Can somebody explain the most recent Israel/Palestine conflict?

[caseysmom]

Pick up a Bible and look in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 7:6) you will see these words:"For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession."

God chose this people to bring forth his Son, through Mary and out of the lineage of David so that we, who are Christians, share a part in the history of this people.

This conflict has been going on longer than what is suggested in previous posts. It all started when Abraham and Sarah did not wait for "the promise" who was to be Isaac. Instead they enlisted the "aid" of Sarah's hand maiden, Hagar, to help Abraham conceive a child. They named this son Ishmael and he was the ancestor of the northern Arab people.

I doubt the Palestinians believe in the Bible, this will not help them feel much better I am guessing.

No offense to anyone but this is why I can't stand religion.

[jennielynn1970]

The Muslims, in general, believe in the three books. The Torah, the Bible, and the Qur'an. They are all holy books. They are all about God. If you read a translation of the Qur'an, you will see that it's a lot of the same "stories" as are in the Bible as well. I have a copy of the Qur'an in translation (although it's not considered the Qur'an because it is in translation), and I have read parts of it.

Yes, many things are different. Jesus was considered a prophet, not the son of God. That's considered blasphemy to them. God is perfect. The rest of us, are not.

[Twisterdog]

I doubt the Palestinians believe in the Bible, this will not help them feel much better I am guessing.

No offense to anyone but this is why I can't stand religion.

I agree. Organized religion in and of itself is the root of this problem, and a good portion of all conflicts since the dawn of time.

Christians quote the Bible, and use it for justification for anything they want to do. Muslims quote the Qur'an for the same reasons, ditto the Jews and the Torah. It's all absurd, IMO. NO religion is the "right" religion, and no people are the "chosen ones" above all others. I think "God" probably is completely disgusted by all the cruel, evil, close-minded, petty things that have been done "in His name" over the years.

If you are a Christian, I will say with 99.99% certainty that you are a Christian not because you researched all the world's religions and chose the one you personally believe in ... but because your parents were Christian. And your parents were Christian because their parents were, etc. Christians are Christians, Jews are Jews, Muslims are Muslims, Hindus are Hindus, etc. not because of an informed, spiritual choice ... but because of an accident of birth. If one of you American Christians had happened to be born in Pakistan instead of Ohio ... I assure you that you would be Muslim today, and think that Islam was the "right" religion and Christianity was the "wrong" religion. A geographic roll of the dice made people the religion they are, not being "chosen".

To me, there is nothing more hyprocritical than killing another human being in the name of your "loving God" ... any "God", whatever your religion dictates that you call him. And EVERY major religion does it.

I saw a bumper sticker once that said, "My invisible god can beat up your invisible god." Touche.

[DJFyrewolf36]

I will step in and say not all people who are spiritual are religious. I am a Christian, and not afraid to say so. However, do I think the rest of the world is wrong for believing what they do? Nope! I have my own beliefs and anyone who wishes to know what they are need only ask. I won't judge them for believing in what they do, if everyone believed the same thing as I did the world would get boring pretty quick.

From the beginning of time, no matter what you believe...ever since there was two humans, they have found SOMETHING to argue about. I wonder what the very first arguement was about...lol

[RICHARD]

I wonder what the very first arguement was about...lol

Snakes and apples-MAN was right!

[ChrisH]

Yes, the war in Gaza is terrible. But the alternative was worse - for all of us

[popcornbird]

For those of you who wonder, "Why does Hamas keep firing rockets at Israel?"...

This is why:

You be surprised to know how many Palestinians have had their family members killed at the hands of Israel. Here at Pet Talk, we all know how devastated we get at the loss of our pets. We're human beings, and if losing one we love doesn't hurt us, then something is wrong with us. To have feelings of pain, grief at the loss of a beloved pet is very natural.

Now imagine how you would feel if your beloved pet were killed by someone. Along with the pain, grief, and sorrow, there would be deep anger embedded in your heart.

Now, imagine how you'd feel if you lost your beloved spouse. There could be no greater loss for most people.

Imagine how the feelings would get even worse if your spouse were killed by another person.

Let's take the feelings you have now, and multiply it by 5, because you did not only lose your spouse. You lost your spouse, your mother, your father, your brother, and your sister. All of them were killed at the hands of the Israelis.

Not only that. You yourself were born in a refugee camp, and for the 30 years of your life, you have never had a home. You've lived a life of pain and terror, and you can only see one cause of your suffering.

Israel.

That's it.

And now, the newest calamity has taken your child from you. That beautiful innocent child that you gave birth to, with those glowing eyes and bright smile is gone...so early, so young. Gone, after dying a terrible, painful death. Again, at the hands of Israel.

And now that you've lost everyone you ever loved, don't have a home, don't see any future ahead of you, you think, "I cannot stand this any longer. The pain is growing day by day, getting worse and worse, with no end in sight. I might as well take some revenge on the one who brought all this pain upon me."

So the revenge goes towards Israel. In the process, 3 or 4 Israelis are killed. Israel responds by killing 500. Israel ends up with more people hating Israel with passion, as they see the blood dripping from the bodies of their dead children. The cycle goes on. 500 killed means at least 2000 new enemies. They all believe Israel is a terrorist state, and rightfully so.

How would you feel if YOU were in their shoes? I personally am not sure about how much I could handle. Just the thought of losing one family member is enough for me to lose it. I can't imagine living the life they live. May God help them.

