kblair7

lol. were talking 50 people here...maybe less. It wasn't a riot, it was students making speeches about the wall and it's effect on the community at large.

My friend, is a jew, who has spent time in WB and Israel Proper. She speaks Arabic quite well and was telling me that the speeches were in Arabic. Perhaps a group of student standing together is a "riot" to the IDF. She said that before they started firing into the crowd, the IDF came and used a bullhorn to tell them to disburse. Apparently people were standing there and some left. That was when they started firing gas. At that point everyone started to panic, and run. A few people collapsed and when they tried to move people away from the area apparently they started firing.

chrisbb

remember the Nazis destroying an entire village in retaliation for the assassination of Heydrich?

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'Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as "internationalists" and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.’ - David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs', Random House, New York, 2002, page 405

BillCosby

Yep.......... Americans are intensionally & relentlessly subjected to this type of dehumanizing of others.......... & it works to.............

The latest example was those 8 college kids in Israel.... THey were all calling it a massacre (just like they use to about the "savage Indians").. A crime sure but there was over a hundred dead on the other side. How is 8 ppl a massacre & 120 acceptable deaths??????????????????????

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

kblair7

Oh it made like an "L" on your forhead....Oh I thought

Nvm...

BillCosby

Was not my intent... Never looked @ it/them that close..........

ANywayZ you know I was giving you props for the post not that.....

Have fun.........

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

hotair

Riot Police! Tear Gas! Firing into the crowd (even if it is only with rubber bullets)!

By definition: That is a “Riot!”

Fifty people, five hundred people, five people, it does not matter. A riot is defined by the force required to reestablish order, and not by the number of people who are being disorderly!

I strongly suspect that there was a lot more going on, than your friend has told you about. Either that or your friend suffers from a very dangerous inability to be aware of his/her surroundings.

Having been in a number of riots in my time, I know that it takes a very special kind of person to not know when they are in the middle of one.

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So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!

Rigged

LOL. It wouldn't matter if someone sent you a video tape of the entire thing and it was a bunch of dancing Krishnas. You would still deny it. Israel does plenty wrong, the way they treat the Palestinian people is terrible. I doubt average people living in West Bank did anything to deserve the kind of treatment they get.

There are two sides to every story and your Israeli propaganda doesn't convince anyone.

hotair

An interesting tirade. Obviously you are not familiar with my posts. All because I am not judgmental???

“Israeli Propaganda”??? Simply pointing out that there is more than one side to these issues hardly qualifies as ‘propaganda’ of any kind. Either Israeli, or Arab. I do not share your view that the world is black, and white. If only there were only two sides (as you put it), everything would be as simplistic as you see it. Unfortunately there are hundreds (if not thousands) of “sides” involved here.

As for the way that the “Palestinian people” are treated! This is pretty much out of the hands of the Israelis right now. Changes are needed, and nobody can deny that! However the Israelis have no power to force the “Palestinian people” to make the changes that are required here. The only people who have the power to change these things, are the “Palestinian people” themselves.

In the decade that Arafat was in exile, things were very good for everybody (comparatively speaking), though maybe not perfect. There were no bombings, no suicide bombings, no rocket, and mortar barrages, no roadblocks, no check-points, not even a wall. There was no need for any of these things. Back then there was peace, and commerce. People had learned to get along. An independent “Palestine” was almost a done deal (the only thing that was missing, was a responsible governing body).

This past is proof that things do not have to be the way that they are today. There is no reason why things cannot return to the way that they were before. Nor is there any reason why things cannot be better then they were before. The problem is: As things stand right now! There is not a damned thing that the Israelis can do about how things are right now.

If you wish to blame the Israelis, for all of the damage that Arafat has done, then that is your business. (Arafat’s choice to leave Camp David empty handed was his, and his alone.) Knock yourself out, for all of the good it will do.

“You would still deny it”??? Deny what exactly? I have already (quite clearly (Post #19; Page #2 of this thread)) stated that I was not there, and as such I am in no position to second guess the decisions that were made. I have only Kblair7's description of the riot to go by.

Did the Police overreact?

I do not know!

I was not there!!!

But it is obvious to me that someone was making the decisions, and that they are comfortable that they will be exonerated at their hearing. Otherwise they will be in prison for a very long time.

“Israel does plenty wrong”??? I have never even implied otherwise. I simply try to point out, that the Israelis have reasons for everything that they do. I make no judgments! The simple act of pointing out that the Israelis have their reasons for the things that they do, does not condone their actions, nor should it be interpreted as endorsing their actions.

I am a very firm believer of “constructive criticism”! Just because I am unable to think of a better solution to suggest, does not mean that I endorse a policy, or action! It only means that I do not have any alternate solutions to suggest, and as such I am in no position to pass judgment one way, or the other!

PS:
If you think that things are bad now? Wait!

