Sorry, been a bad few days. Let me just say something.
I know damn well how suicide bombers are created. Their created by violence, by 10 year olds seeing soldiers kill their parents.
My friend left the West Bank at age 2. His family was kicked out of their homes in the West Bank 17 years ago. The entire street was bulldozed. No compensation was ever payed to him. They had 18 hours to leave before it was destroyed.
Israel does not have a free media. You cannot trust their reports. If Journalists could get pictures of both sides dieing, popular opinion would by no means be on Israel’s side.
People believe what they see on the media. Journalists can go along on missions with Israeli soldiers, but must submit their footage and let it be edited. Its called Propaganda, in the extreme form.
Ariel Sharon has a reputation for “Too much unneccasary collateral damage”. More than half his people disapprove his actions.
The Church Members inside the Church of Nativity are not being held hostage. They proclaim themselves (through some of the evacuated members talking to the US Media) that they stay there by choice.
The United States Media is doing the best they can, but due to preconceptions about the Palestinians (from Israeli propaganda) they cannot be truley objective. I no longer watch MSNBC, instead I watch CNNWorld (Mostly a British channel), for my news.
I am agnostic, so I see this conflict not as a Religious conflict, but as the result of a Tyrant ruling over a smaller nation.
Let me give you some historical facts.
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The Israelites were the first to use Terrorism. They tried to rebel against the Romans by burning down Roman towns and taking Roman Generals hostage. The Israelis teach this in their schools as “Freedom fighting”
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The American Revolution is considered Terrorism by the British. They fought a Guerilla war and won. They terrorised all British Tax officals by Linching, Tar and Feathering, or destroying their homes.
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When Israel was founded, 20 percent of the Country was Hebrew (note I don’t say Jewish), and 80 percent was Arab.
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After the 1967 war, over 2 million displaced Arabs left Israel for other Arab countries (mostly Jordon) and lived their lives in “Refugee camps”. Israel became 50 percent Hebrew, 50 percent Arab.
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By today, Arabs have left Israel enough to change the Ratio to 70/30. If the “Right of Return” were to be granted, and almost 3 million Arabs were to return, the Ratio would return to 50/50.
Lastly, like I said, don’t believe the Israeli media. Use a European or Japaneese or Candadian News source.