Israel’s Liberman Demands Occupation of Gaza After Rocket Fire

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Gwen Ackerman Mar 12, 2014 6:00 PM ET

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel should resume military control of the Gaza Strip after a barrage of 41 rockets was fired from the Palestinian territory. No injuries or damage were reported.

“We need to reoccupy Gaza,” Liberman said in an interview late yesterday with Channel 2 television. “I will oppose any limited military operation.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will respond “forcefully” to the rockets.

Israel’s army said it fired artillery at locations in both the northern and southern areas of Gaza. The rocket-fire from Gaza was the biggest one-day attack in 16 months, it said. Israeli jets also carried out several air strikes on targets in Gaza late yesterday, though no injuries were immediately reported, according to local medical and security officials

The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad organization claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement it was in retaliation for the killing of three of its members in an Israeli air raid the previous day. The Israeli army said the men were preparing to fire rockets into Israel.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-12/israel-s-liberman-calls-for-gaza-reoccupation-after-rocket-fire.html

[Purveyor]

1. Related: Multiple Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza

GAZA (Ma'an) -- Israeli air forces launched air strikes across the Gaza Strip late Wednesday, with no immediate reports of injuries.

The Israeli air strikes came after Islamic Jihad said that it launched 130 rockets into southern Israel in response to Israel's killing of three of its members on Tuesday.

Israeli air strikes hit a number of military targets across the besieged coastal enclave, as well as a number of open areas.

Strikes hit a site belonging the military wing of Islamic Jihad in Rafah as well as an open area in the southern Gaza Strip.

MORE...

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=681108

[sulphurdunn]

3. The pattern here seems to be

that Israeli forces make incursions into Gaza or the West Bank to kill suspected militants, or to defend fanatic "settlers." The Palestinians respond by counter punching Israel, which becomes even more belligerent and hypocritical as a pretext to escalate the violence and point a finger at the Palestinians.

[Purveyor]

4. They (both sides) seems to start some shit right around Easter without fail. eom

[sulphurdunn]

5. Yea, why do you suppose?

[okaawhatever]

8. I disagree on this one. This is a third group that has broken with Hamas and has denounced the

peace talks. Since Iran is backing them it would make sense. The Islamic group doing this is out of the Sinai area and I think they're just rabble rousing for Iran and trying to end the peace negotiations.

[7962]

7. Did you miss this part about the militants?

The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad organization claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement it was in retaliation for the killing of three of its members in an Israeli air raid the previous day. The Israeli army said the men were preparing to fire rockets into Israel."
Seems as though it was the Islamists who are starting things by the constant rocket fire.

[RobertEarl]

9. Islamists?

Why would you make an unfounded claim like that? How do you know their religion?

[7962]

10. Well, I guess Hamas could have a bunch of radical Catholics in there. ???

[Scootaloo]

13. Islamic Jihad and Hamas are different groups

[RobertEarl]

19. My bad

Don't know how I missed that, but I did.

[WatermelonRat]

12. Their group's name is "Islamic Jihad". It's a pretty safe bet.

[Chan790]

18. Safe bet that "Islamic Jihad" is Islamist.

Also, note the difference between "Islamist" (one who favors the creation of a state governed based on Islamic religious principles and subject to Sharia. Most Muslims are not Islamist.) and "Islamic" (of or belonging to the Muslim religion.)

They're not interchangeable terms...and being "Islamist" is not per-say a religion.

[Berlin Expat]

22. "Islamism"

is something of a political cult.

One day, if you ever have the time, sit down and read "Milestones" by Sayyid Qutb; you can find it online easily enough.

Then, sit down and read Lenin's "What Is To Be Done" and you'll notice the eerie similarities between the two. Qutb's ideology is one of the primary driving forces behind a good many of the Islamist groups and terrorist organizations.

More than a few critics of Qutb, including Muslim critics, have openly stated that Qutb's ideology is, quite bluntly, Islamic Leninism.

[The Stranger]

33. Kind of the analogue to Zionism.

Interesting.

[leftynyc]

24. Uh - the group Islamic Jihad

has claimed responsibility. The poster didn't name them islamists, they named themselves.

[sulphurdunn]

26. Well, ya know how it works.

Every time the Israelis make an incursion into Palestinian territory and kill people, it was an act of preemptive self-defense because the dead were "militants" planning to attack Israel. When the "militants" incur upon Israeli territory and kill someone it was an act of premeditated terrorism for which the Israelis are justified in punishing the entire Palestinian population as a future deterrent. I read the article. I've been reading the same article for 50 years.

[7962]

27. The you see how easy it is to stop it. Quit firing missiles into Israel every day. Easy!

Quit blowing up McDonalds, school buses, restaurants, etc. Simple. But they wont.

[sulphurdunn]

28. I agree.

It would be just as easy for the Israelis to stop bombing cities, bulldozing houses, shooting kids who throw rocks, stealing land, etc. Simple, but they won't. They won't because they intend to drive the Palestinians out, take the land, blame them for it and claim it was the will of God. It's the same end game they used against the Canaanites.

[hack89]

30. Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinians seven years ago

how does that fit into the "take the land" narrative?

[cpwm17]

31. Israel can't give anything to the Palestinians that already belongs to the Palestinians

What you wrote is ridiculous.

[hack89]

32. Why didn't Israel maintain control of Gaza?

simple question. If grabbing as much Palestinian land is their goal, why did they withdraw from Gaza, relocating every Israeli inhabitant?

btw - what definition of Palestinian land are you using?