I am afraid that things are about to get a whole lot worse. Pretty soon, people will look back on these days, as “The good old days!”

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So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!

hotair

I really do get the picture here. You see something that you do not like, and your first response is that it must be somebodys fault. You want someone to blame. That is you, not me. It is my experience that witch hunts are a complete waste of time, and effort. As a result I have no use for witch hunts, in any form.

Still, you need someone to blame. That is fine by me! All I ask, is that you try to blame the right people for the right things. Blaming the wrong people for something, just because you can, only makes matters worse in the end. If you would think about it for a moment, you might see what I am talking about. How would you feel, if everyone kept blaming you for something that I did? I can assure you that it would not bother me at all. It fact it would only encourage me to keep doing what I do, since I know that you will get blamed for it.

Take the crack-down in the West Bank for example (since it has been brought up already). The crack-down is causing many people some hardship, according to the news services. True enough. However, despite what you think, the purpose of the crack-down is not to cause these hardships.

While it is true that the crack-down is causing problems, that is not all that it is doing.

Lets take a look at the three major things that the crack-down is actually doing:
First: Lets look at these hardships first. The hardships are effecting both Israelis, and Arabs alike. True . . . The overall economy of Israel is stronger than the Arab economies, so that the impact on the Israeli economy is not as noticeably. But it is still there, non-the-less. Certain segments of the Israeli economy are heavily dependent on cheap Arab labor. These segments of the Israeli economy are devastated by the crack-down. So these hardships, are not all one sided, as has been suggested!

Second: The crack-down is doing what it is suppose to do. It is stopping the bombings (suicide, and others)! Terrorist attacks on Israelis (from the PLO, and Hamas) are at all time lows. For the first time in years, Israelis (most, though not all) are able to live normal lives. (For those Israelis who are not living normal lives right now, they are demanding the same security for themselves that everyone else is enjoying. And their patience is running out fast!)

Most people agree that the peace alone, is worth the price of the crack-down. No one is murdering Israelis, and as a result no Arabs are dying in retaliatory raids. In short: The crack-down is saving lives, every day! Both Israeli, and Arab!!!

Third: The cost! Maintaining the check-points, and roadblocks are costing the Israeli taxpayers a small fortune, every single day that they are in operation. The cost of the crack-down is actually threatening to bankrupt the Israeli government. Which is why the government is building the wall. Even at a multi-billion dollar price tag, the wall is cheaper than the cost of maintaining the check-points, and roadblocks. When the wall is finished, it will pay for itself within the first year.

What is not readily measured, is the total impact on the overall Israeli economy, that this crack-down is having. Because so much money is being spent to pay for the crack-down, the government does not have the money for paying for other things. Such as the last little skirmish with Hezbollah a few years ago. Even after all of these years since the war, the Israeli government still has not even started to pay for that war yet. The government just does not have the money, because it is forced to spend it all in the West Bank.

This is from a news story from last year. It is applicable here, because in a very few weeks (if not days) there is going to be another story just like. There is another strike being called for, and for the same reasons. It is becoming an annual thing in Israel.

“General strike threatens to paralyze Israel
The Associated Press
Published: March 21, 2007

JERUSALEM: An Israeli public service strike ended Wednesday after just eight hours, when the government agreed to pay local workers all their back wages.

The open-ended strike was expected to shut down most services including Israeli airports and seaports, but from the morning, as the two sides kept in contact, it appeared that it would not last long enough to do significant damage.

An indication that the strike was not as harsh as expected came from Israel's airport, a traditional target of work stoppages. Most planes took off and landed more or less on schedule as an "exceptions committee" approved many flights.

General strikes in Israel encompass a wide array of services, and much of the country was paralyzed. Government offices were shuttered, and state-run utilities operated on skeleton staffs, carrying out no repairs. A Histadrut spokesman said as many as 150,000 workers throughout the country walked off the job.

After marathon talks with the government, the strike was settled. "I am happy to announce that all the salaries will be paid today or tomorrow," Union boss Ofer Eini announced. "After all our demands were met I can announce the end of the general strike in Israel."

Many bankrupt Israeli cities and towns have failed to pay their workers for months. The labor union has threatened strikes several times in the past, backing down after promises from the government to cover the bills. . . . “

The article goes on to talk about the expenses of the war with Hezbollah, and how some Israelis feel that the government is ‘mishandling’ the money that was raised by American charities to pay for rebuilding the towns damaged in the war.

However: I should point out that things have not improved any in Israel since this article was published, and as I have said earlier, there will be another article just like it again very soon.


Still you want to blame someone for it. All you see is the damage that it is doing to the Arabs, mostly because that is all that you want to see. If you want your witch-hunt, that is fine by me. Just try to look at the entire picture before you start burning any witches at the stake. OOPS does not cut it, like it used to!

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So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!