And yet it is far more important than what is happening elsewhere

War fears as Israel kills Hamas commander

There has be a war that everyone seems to deny is happening going on, at least I would have thought that rocket barrages and air strikes would have constituted a war. We have got used to it just as the people of Israel have got used to it and we don't talk about it. We know there is no solution short of genecide and we don't want to know. The people of Gaza keep provoking the Israeli's, they know their favoured solution is never going to get up, they are not going to be allowed to live in Israel, they are not going to be allowed passage through Israel to other Palestinian territory, they are not going to form a state of Palestine. Why they cannot be allowed to form their own state is beyond me. Singapore succeeded as an enclave state, why not Gaza. Not a great solution but it might stop the missiles. The Israeli's are a little like King George of long ago who could not tolerate a barbaric state on his borders, so lopping the head off the snake seems a good idea

I heard about all of this on the news this morning. That situation has gotten out of hand since a sympathetic president has gotten elected and doesn't seem to care if Israel is an ally or not. What they don't understand over there is how far ahead of the game the Isrealies actually are. They were offered statehood long ago as well as everything they wanted and they refused. Its not about land its about cleansing. It needs to stop and the boarder nations surrounding the area could contribute land so they can start nation building. Its either that or armagedon.

No one is going to give up any more land, the Egyptians don't want these people, the Jordanians don't want them. These people want the land that the Israeli's occupy, they want to be allowed to go back to Israel. They left of their own free will at the insistence of their religious leaders and now they pay the price for stupidity.The land over there can only be farmed with intensive measures, not the subsistence these people are capable of. Why they don't settle and make Gaza a hub for industry is beyond me. They obviously have capabilities. Even in ancient times Gaza was a thorn in the side of the jews

No it won't Hamas charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Creating a state in Gaza would just give international legimacy to their terrorist ,homicidal ,genocidal policies. I know that if NJ was lobbing hundreds of missiles daily into NY ;NY would have a right to squash them like a bug.

Tom I think we might be of similar opinion about remedies but this is the twenty first century and more civilised solutions must be found. A dirty great fence around the West Bank solved one problem but it is not the solution to Gaza. I don't see Israel as having any choice but surgical strikes against Jihadists. They used to bomb the Palestinian authority buildings but they don't do that anymore, they used to level the homes of attackers but they don't do that anymore. They certainly need to be more vigilant and get the attackers before they launch rockets. I expect they will launch another incursion to demolish various buildings and take the jihadists on in their own territory. I suggest that Gaza be forced to get its water and electricity from Egypt. Close the borders, that's what they would do in the old days, siege, starve them out.

Yesterday's decap strike against Hamas military chief Ahmed al-Jabari was a nice warning to Hamas leaders to duck .

Nothing like Israel retaliating against barrarges of missles aimed at their elementary schools to wake up the UNSC.
Egypt formally seeks U.N. Security Council meeting - chicagotribune.com

Guess they had to end the cocktail party early yesterday .

The jihadists don't duck, for them to die in battle is glory. We have to lose the idea these people can be coerced by military force. Unfortunately there can only be one answer and there is no favourable regime in Egypt who will look the other way. Israel must reoccupy Gaza

Maybe the ground troops buy into that nonsense . But the leaders like OBL hide like panty-waists and tell others to die for Allah . Al-Jabari was out in the open because they were getting arrogantly confident that the Israelis were going to continue to take hits without retaliation.

No Tim in a place like Gaza you have to come out some time, it is a case of Israeli intelligence being better than theirs'. Don't you wish you had an intelligence service half as good?

The Mossad is the best .

Hello:

You can't talk about Gaza WITHOUT talking about the regional war in Syria, Iran hegemony and, the Arab spring that is just now getting underway in Jordan. The kingdoms were immune from it, but not any more. Saudi Arabia is next. Egypt is unsettled, and Libya is out of control.

Uhhhh, this is NOT Obama's fault. I KNOW you think he SOLVED the Middle East Crisis by giving a speech, and you were BLOWN away when you found out he didn't, but can you come back to earth now?? We have a serious situation and we can't be firing at ourselves...

excon

No one on this discussion blamed Obama ;but yes , his apology tour was fuel for the fire that is beginning to burn out of control .

You are right about Gaza .Hamas is a proxy of the Brotherhood who now rule Egypt. The insurgency in Syria is also being supported by Brotherhood proxies... apparently we have hitched a ride on their wagon... that is Obama's policy.

Hello again, tom:

Your attempts to blame Obama for the Middle East ain't going to fly with me. I live on earth.

excon

You're the one who brought up the strawman . No one mentioned the President until you did. The problems in Gaza predate the President . But the President's policies have contributed to the disaster unfolding .

From the IDF Twitter feed:

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Meanwhile US senior command is in disarray

RADM Charles Gaouette, USN, Commander of the Stennis battlegroup, recalled Oct 17, 2012 as his force entered the Fifth Fleet's area of operations.

General Carter Ham, USA, AfricaCom. To be replaced... announced Oct 18, 2012.

General John Allen, USMC, ISAF Commander, linked to 'inappropriate' emails,

David Petraeus, Director, Central Intelligence Agency, resigned .

General William E. Ward USA, former AfricaCom commander, demotion announced Nov 13,

Meanwhile the Obama Adm stonewalls about Benghazi . Sen Dianne Feinstein controls the hearings process in the Senate ;and no one will budge on the McCain /Graham/Ayott request for a special committee to investigate . Petraeus will testify behind closed doors, and the questions will be limited to Benghazi. No one in the adm can explain adequately the President's policy towards the so called Arab Spring and there is no transparency . What we do know is that the Israeli's are the ones most likely to be thrown under the bus. No one made a peep as rockets rained down on Israel . They finally get fed up and the world reacts .

Tom do you have your tail in a knot because you are not involved in these struggles, not determining the outcome. Iraq should have taught you something but the lessons are hard learned

The war grinds on, Israel waits patiently for the opportune moment and rocket failures mean that the Palestinians are bombing their own. When will this foolishness end. Israel clearly needs to invade, destroy all the tunnels through which these rockets have been brought and uncover and destroy stockpiles

Yup and permanently occupy the Philadephi Road to stop the flow of arm in from Gaza.

Credible reports that the long range Fajr-5 missile being used is being assembled and directed by Iranian QOD forces.

Not surprised by that at all, while you remain belligerent toward Iran, ahamadjihad will find a way to strike, but it is not about you. We all know that there is no way out of the Muslim-Arab-Israeli thing short of Armaggedon. They should have established the jewish homeland in northern Australia, we were willing and there was no population that was going to get its knickers in a knot.

Can't see what the point of these "long range" missiles are if they are so inaccurate, just weapons of terror. I say flatten Gaza, it is the only answer, force the refugees over the border into Egypt and let someoneelse have the problem. In fact push them right back to Suez