Like Ireland, the people are exactly the same (except the spurious area of "religion").

They look the same, sound the same, have the same antecedents.

What on earth are they fighting about and why?

Why don't they stop killing each other - as they seem, thank heavens, to have done in Ireland?

You should write a song about it JK or have you already done it ?

My take on it is that we - the members of the Quartet and Israel - made a huge mistake in refusing to talk with Hamas when they won the election in 2006. When you decide that no talk is possible, sooner or later it spills into this sort of mayhem.

The recent ceasefire should have been used to build talks. But instead, the blockade was tightened on Gaza which made Hamas even less inclined to rein in the radical elements in Gaza. Hence Israeli impatience at the sporadic shelling. Hence their bombing campaign inside Gaza.

A disastrous situation that was entirely predictable.

Michael wrote:
My take on it is that we - the members of the Quartet and Israel - made a huge mistake in refusing to talk with Hamas when they won the election in 2006. When you decide that no talk is possible, sooner or later it spills into this sort of mayhem.

The recent ceasefire should have been used to build talks. But instead, the blockade was tightened on Gaza which made Hamas even less inclined to rein in the radical elements in Gaza. Hence Israeli impatience at the sporadic shelling. Hence their bombing campaign inside Gaza.

A disastrous situation that was entirely predictable.

Hamas is the radical element isn't it ?

The neighbouring countries, especially Egypt, have aggravated the situation greatly over the years, expelling hundreds of thousands of Jews and palestinians and forcing them into Israel and then closing borders.

mikemacca wrote:

Hamas is the radical element isn't it ?

The neighbouring countries, especially Egypt, have aggravated the situation greatly over the years, expelling hundreds of thousands of Jews and palestinians and forcing them into Israel and then closing borders.
Yes, Hamas is the harder of the two main political parties in Palestine. Fatah, the other and which is represented by Mahmoud Abbas, is largely regarded as a quisling inside Palestine.

The Egyptian role is very questionable, as they have closed their border with Gaza so as not to annoy Washington (and Israel indirectly) and are therefore complicit in the blockade.

It must also be said, however, that as part of the Quartet (EU, US, Russia and Israel), Europe is also complicit in the current crisis. And indeed it is doing zilch to affect any change on the ground apart from muttering platitudes about concern for humanitarian concerns (consistently ignored by Israel anyway) while ignoring the massive slaughter happening there, the equivalent of saying "kill, but don't forget to bring Band-Aids for the survivors".

Obviously the Jewish lobby in america is more important than the Palestinian one.