Gaza

Chances are, if you are reading this, then you know Israel has been pounding the crap out of the Gaza Strip over the past two weeks. There have been calls for a cease fire from all over the world condemning the attacks and the occupation. News outlets love to point out that over 1000 Gaza residents (militant and non alike) have been killed while less than 20 Israelis have been killed from rocket and other attacks.

First, a bit of background. There has never been but a lull in violence and conflict in Israel for thousands of years. Control over Jerusalem throughout history has been one long game of hot potato. When the concept of Israel was being mulled over by the UN, the original plan was
for a partition, one Jewish and one Arab, with the West Bank remaining neutral (due to the holy sites for both sides and the fact that no one will ever relinquish/maintain control over those sites). Arab Nations (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq) rejected this and instead attacked the newly formed Israel. At the end, Egypt controlled Gaza and Jordan annexed the West Bank. Israel itself controlled a barren wasteland with no natural resources and only tourism to rely on (a real kicker to control the only land in that area with no oil).

To keep this from getting too boring, control over various regions of Israel (a small area about the size of New Jersey, mind you) moved back and forth, usually from Arab aggression resulting in their own defeat and Israel conceding the land from the resulting victories. This has been going on forever and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. The whole thing is really just so petty on both sides at this point, we should just have a bingo game to see who gets control of each area. Violence is as certain as a hypochondriac's thoughts when hearing the defintion of hypochondria.

Back to recent events. If any other country in the world was subject to unprovoked rocket attacks, no matter the casualty result, the "offensive" into the firing country wouldn't be second guessed. Can you imagine Mexico shooting rockets into New Mexico? Andorra taking on Spain? How about Germany laying a few on France (who is attempting to broker the cease fire)? Or, what would the response be to Israeli unprovoked attacks on Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, et all?

Now Gaza is claiming it will only broker a cease fire (after they broke the last one during its final days) if Israel withdraws? Hamas (which controls Gaza), is backed by Iran. Iran has gone on record saying its goal is the complete obliteration of the state of Israel. I don't think the problems with this whole thing could be anymore obvious.