Bertster7 wrote:
I wouldn't say talk of stealing the land was laughable since the land they were 'given' is of a far smaller area than what they are claiming is Israel today. The 30ft tall wall around 'Israel' is far past the internationally recognised borders - how would you feel if the french built a wall around Kent and claimed it for themselves - bulldozing all British houses in the area and kicking out the occupants, shooting anyone who resisted (a bit like the English did with Calais a few hundred years ago) - I don't know about you, but I would be very pissed off.
It's just unacceptable - in this day and age more powerful nations can't just go around nicking territory of smaller ones. Thats what the UN was set up to prevent - what happened when Iraq invaded Kuwait?
Now here we are in agreement, the land they are claiming is in excess of what was promised to them. Should they relinquish they're claim... imo yes they should but we both know damn well that they won't
As for the France and Kent, again i take your point and for the main i agree but (and I'm sure I've said this before) the central point remains that the only people who stole land was the people who promised it to the Israeli's in the first place. It is not the fault of the Israeli's for their fuck up.
Bertster7 wrote:
I would agree with you here, were it not for the fact that there not only haven't been any convictions, there haven't been any trials. Being from the UK yourself I'm surprised you are not familliar with the case of the British tourist who was shot in the head without provocation by an Israeli soldier, he was using a video camera at the time and the tape has been publicised. The soldier in question was identified, yet the Israeli government refused to put him on trial for his actions or even to issue an apology to the victims family.
Justice?
I know of the case that your referring to and as i recall the Brit was there as a human shield for the civilians (Palestinian civilians i think but I'm not sure). If your a human shield, you have to expect to get shot; thats why your there. As for the Israeli getting off... no not justice but wasn't the Israeli position that there wasn't enough evidence to proceed with the trial? That happens all over the world, your cracking down on Israel for a universal problem. Was it fixed... well i couldn't possibly comment...
No, its not right and the soldier is guilty as sin but the system is in place and the soldiers are still in the position of being held accountable; again I've said this before, the terrorists aren't held accountable. Let me put it this way; if it was a terrorist, would we have even been able to identify the killer? Would the authorities have been able to arrest him the next day? As it was a soldier, we know it was him and i think (again not sure about this) he lost his job (definitely not justice!!).
Bertster7 wrote:
If Israels actions are so justifiable, why have they been universally (with the exception of the US) condemned?
I have never said that their actions are justifiable; understandable perhaps although the longer it goes on for the harder it becomes. On the first day when this thread was started i had no problem in understanding their actions. It wasn't, nor has ever been right but Israel is alone in the centre of historic enemies that would like nothing move than to "wipe them off the face of the map". They have been condemned and rightly so, my problem is not with the condemnation of Israel, its with the bias of several members of this forum that seem to think you can solely blame one side.