Gaza pullout

[Toastar]

Apparently, "Our feeling is like this is the start of a holocaust," said Ruthie Harush, a mother of seven. "Didn't the Holocaust begin with Hitler saying he was a democratic leader and soldiers saying they only carried out orders?" (source (http://www.heraldsun.com/nationworld/international/27-629472.html)) because you're getting kicked out of land that you once used military force to get.

oooookie there, good logic

[FloppyDisk]

What I don't understand is why they're knocking down all those houses. I mean, couldn't the Israeli government sell them or something and give the money to the displaced settlers? I guess it's just too much of an issue of pride to not destroy them.

[Enders]

What I don't understand is why they're knocking down all those houses. I mean, couldn't the Israeli government sell them or something and give the money to the displaced settlers? I guess it's just too much of an issue of pride to not destroy them.
houses=4 wooden sticks and sheet metal
they'd be worth about 2 rocks and a bottlecap

Anyway, all of this is good, they're finally coming to some sort of...let's say agreement.
At least it's progress in some area. We could just go on with the "blah blah demands removel of troops, blah blah pushs into the gaza strip, blah blah gets his house blown away by Israelis"

[BlindSite]

Probably the only viable solution.

[nyarlathotep]

I don't see this changing anything.

Already Hamas has declared it a victory and are promising to continue the fight for all of west bank and all of jerusalem and hinted at nothing less than the disappearance of the zionist state altogether...Israel won't go for that.

Ball is in the pals court to see what they do to keep them in check.

[kreket]

houses=4 wooden sticks and sheet metal
they'd be worth about 2 rocks and a bottlecap

The safe rooms might cost a bit. Bullet proof glass and walls, strong doors.. ..barbed wire, fences and walls forming an outer perimeter.

They might see it as removing a reason for Israelian terrorists to come back and storm the places or maybe they see it as a point of honour. Blowing the stuff up before "the enemy" gets a hand on it or giving the Palestinian authorities a clean slate when it comes to what to do with the areas.

[marty]

They're knocking down the houses because having palestinians fight each other to claim the homes would be a disaster.

[siddy]

i think that this is finally a step in the right direction. The ball's in the palistinians' court now to make an equal gesture.

Let's hope it works out this time

[marty]

This pullout only really works at Gaza, too. Unlike the West bank, the Israelis had never made a claim for Gaza, it just happened to have been occupied after the 67 war.

I think the Israeli government needs to stress that they are not giving in to Hamas. Lots of interviews and such where they say "We would have pulled out sooner if it wasn't for Hamas" or something similar might help (or might be viewed for exactly what it is: propaganda :P)