requires the vindication of "Palestinian national rights."

That, of course, means the right to all of Palestine, with no Jewish state. In the end, the fighting is about "the core 1948 issues, rather than the secondary ones from 1967."

In 1967 Israel acquired the "occupied territories." In 1948 Israel acquired life. The fighting raging now in 2006 -- between Israel and the "genocidal Islamism" (to quote the writer Yossi Klein Halevi) of Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran behind them -- is about whether that life should and will continue to exist.

[ericknnj]

good read. what a mess

[growinupjersey]

hey...........not my problem

[BKDJ]

hey...........not my problem

man.... what a relief ! carry on!

[thumperxl]

"why they fight"

because its 105 degrees every fucking day

this shit is getting crazy in the middle east, i doubt the people over there will ever see peace.

[argdiesel]

the us is trying to seek diplomatic solution to this.. i doubt we will get involved more than that because we already have half the world against us... good Job BUSH!

[clubber4eva]

the us is trying to seek diplomatic solution to this.. i doubt we will get involved more than that because we already have half the world against us... good Job BUSH!

Another reason why osama, middle east, arabs etc....hate us is that the US is practically responsible for the existence of Israel. The Israeli Air Force is number 2 worldwide. After serving in the US Air Force, we trained tons of pilots from Israel. We also supply a shitload of money, weapons, training and 110% support. So when their people die from weapons that came from us, or pilots trained from USAF, in their eyes that justifies the hatred and wanting to commit terrorist activities to kill americans. Sad but true. Proof is in the pudding.

Israel is an economically, technologically, and militarily advanced country, with a per capita rate of $14,000, which is higher than all neighboring Arab countries, including the oil-rich Saudi Arabia. It is ranked as the world's sixteenth wealthiest country, yet the US aid to Israel constitutes 30% of the total US foreign aid budget.

Israeli population is 5.8 million, which only constitutes one thousandth of the world's total population. Between the years 1949 and 1998, the US has provided a total of $84 billion in aid to Israel, which exceeds that given to all countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined, with a total population of about 1.054 billion people. (you would think the needier would get our tax paying dollars?????)

Seventy five percent of US military aid to Israel goes into purchasing US-made military equipment, such as tanks, machine guns, bullets, helicopter gunships, and more. The US depends on Israel to test new military technologies in war conditions. For example, uranium-depleted ammunition has been fired at civilians in Palestine.<---Shit like this helps the terrorist leaders recruit young kids to strap themselves with explosives.

[BKDJ]

Another reason why osama, middle east, arabs etc....hate us is that the US is practically responsible for the existence of Israel. The Israeli Air Force is number 2 worldwide. After serving in the US Air Force, we trained tons of pilots from Israel. We also supply a shitload of money, weapons, training and 110% support. So when their people die from weapons that came from us, or pilots trained from USAF, in their eyes that justifies the hatred and wanting to commit terrorist activities to kill americans. Sad but true. Proof is in the pudding.

Israel is an economically, technologically, and militarily advanced country, with a per capita rate of $14,000, which is higher than all neighboring Arab countries, including the oil-rich Saudi Arabia. It is ranked as the world's sixteenth wealthiest country, yet the US aid to Israel constitutes 30% of the total US foreign aid budget.

Israeli population is 5.8 million, which only constitutes one thousandth of the world's total population. Between the years 1949 and 1998, the US has provided a total of $84 billion in aid to Israel, which exceeds that given to all countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined, with a total population of about 1.054 billion people. (you would think the needier would get our tax paying dollars?????)

Seventy five percent of US military aid to Israel goes into purchasing US-made military equipment, such as tanks, machine guns, bullets, helicopter gunships, and more. The US depends on Israel to test new military technologies in war conditions. For example, uranium-depleted ammunition has been fired at civilians in Palestine.<---Shit like this helps the terrorist leaders recruit young kids to strap themselves with explosives.

idnno bro, you got your shit on half-assed backwards.

ill just point out one thing cuz i dont have time.. if you were to invest alot of your money, would you invest it in something that can produce something, or some useless shit? you say they invested so much in israel and so far less into other countries, thats because israel has a proven track record for producing useful technology and amaing ideas. you know that an Israeli INVENTED VOICEMAIL??? but theres too much to list, so get your shit straight then rant! carry on.....

[danihawk]

the us is trying to seek diplomatic solution to this.. i doubt we will get involved more than that because we already have half the world against us... good Job BUSH!

yeah starting a war in one of the least threatening countries in the Middle East was a great call

[newtothis]

BKDJ, it's beyond obvious that you're pro-Israel. I hope you won't criticize everyones response to your post just because your pro-Israel, although you're off to a good start. He brings up good points and so do you. The fact of the matter is ISRAEL and PALESTINE are equally to blame. Yes, equally. That being said, I won't get into why they are both equally at fault. Why won't I? because it's flippin ClubPlanet, not Anderson Cooper 360!

P.S. Voicemail..lol

[BKDJ]

BKDJ, it's beyond obvious that you're pro-Israel. I hope you won't criticize everyones response to your post just because your pro-Israel, although you're off to a good start. He brings up good points and so do you. The fact of the matter is ISRAEL and PALESTINE are equally to blame. Yes, equally. That being said, I won't get into why they are both equally at fault. Why won't I? because it's flippin ClubPlanet, not Anderson Cooper 360!

P.S. Voicemail..lol

lol, no doubt.

but listen, im pro-israel cuz from my experiance, israel is pro. why is it that no arab nation in the middle east will give any of its land so the palis can make their own state? not even one! why? carry on.....

[growinupjersey]

I just want to know when the Xbox game of this war is going to come out. By the looks of whats going on over there it should be a big seller come christmass.

[BKDJ]

its in the works from what i heard

[BKDJ]

bundled with p.s.3 sorry......

[bella53081]

the us is trying to seek diplomatic solution to this.. i doubt we will get involved more than that because we already have half the world against us... good Job BUSH!

when i first read that i thought u were saying good job bush for real. lololol

[transitboy]

Here is the real solution. First of all let me start saying by stating that I could give three shits about what happens over there. I don't like anyone but Americans. The rest of the world could rot in hell. That being said if the UN didnt invent Israel about 50 something years ago none of this shit would be going on. The Arabs frigging hate Jewish folks and the Jewish folks feel like thats their land. Ohh well. Thats the problem. I say let them fight it out not get involved but I guess we are already involved due to the fact that Israel is using our weapons. Oh well! I trust Bushie Jr. will come up with a GREAT solution. Doesnt he always???

[BKDJ]

so wait a sec.... what IS your SOLUTION?

[transitboy]

I really thought I had one but after reading it I really have none. Maybe just let the fuckers fight. We know Israel will win big time. What I dont want to happen is the rest of the fucking Arabs join together and tag team Israel. Even if they do Israel still would win but I wouldnt want the USA to come in and help. I say fuck um all let them fight. The truth is the Jewish hates the Arab and the Arab hate the Jewish. Actually what about moving Israel to Florida. That might actually work.