Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Israel has been bombing the Gaza strip for the past 3 days, killing over 300 Palestinians. The Israelis claimed that they are going after Hamas who are shelling Israel daily. But of course many of the dead are not militants but civilians. This will undoubtedly lead to more deadly violence as Israeli soldiers may go into Gaza. This remind me of the blog I wrote in summer of 06 when Israel went into Lebanon to try to destroy Hezbollah. I wrote then that if we learn anything from history is that violence will not solve this problem. A diplomatic solution must be sought. But the Bush administration has not done anything in the past 8 years and is just waiting to hand things off to Obama.

Speaking of Obama, when he went to Israel before the election, he commented that if someone is shelling his house, threatening his daughters, he would respond just like the Israelis. This comment is being used by Israel to justify their attack. I agree with Obama that if I am living in Israel, I would feel the same way as the Israelis and want to go after Hamas. But nobody is saying what he would do if he was a Palestinian and is getting bombed by the much more powerful Israel air force. Most likely he would hate Israel and would do almost anything to seek revenge. So if Obama is even handed he would say how he feels if he is a Palestinian as well as an Israeli.

So where do we go from here? If Israel wants to destroy Hamas, it would have to go in with lots of soldiers. This risks heavy casualities and attack from Hezbollah from Lebanon. I think it will be a quagmire for Israel. You know, the Palestinian territory is divided into Gaza which is run by Hamas and the West Bank which is run by Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas is much more moderate and he has condemn Hamas for attacking Israel. So Israel and the U.S. should try to build up the West Bank as quickly as possible. If the Palestinians in the West Bank actually can thrive economically, it will show the Arabs that by cooperating their lives can improve. Declare West Bank as the independent Palestinian state. Then let the Palestinians from the West Bank bring aid into Gaza. Maybe they will be considered traitors but maybe a majority in the Gaza will turn away from Hamas. It certainly is worth trying.