[Bodhi BloodWave]

37. for the most part they still maintain control

they do after all have almost full control over what(or who) can be brought into the area and what can leave for that matter

[7962]

39. Funny how the same doesnt apply to Jordan, then, huh? Why are THEY not supposed to give land?

Why is Jordan NEVER brought up? Trans-Jordan became Israel and Jordan. So why is only Israel supposed to be giving up land? Lets go back in time and find when palestine was there before israel.

[Comrade Grumpy]

35. And turned it into a giant outdoor concentration camp.

[hack89]

36. After Hamas turned it into a rocket launching pad

lets not forget that rockets were flying towards Israel within hours of the last Israeli leaving Gaza. Think how differently thing could be if Hamas had decided on a path of peaceful coexistence.

[7962]

40. You make too much sense! But seriously, think about it.

What would we have if the palestinians werent consistently calling for the total destruction of Israel?
If they stopped all suicide attacks?
If they stopped firing rockets daily?
If THEY called for a peaceful resolution and put down their arms?

We'd have two separate countries.
But they consistently refuse to do any of the above, especially #1.

[sulphurdunn]

42. Gaza was never Israel's to give.

It was not part of the original UN mandate anymore than the West Bank. The world community has been trying get the Israelis out of them since 1967. Now right wing Israeli fanatics are calling for its annexation. That fits perfectly. By the way, Israel retains control of Gazan airspace, territorial waters and the movement of goods and people across its borders. Not a very generous giveback of something that was never theirs to give.

[hack89]

43. So that justifies rocket attacks from Gaza?

Don't forget that rockets were flying within hours of the last Israeli leaving. Why didn't Hamas see this as an opportunity for peaceful coexistence?

[sulphurdunn]

44. Who said anything about justification

for firing rockets at anyone? That's a red herring. Stick with the facts. Again, you assume the truth of statements by the Israeli military that all actions against the Palestinians are retaliatory or preemptive when most are strategic. Playing the victim card by a nuclear power with the mightiest military in the region (175,000 active duty personnel and a reserve of 450,000) when targeted against people with a few thousand light infantry who make homemade rockets in their basements is ludicrous. Israel has the power to make peace. The Palestinians only have the power to capitulate or resist.

[hack89]

46. Hamas had the power to not immediately shoot rockets

As soon as Israel left Gaza. They had the power to begin trust building measures that would lead to peace. So no - resistance or capitulation were not the only choices available to them.

[sulphurdunn]

49. Israel only left Gaza with a little push

from the First Intifada and the world community in 1994. Hamas didn't take control of Gaza until 2006. One might wonder how after 12 years an even more anti-Israeli regime came to power with the overwhelming support of the people in Gaza. Israel must have made some choices too. The only people who wear white hats over there are those on both sides who are serious about peace. They strive against the imperialistic ambitions of both governments.

[geek tragedy]

2. who does he think he is, Vladimir Putin? nt

[dembotoz]

6. wish i had thought of that

[Scootaloo]

11. You first, Avi

You can take point, and the young men and women of the IDF can use your generous gluteal endowment as cover.

[PCIntern]

16. Nice post...positively literary.

Puerile. And typical.

[Scootaloo]

17. Not all of us are as eager to see young Jews get killed as Lieberman seems to be, PCIntern

[PCIntern]

20. Like youdamn about "young Jews"

Disgraceful.

[Scootaloo]

21. Beg pardon?

You DO realize any effort to "re-occupy Gaza" is going to get people killed, correct? And that for the sake of looking tough on TV, Lieberman is apparently determined to make sure a portion of those people are Israelis? 'Cause that's exactly what it would amount to.

I do give a damn, PCIntern. Wasting lives for what amounts to a campaigning point for the next election offends me.

[PCIntern]

23. they are not going to re-occupy Gaza...

they are playing mind-games with all of you, because you have that knee-jerk reaction to anything they do. And they watch and listen. And shake their collective heads at the predictable reactions while they divert you from the real maneuvers.

You never answered the question as to how Arafat became a multi-millionaire whilst his people are starving to death and suffering immeasurably. And you never refuted the notion that the Arab nations would not permit the Israelis to hold, as King Hussein termed them, the nine square inches of land left to them.

[sulphurdunn]

45. They won't reoccupy Gaza

so long as it remains useful as a Palestinian reservation.

[PCIntern]

47. I guess the Israelis can't win:

but that is the idea, isn't it?

[sulphurdunn]

48. Nobody can win.

This has been going on for 65 years. Both sides need to call it off and make peace.

[olddad56]

14. Russia occupies Crimea, bad, Israel occupies Gaza, no problem.

makes sense to me.

[7962]

15. Yeah, those pesky Crimeans and their daily rocket fire into Russia. Not to mention suicide attacks.

A radical group like that probably has the backing of a bigger group, likely Ukraine. So I'm sure they'll have to be dealt with too.

[The Stranger]

34. Hey you forgot the part about taking their land . . .

. . . their water, their crops, their homes, their culture, their natural resources, their civil records . . .

You know, that occupation thingy.

What, like 50 years now?

[Fozzledick]

38. Did Crimea declare war against Russia?

I must have missed that. Starting a war against your neighbor and losing it does tend to get you occupied until after you surrender and are disarmed, just ask Germany and Japan.

[The Stranger]

41. So you DID forget about all those things.

Taking someone's land and water, destroying their crops and livelihood, making them sit through checkpoints, destroying their civilian infrastructure -- you're forgetting too man these things.

[leftynyc]

25. There are plenty of people here

defending Russia on their occupation of Crimea. They're even using RT as a source.

[geek tragedy]

29. no, both bad, as the majority of people here will tell you nt