I think this picture should be enough to make any normal human being's blood boil with anger towards Israel.

http://www.monde-magouilles.com/photos_guerre/gaza3.jpg

What's happening there is truly disgusting. I have Palestinian friends here who are terrified, because they have family in Gaza that they haven't heard from. They don't know if they are alive or dead. I cannot see how anyone in the right mind could support Israel.

[Randi]

Jenn Librarian and PCB, I've read most of your posts and so agree with your views!

[Randi]

Jenn Librarian and PCB, I've read most of your posts and so agree with your views!

And I agree with this too!

Organized religion in and of itself is the root of this problem, and a good portion of all conflicts since the dawn of time.

Christians quote the Bible, and use it for justification for anything they want to do. Muslims quote the Qur'an for the same reasons, ditto the Jews and the Torah. It's all absurd, IMO. NO religion is the "right" religion, and no people are the "chosen ones" above all others. I think "God" probably is completely disgusted by all the cruel, evil, close-minded, petty things that have been done "in His name" over the years.

If you are a Christian, I will say with 99.99% certainty that you are a Christian not because you researched all the world's religions and chose the one you personally believe in ... but because your parents were Christian. And your parents were Christian because their parents were, etc. Christians are Christians, Jews are Jews, Muslims are Muslims, Hindus are Hindus, etc. not because of an informed, spiritual choice ... but because of an accident of birth. If one of you American Christians had happened to be born in Pakistan instead of Ohio ... I assure you that you would be Muslim today, and think that Islam was the "right" religion and Christianity was the "wrong" religion. A geographic roll of the dice made people the religion they are, not being "chosen".

To me, there is nothing more hyprocritical than killing another human being in the name of your "loving God"

[momoffuzzyfaces]

If you are a Christian, I will say with 99.99% certainty that you are a Christian not because you researched all the world's religions and chose the one you personally believe in ... but because your parents were Christian. And your parents were Christian because their parents were, etc. Christians are Christians, Jews are Jews, Muslims are Muslims, Hindus are Hindus, etc. not because of an informed, spiritual choice ... but because of an accident of birth. If one of you American Christians had happened to be born in Pakistan instead of Ohio ... I assure you that you would be Muslim today, and think that Islam was the "right" religion and Christianity was the "wrong" religion. A geographic roll of the dice made people the religion they are, not being "chosen".

You lose on this one!!! I was raised in a family that never went to church. We never event talked about god. I became a Christian because after reading the Bible cover to cover several times I came to love Jesus very much. After 9/11, I went on a serious search. I realized I did believe in God, a loving one at that. I also realized I couldn't accept a religion for myself that Jesus wasn't part of. What other chose to believe it up to them. What I believe is not an "accident of birth".

One thing everyone forgets; just as there is good in the world: there is evil.
When man turned against god in the garden, that gave evil free rein in the earth. That evil includes sickness and death to innocents and well as non-innocents.

Whether you believe in god or not, there is a struggle going on between good and evil. Sadly, evil seems to be winning these days.

[Lady's Human]

And I'm sure the Hamas militants who hold women and children in targeted areas as human shields and use residential areas as launch points are nothing but angels, PCB.

Besides, if the Arab states were serious about helping the palestinians they could, but they prefer to leave things as they are rather than offer legitamate aid. How about Iran and Syria maybe offering economic assistance instead of keeping up a supply of weapons and agitprop?

[caseysmom]

And I'm sure the Hamas militants who hold women and children in targeted areas as human shields and use residential areas as launch points are nothing but angels, PCB.

Besides, if the Arab states were serious about helping the palestinians they could, but they prefer to leave things as they are rather than offer legitamate aid. How about Iran and Syria maybe offering economic assistance instead of keeping up a supply of weapons and agitprop?

Iran is not an Arab state.

I agree that Israel is not innocent in this, I believe hamas is not innocent either, unfortunately a lot of Palenstenians are caught in the middle.

[RICHARD]

I love the arguement that Hamas has the 'right' to shoot off rockets into Israel.


Let's put it into modern day ideals.

You buy a house in a neighborhood.
The house was taken over by the bank for one reason or another-that reason may not be right, but the previous owners were evicted.
The people who live in that house before come back and start to break windows with rocks.

When you toss rocks back to defend yourself you hit some of the hooligans that are causing the problems...

WHo is right?

The effing Hamas and all the people who support them and their murderous little pranks are wrong. I also love the idea of taking young men and women and convincing them to strap a bomb on and blow up a bus, car, school or checkpoint to make a point!

The Palis do deserve a safe and harmonious place to live, but they elected a bunch of moron, evil bees turds to run their 'government'.


They want peace, they should come to the table with their hands empty, as opposed to throwing rocks before they walk into the door, they crying to the world community that they are being treated cruelly.

Sometimes you have to eat a little poop before anyone believes what you have to say.....and I haven't seen it.

[caseysmom]

The palestenians are caught in the middle, hamas gets funded from countries that want to take down israel. The hamas uses that money and feeds the palestenians and put schools up, the palestenians elect the hamas cuz that is where they get there food and how they survive.

[Randi]

Let's not forget that the Palestianians were there first, and had lived there for a long time. Palestine was divided up... I think, after the 6 days war in 1967, but Israel still wanted more! At the time they had even been given more than 50 %. Where was the Palestinians supposed to go?