ISRAELI - PALESTINE CONFLICT, NO END IN SIGHT!

When will this madness end? When will this internecine war come to an end? When will enough be really enough in the Middle East? Every now and then there is a flare-up of age-long hostilities between biblical brothers and no one seem to have a handle on it? December 27th, 2008 so soon after the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, his kindred in Israel let loose their dogs of war and from the skies came bolts of fire to scotch the recalcitrant rocket-firing Hamas nuisance. A sledge-hammer being used where a scalpel may be needed, one might say?

No, says Icheoku, as the Hamas nuisance needs to and should be put to an end once and for all. According to an Israeli, Avraham Chen-Chatam, 57, the Israelis need to finish this once and for all and strike back as hard as it can be very painful to Hamas. The result, over two (200) hundred Palestines have been killed in retaliation for one Israeli killed by a Hamas-streaking Qassam rocket and there appears to be no end in sight. The bombardments continues despite calls from various world leaders to end hostilities. According to the Israeli government, the campaign is open-ended and is aimed at stopping Hamas rocket and mortar attacks that is traumatizing her population. This round of hostilities started so soon following the end of a six-month Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas; which truce ended just last Friday, December 26th, 2008.

Reports reaching Icheokudotcom, has it that Israeli warplanes dropped more than 100 tons of bombs on identified installations in Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday December 27th, 2008, in what is reputed as one of the bloodiest days in decades of the Middle East conflict. What does Hamas have to offer in response to fire and brimstone raining from the skies over Gaza from the under-bellies of United States of America supplied F-16 fighter planes but the chants of Allah Alkabr? But unknown to these "fanatics" they need to do more to protect themselves from a reaction to their provocation than simply calling on their god to come down and fight for them. A good starting point is to stop the provocative Qassam rocket firing into southern Israel which provoked this current retaliatory bombardment of Hamas infrastructures in Gaza strip. For every action, there is a reaction and there is always so much a people can take under such circumstance since the Israeli government has a duty to protect her citizenry.

Pictured below are some bodies of more than a dozen uniformed Hamas police, victims of Israeli air-strike as they lay dead on the ground at their Gaza City's main security compound; while above right is the lone fatality of Hamas Qassam rocket attack in the Israeli town of Netivot. Although Hamas vowed to fight on, saying they will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood, according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum; but Icheoku asks what is the wisdom behind such strategy?

This morbid mentality is very foolish as it is simply suicidal and the world is getting tired of the provocative antics of Hamas who continually fires rocket into southern Israel as agent provocateur of the conflict. Hamas should know that they are unevenly matched with the Israeli military hence a military solution to the conflict is not probable nor likely. A more savvy group would have used the least torturous means to negotiate a fair bargain for the people of Palestine instead of their present head-on collision approach with a far weightier military. What all these show is an unseriousness on the part of the leadership of Hamas and the Palestine people for a conclusive resolution of this problem; maybe they will lose the reason for their existence were a resounding solution ever reached, hence their choice of gun-powder confrontation.
How many Palestines and Israelis will have to lose their lives before Hamas and their rabid supporters realise that they are fighting an unwinnable battle against the mighty Israeli forces with the backing and tacit approval of Washington? Simply put, it is foolhardy.

Pictured here left is the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who said that Israel knows how to give proper response, at the right time, in the right way and responsibly.

Icheoku says, the Israeli security agencies should consider decapitating some of the present crop of die-hard absolutist Hamas leaders and see if the incoming ones might play ball with a negotiated settlement of the intractable problems between both entities. Icheoku's position seem to be in tandem with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who confirmed that Hamas' political leaders could soon be targeted. According to Livni, Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody in Hamas is immune.

But the hard charging and loud-talking Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, in a show of "bravado" or rather defiance, declared that his movement would not be cowed. The other actor in this macabre theater, the Palestine President, Mahmud Abbas, pictured above right, is however walking a thin line not to be seen as sleeping with the "enemy" and at the same time secretly wishing that the Israelis could do a job he could not himself do - the overthrow of Hamas in Gaza. However the Israelis appears ready to fight with the Defence Minister Ehud Barak vowing to expand the operation if necessary. According to Barak, there is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting!

Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming Israeli show of force, it was not clear their offensive would halt the barrage of rocket-fire from Hamas controlled Gaza strip which Hamas took since June 2007. Some rockets got into Israel as at the time of this report despite the massive air bombardment of Gaza. Also similar Israeli past efforts such as their operation against Hezbollah never achieved their stated objective.

The United States of America on Saturday blamed the militant group Hamas for breaking a cease-fire and attacking Israel, which retaliated with strikes of its own during what became the single bloodiest day of fighting in years. According to White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, Hamas are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people. The White House also called for the cease-fire to be restored saying that they need to stop the escalation. Continuing, the White House said, "we have said in the past that they have a choice to make. You can't have one foot in politics and one foot in terror."

That Israel has always hoped for and wanted quiet for the residents of the South and that they should enjoy genuine calm and be free of the threat of unceasing Qassam and mortar attacks that have disrupted life in the South for a very long period,"

Hamas with its 20,000 fighters is no match to the mighty Israeli military with its fighting prowess, which is now being accused of using disproportionate against the rocket firers. But shouldn't Hamas have known this fact all these months of provocative rocket firing into southern Israel?
Icheoku says the stated objective of Hamas and such other extremists of the Middle East to annihilate Israel and completely wipe Israel off the map is a mere wishful Utopian thinking of a deranged warped mind. It is not going to happen and this fact should get into their head, fast and sooner. The best solution is a negotiated settlement where the two feuding foes can live side by side in each identifiable independent communes or states. Until Hamas becomes rational and reasonable to realize that their belligerent and bellicose approach can only visit pain and suffering on her population, no meaningful peace can ever come to the middle east and the whole world will periodically wake up to the same cycle of mayhem going on between the Israelis and the Middle Eastern extremists as represented in Hamas and Hezbollah.

Play Video Video: Israel acts on threats, pounds Gaza Reuters
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