Global, Israel, Justice

Gaza

Wow. Estimates of the number of people who went from Gaza to Egypt today range from 200,000 to 350,000 (out of a total population of 1.5 million).
I’m probably missing something big, but I’m finding it hard to see how this isn’t a good thing for both Israel and Palestinians. The right-winger in me says that after 60 years, maybe this will finally force Egypt to take some responsibility for the situation in Gaza, and the left-winger in me says that Gaza is a shithole so who wouldn’t want to leave. We’re not talking about the West Bank, with ancestral villages and olive groves and such.
Whether one sees all Palestinians as terrorists, or whether one sees them as human beings to whom the Israeli government has a responsibility as long as they’re living in Israeli-controlled territory, one way or the other it seems like Israel is better off letting this be Egypt’s problem.

11 thoughts on “Gaza

  1. The right-winger in me sees this as a good learning experience. If you want to get rid of the palestinians just cut of the fuel and electricity and it will take care of itself.
    Kahanists everywhere should take note.

  2. For that, you don’t even need to cut off the fuel and electricity, just cut off all the tax breaks and economic incentives. Also, since Israel doesn’t allow absentee voting for citizens living outside the State of Israel (who have to show up physically in Israel if they want to vote), this policy should be made more consistent, so that there are no polling places in territory that hasn’t been annexed by Israel.

  3. You guys are hopeless. If only you could be as vicious towards the arabs as you are toward your own people this conflict would have ended decades ago. With less blood spilled on both sides.

  4. It’s “vicious” to suggest that Israel should be more consistent about voting policies, or that Israelis who live inside the State of Israel shouldn’t have to pay higher taxes than those who live in the territories?

  5. formermuslim, what kind of “defeat” are you hoping for? Israel HAS defeated the Arabs for the past 60 years. Islamic fundamentalism would go away if I were murderous towards them? The conflict would be over? What???

  6. “Israel HAS defeated the Arabs for the past 60 years. ”
    Bullshit. Israel’s entire existence revolves around it’s conflict with the arabs. Israel may have won battles but not the war. The wall Israel built around the west bank may create the illusion of peace or at least quit. But I remember the days when every single day I read in the newspaper about some suicide-bombing somewhere in Israel. It seems even then Israel couldn’t get itself to expel the palestinians. What good will that wall be when the west bank gets it’s hands on some heavy misiles?
    Kung Fu Jew, nobody expects Israel to defeat Islamic fundamentalism. There isn’t a country in the region that can defeat Israel in a war. Their economic boycott is a joke. Once you put some physical distance between the Jews and the arabs you won’t have to worry about terrorist attacks either. And yes, then the conflict would be effectively over. So what if you don’t have their leader’s john hancock on some worthless peace of paper trying to pass for a peace treaty.
    And don’t worry about the status of Jerusalem. Let me say this as someone who has experience with islam. Jerusalem means NOTHING to muslims. zip nada zilch noppes zero

  7. And don’t worry about the status of Jerusalem. Let me say this as someone who has experience with islam. Jerusalem means NOTHING to muslims. zip nada zilch noppes zero
    But the Shuafat refugee camp has been part of the eternal undivided Jewish holy city since twilight on the sixth day of creation!

  8. >>“Whether one sees all Palestinians as terrorists, or whether one sees them as human beings to whom the Israeli government has a responsibility as long as they’re living in Israeli-controlled territory, one way or the other it seems like Israel is better off letting this be Egypt’s problem.”
    I don’t know–I think most Palestinians are enablers and assisters of terrorism….but many of them are human beings in a bad situation. The reality is that Israel is probably better off with more Arabs out of Gaza. The Arabs who left Gaza are also likely better off.
    Egypt is better off because it gets to maintain its proxy war against Israel by supplying Hamas, and possibly get new influence in Arab politics by herding hundreds of thousands of ex-Gazans into eternal Sinai refugee camps.
    It also can come to a certain level of accommodation with Hamas by ceding the northern and eastern Sinai Peninsula on the condition that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists stay away from Cairo. (Don’t underestimate the strategic calculus of the Cairo government as Egypt prepares for the end of Mubarak). It’s quite interesting that Egypt has intentionally handed over the northeastern Sinai Peninsula to Hamas.
    Israel of course is ultimately worse off because it’s about to lose control of its entire southwestern territory, as the showers and thunderstorms of Muslim rockets from Gaza prepare to slide down the length of the entire Egyptian-Israeli border….and Israel becomes gradually re-frontierized. Such are the sacrifices for peace.

  9. While I would love to see the “problem” persay on Egypts hands I do so the downside in this…Food, cigarettes, etc…fine. But you have to remember the reason the wall was originally built. It is there to stop a flow of weapons from Egypt into the Gaza strip. With this gaping wall, terrorists are free to drive into Egypt..pick up some great looking rockets and explosives to use in Israel proper…and come straight back home with them.

  10. beershevaboheme6 : The question is if there will be enough palestinians left in gaza to support a war once they have those weapons. With the civilian population greatly diminished aerial strikes should be a lot easier.
    Like I said before, Israel should do whatever it can to encourage the permanent migration of the gaza palestinians. Pressuring Egypt to rebuild the wall is one reason why I think the Israeli leadership is made up of idiots.

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