On the current situation in Gaza

For the past week there has been great destruction and death in the Gaza strip.

Approximately 500 Palestinians and 10 Israelis have died in the recent flare up.

I do not think it's acceptable for H.A.M.A.S. to fire rockets in civilian areas. That definitely needs to stop. Whether it's the P.A. who stops it or the local population or a rival faction, the rocket attacks need to stop. Not only is it morally wrong, but also tactically ineffective.

I give the same message to Israel. While the American media focuses on the fact that Palestinians fire rockets into Israel from Gaza, as well as the fact that Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005 and still those irrational Jew-hating Moslems can't quench their thirst for the blood of Israelis, it's worth bearing in mind that Israel did not completely withdraw from Gaza. From the land, yes. But Israel still controls the commercial border crossing points, the air space, they don't allow fishers to go more than 2 miles out from the coast, and imposed a blockade of food, medicine, and petroleum because HAMAS won a democratic election. Should Arab nations have the right to blockade food and medicine from going into Israel because they elected Ariel Sharon in 2001 and 2003, a man who had massacred villages in the 1950s during his stint in 101 including the Qibya massacre, a man who had indirect involvement in the Sabra and Shatila massacres? A man who brought about the policy of running bulldozers over poor peoples' houses in the West Bank because one of the family members in that house happened to be a terrorist?

It's also worth remembering that in our pro-Israel media you never hear anything coverage of Settler violence against Palestinians, which happens almost everyday. And in the 1980s, Settlers fired crude rockets in the West Bank at buildings in Arab towns, yet there was no outcry for Arab nations to use 1000 pound bombs from fighter jets on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

So for the well-being of the people on both sides of the conflict, I urge both sides to stop.

I'll leave you, my fine readers, with this last thought: Is it not remarkable that President George W. Bush and his evil associates Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld came into office in 2001 with the message that the two biggest problems in the world were Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat? And that if only they were both out of the picture everything would be great? Well they're both dead, Saddam for 2 years and Yasser Arafat for 4. And the Middle East has never been more instable....