Hamas Threatens to Hit Israeli Homes in New Tactic

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast-hamas-threat.html

September 10, 2003 Hamas Threatens to Hit Israeli Homes in New Tactic

Filed at 8:51 a.m. ET GAZA (Reuters)

The military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas threatened on Wednesday to change tactics by attacking Israeli houses and buildings after Israel tried to kill a Hamas political leader in his home in the Gaza Strip.<snip>

Hamas is sworn to the destruction of the state of Israel, which it says is built on occupied Palestinian land - "in the past we have avoided targeting houses and Zionist residential buildings but the enemy was the one to initiate it".."Our painful operations were to tell the enemy that we have struck you when your security arrangements reached a climax yesterday. Our response came, and has not been completed yet".."we are able, by God's will, to achieve our goal in a time which we will determine" <snip>

Hamas is going to start using Israeli tactics now? This is very bad news. I fear for the innocents that are in the way of the aggressive militaries that claim to represent one side of the conflict.

Just kids throwing stones and some homemade bombs.

this is the last thing we need: more death and misery, likely on both sides.

The extremists just 'follow the leader.' What now?

It would be a nightmare to be one of the people on either side of this clusterfuck. The greatest masses of people on each side just want to be left alone to live in peace.

On the one hand the Palestinians live in fear of Israeli reprisals. On the other hand the Isrealis live in fear of terror bombings. Seems to me that the one thing that keeps the troubles alive is Hamas.

You have to wonder just how much longer the situation can last without someone taking drastic action (as if the present situation is not drastic).

It seems to me that the one thing that can start movement towards peace is for the palestinians to finally quash the terror tactics of Hamas. Unless that is done, I very much fear that Isreal will one day have had enough and adopt a "final solution" (and I use the term fully knowing the it's origin), and use it's military power to push them all out and take over the land itself. That would be a nightmare for all involved.

Facts must be faced. Hamas's goal is the destruction of isreal. The Palestinians goal is to live in peace and prosper. The two are simply not compatible.

I believe that nothing will be done to solve the problem until the palestinians foreswear violence as a means to settle political differences, and the Isrealis accept the Palestinians as neighbors.

But that may be asking too much of both sides.

Perhaps the solution is to nuke them both and put an end to the bickering once and for all?

I think the problem is emotions. Yes maybe they kill a "hamas leader" in an attack, but what about the innocent palistinians who get killed in the attack too, they have families too who must feel hurt and some want to take revenge.

Its a spiral of violence on both sides, factions (IDF/Hamas etc) on neither side will apparently never stop using violence and death to punish their enemies.

... for constantly provoking new attacks, whenever it looks like there is the possibility of a truce... please note that Sharon's "retaliation" often kills Palestinians who are NOT part of Hamas, thereby creating more martyrs and would-be martyrs.

It seems to me that the one thing that can start movement towards peace is for the palestinians to finally quash the terror tactics of Hamas. Unless that is done, I very much fear that Isreal will one day have had enough and adopt a "final solution" (and I use the term fully knowing the it's origin), and use it's military power to push them all out and take over the land itself. That would be a nightmare for all involved.

it seems to me that the one thing that would start movement for peace is to cut off US aid to Israel. without US aid, Sharon would not be able to carry out his illegal colonialist policies. besides that, we can't afford it. we have a freakin' $500 billion (and growing) deficit.

"Perhaps the solution is to nuke them both and put an end to the bickering once and for all?"

Granted the situation seems intractable. Personally, I think both sides are wrong and to blame, but there is a way to peace. Look at Ireland, for example. Neither Sharon nor Arafat will lead their people there, though. But I strongly disagree with your flippant statement that we should nuke them all.

I read in Yellowtimes.com that the US could offer the Israelis or the Palestinians a home in America!

But from my experience it seems to be a flippant, almost throw-away statement that is a result of the frustration people feel over the never-ending violence of the conflict. Not that I'm making any excuses for it, because I think flippant, frustrated or not, it's a stupid comment to make, but not half as stupid as the ones I've seen elsewhere where some Americans sincerely advocate nuking the 'sand-niggers'...

I disagree with their view that even the Palestinian people ridding themselves of Hamas once and for all would bring peace. Not with Sharon at the helm of Israel, it wouldn't. All it would achieve is for his clearly desired wish to continue his oppression of the Palestinian people and the taking of their land to be done with zero resistance. I'm pretty sure that when the word 'peace' slips from his lips, that's what he defines it as...

I also disagree with a future scenario where Israel would adopt a Final Solution to the Palestinian people. I'm sure there's a tiny element in Israel who would support such a thing, and when the term Final Solution is used, I take it to mean that it's talking about extermination and not forcing people from their land based solely on what religious, ethnic or national group they are, because the latter was never what the Final Solution was about. Sorry, I should have addressed most of this in a separate post to the person who said it, but I'm in a lazy mood this morning and decided to plonk it here...

Violet...

I remember being an pro-Palestinian advocate a couple of years back. I had to put up with a family member who did advocate nuking the "sand niggers". He's awful. However, he one day suggested giving weapons to both the Israelis and the Palestinians to kill each other so we could be left alone. I was so frustrated at the time, that I didn't even come close to finding it appalling. I sometimes have to take a break from this subject so the frustration doesn't get to me. Maybe some others should do the same.

but knows it can't. We all know it, and Israel knows it, so I doubt very much that Israel is afraid to be "driven into the sea" by the Palestinians.

One step to peace is for Israel to dismantle the settlements. The fact that Israel hasn't done so tells me that Israel isn't REALLY interested in peace, unless it is a peace on their (Israels) terms, which is, obviously, not acceptable to the Palestinians.

This conflict will not end unless one side is moved out of there.

Wouldn't doubt if it happened. And then what chaos afterward...

just came back from a visit to Israel. He was describing the situation there. He said he has a feeling it is about to explode and that we'll be horrified by what happens. He scared me, for sure.

Bulldozing Israeli homes would be horrible and a racist war-crime.

Of course, bulldozing Palestinian homes is an acceptable policy of self-defense. Right Democrats?

Why would they target a home? They can only kill like 3-7 Israelis if they target homes as opposed to the 17-47 they can get by blowing up school buses. Plus it will require 3 times the amount of explosives.