Conflict between Palestine and Israel escalates
- Thread starter dreng3
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UN, EU and World Bank back siege on Gaza
Regime change is the aim of Israel and its international supporters.
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I read that article.UN, EU and World Bank back siege on Gaza
Regime change is the aim of Israel and its international supporters.electronicintifada.net
While it raises some interesting points, it seems to gloss over the fact that the group governing Gaza (Hamas) is a terrorist group. A terrorist group having a large amount of popular legitimacy does not make it not a terrorist group.
The IDF is a terrorist group. Hamas has a right to resist Israeli aggression, including the siege.
Surely that's exactly what makes a group not a terrorist group?
Well, that and/or maybe not doing terrorism.
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The IDF being a terrorist group does not make Hamas not a terrorist group.
Doing terrorism makes a group a terrorist group. And yes, nation states and their various component parts can commit acts of terror.
The fact that they are the underdog against IDF genocidal violence does however lend them the kind of credibility and sympathy they need to keep refreshing their ranks. You don't defeat terrorism with escalation, but by starving it to death.
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Oh yes.
It's just that this right is not unlimited, and they are still a terrorist group.
I respect that palestinians have a right to oppose invaders and oppressor, but not only is Hamas an active detriment to the cause, they're also horrible ineffective at picking targets and methods.
I'd also question the actual motives of Hamas, seeing as they aren't really striving to improve the everyday lives of the average Gaza resident when not launching rockets.
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And I disagree that directly targeting civilian targets is within the right to resist.
One might argue that Hamas isn't directly targeting civilians, only incidentally since they lack weapons accurate enough to directly target the IDF or the Israeli government.
The IDF frequently kills civilians with the excuse that they are human shields for Hamas ammo depots. Now, if the IDF had munitions accurate or advanced enough to discriminate between Hamas and civilians we believe they'd use them, no? Same might go for Hamas, only their weapons are far less accurate.
Israel has IDF which is a guy with a sniper rifle, Palestine has Hamas which is a guy with a trebuchet. Can you really fault one party for waging a war with the tools available?
Do note that I'm mainly playing devil's advocate here, I believe that there are far better ways for any palestinian to resist Israel.
I don't disagree with this sentence (I do think Hamas are a detriment), but what would an effective approach look like?
Peace treaties have been brokered in the past several times. Some have been broken by Hamas, but others have been broken by the IDF. The weaponry is not available for any sophisticated targeting or military action. Their ability to develop Gaza economically is strangled by blockades, and any effort to gain wider political recognition is blocked by various geopolitical powerhouses around the world.
The actions of Hamas in targeting civilians are indefensible. But we also have to talk about what actual, acceptable recourse is available. What can/do they do? Every rational, traditional avenue of self-improvement is stymied or blocked.
These are acts of desperation.
Keep in mind that their economic independence is utterly hamstrung by the ongoing blockade. The World Bank estimates that the losses to GDP for the region are in excess of 50%. They are essentially unable to trade.
How do you develop the area under such conditions? Any country on earth would be undergoing a quality-of-life crisis in such circumstances.
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Start by targeting military personel only, snipers, car bombs, assassinations. Cars loaded with explosives drive straight towards military installations, explosives planted on the hulls of ships (actually feasible even with limited resources). Point is that it should be targeted at military targets with little to no chance of civilian casualties. The main defense of the Israeli government is that the opponents are terrorists, take that away and it becomes way harder to justify occupation and civillian deaths.
Also, I might be on a list now.
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