I think the IRA is dirt but as far as I know, they dont operate at the magnitude that the Palestinians terrorists do. If they committed near the amount of attrocities, I believe they would get more bad press. But I don't pretend to know much about them and I dont want to get into a Palestinian terrorist vs. IRA debate.
Well, then I'll just clarify...are they physically and statistically comparable NOW? But the activites of Irish terrorist groups throughout most of the 20th century easily puts Hamas to shame. Thousands of people have been killed by these groups. People recoil in horror today when Hamas somehow pulls off two or three attacks in one day. Well, the "classic" Irish terrorists could pull off a dozen bombings in a day...one day, 22, across Northern Ireland and the UK.
Irish terrorists are the model for most "modern" terrorists. Michael Collins specifically and his tactics are what guided the Middle Eastern extremist groups that formed in the 60's and 70's and continue today (And the communist guerilla fighters in Asia).
Groups like Hamas have a long way to go until they're as scumfuckingly awful as organizations like the IRA.
And as far as sucking it up, come on, be real. No one is going to suck it up and get blown up.
I give the fuck up. Nowhere did I even imply they're supposed to do NOTHING and just let people attack them. I said try something ELSE, but apparently the only options are "kill" or "do nothing." Stupid me.
And Israel is taking the first initiative.
I didn't say they weren't. In fact, I went out of my to state they've done much more than Palestine in attempting peaceful resolutions in this conflict. My ACTUAL point was that Israel, for a variety of reasons, has the clear upper hand in this conflict. They have the most control and political resources...things the Palestinian government can't even hope to have. As such, Israle has more of an ability to shape and broker a lasting peace deal. Thusly, the burden and even obligation falls to Israel.
Is that fair? Of course not. Is that reality? Unfortunately, yes. They need to take more steps, they need to be the more pro-active guiding force...that's just how it is. Palestinian authority is a joke. They can't be expected to keep even footing because they have little to no footing in their own country. Israel needs to work AROUND them and influence the people in a positive manner. I don't know how, but that's the key. Convince the people to turn AWAY from terrorism and that's how it will die. Continue trying to "kill" it with an eye for an eye mentality with NO other LARGE SCALE option, and you make it grow.
The worst thing about the modern "war on terror" is it seems to have much of the world convinced that terrorism is something you can shoot at and it will die. It's not. It's something that can only be stopped BEFORE it's formed...you take away the reason, you take away the terrorism.
Now, I'm not going to be arrogant enough to sit here and assume I know what Israel needs to do, or should do or even can do. All I know is that the current series of events has all the earmarkings of a stalemate, and that's it. Nobody gets the upperhand, and people only live in fear and suffer and die. And that's the path for the future. If that's acceptable to the powers that be, that's their decision. There just has to be other options.
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