Posted on 12/29/2004 7:20:31 AM PST by IAF ThunderPilot
The IDF on Wednesday boasted that it had dramatically reduced Palestinian terror during the past year, saying the number of people killed in terrorist attacks dropped by 44 percent in 2004 as compared to the previous year.
A senior officer briefing military reporters said that there had also been a reduction in the percentage of civilians killed compared to members of the security forces.
According to IDF statistics, 64 percent of the 118 people killed this year were civilians. In previous years, civilian fatalities had been three-quarters of the total.
Furthermore, the senior officer revealed that successful suicide attacks accounted for just 0.4 percent of all attacks by Palestinians over the past four years of conflict. However, the 502 people killed in them represented nearly half of all fatalities.
There have been 14 suicide attacks so far this year that have killed 55 people. The IDF and security forces thwarted at least 116 suicide attacks during the same period.
The senior officer attributed the improvement in fighting Palestinian terror to the security fence and highly improved human and eavesdropping intelligence and tighter cooperation between IDF, Police and Shin Bet agents.
He also cited the IDF's effective operational capabilities, saying 50 percent of the achievements in the Gaza Strip during recent actions were joint land and air operations.
Good news ping!
Good news, indeed. May even fewer good souls be killed in 2005. I've heard various reports that tourism to Israel has started increasing recently.
What a difference a fence makes!!!!!!!!!!
"Smoke 'em if you got 'em"
Indeed!
By the ministry of tourism's report, toruism to Israel has reached in the past few months the level of before the "Intifada".
Step 1 - Complete fence
Step 2 - Build corridor to Lebanon
Step 3 - Move Palestinians from West Bank and Gaza to Lebanon
Step 4 - Build fence on Lebanese border
Step 5 - Tear down WB and Gaza fences
Step 6 - Sanitize WB and Gaza
Step 7 - Rebuild WB and Gaza
Rinse and repeat where necessary.
If some Israeli government were crazy enough to follow your instructions we'd have foreign intervention against us for sure. Even the U.S. would be against us.
I always love extremist posts telling us to do things which would represent national suicide from people who don't have to live with the consequences.
Did it ever occur to you that not all Arabs are terrorists? Many are good people who want to live in peace. However, to say that, to accept Israel as a neighbor, in the Palestinian territories can mean having the label "collaborator" and then being killed. Our family had Palestinian friends who were killed when the first intifada broke out for being "too friendly" to Israelis.
The problem is the Palestinian leadership and those who support them. Imposing suffering on millions of people is insane and immoral.
"The problem is the Palestinian leadership and those who support them. Imposing suffering on millions of people is insane and immoral."
Do you think it is insane and immoral that the entire Arab world wants to eliminate Israel from existence? What do you think would happen to every Israeli if Israel did lose a war? My bet is extermination as the world sits there doing nothing.
I didn't say ethnically cleanse nor did I say to kill anyone. The Arabs forced the Palis to leave Israel in 48. That is my understanding on the right of return. Do you favor the "Right of Return" for the Palestinians?
Of course.
What do you think would happen to every Israeli if Israel did lose a war?
I'd rather not think about it. You know that I am Israeli, right?
My bet is extermination as the world sits there doing nothing.
That would be my guess, too.
I didn't say ethnically cleanse nor did I say to kill anyone.
What would you call the forced removal of the Arab population from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza if not ethnic cleansing? That is what you advocated, right?
The Arabs forced the Palis to leave Israel in 48. That is my understanding on the right of return.
It is a flawed understanding. The Arab media told the Palestinian Arabs to leave, yes. Many listened. They were not forced. About 25% of those who did leave were intimidated into leaving by the more extreme Jewish groups at the time. However, a significant number stayed and they and their children are today's Israeli Arabs.
Do you favor the "Right of Return" for the Palestinians?
Sure, to anywhere in the Arab world. Not to Israel. If there ever is a peace treaty and a Palestinian state is setup as a result then that would be a place they could return to.
The 'Wall' works.
Finish the wall.
"Sure, to anywhere in the Arab world. Not to Israel. If there ever is a peace treaty and a Palestinian state is setup as a result then that would be a place they could return to."
Why not? I didn't know you were Israeli. I lived on Kibbutz Ketura in 1978-79.
"What would you call the forced removal of the Arab population from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza if not ethnic cleansing? That is what you advocated, right?"
I would call it a good start. Kidding. However I believe it is better than the alternatives which is a continued cycle of violence.
In the end it is either you or them. I have no problem with Israeli Arabs. They love their homes and get along with the Jews. They also chose to stay and have contributed to society.
My suggestion is radical. However I don't like the alternatives. If there would be co-existence there would be no wall. If there was a different, more Israel friendly Pali leader out there, he probably would have already been assassinated.
It is your country, what do you suggest?
I strongly support Palestinian suicides and would like to see more of them. It's just a shame though when they have to kill innocent civilians....
What do I suggest? Fortress Israel. We draw the borders unilaterally based on demographics and security requirements no matter how much the world community or the Palestinians complain about it. We build the fence good and high and strong and put the IDF all along it. We make clear that any cross border attacks will be responded to with overwhelming force. We leave the Palestinians to rot in their own "state" with no jobs in Israel and no access to anything in our country.
Perhaps then they will really be ready to talk about peace.
Then let him visit the local mosque for a performance the faithful will never forget...
"We leave the Palestinians to rot in their own "state" with no jobs in Israel and no access to anything in our country."
Too close to Jerusalem for me. Someone could lob a missile brought in from China or Iran and then what? Kill the innocent Palis that didn't see it?
A 2 state solution will never work. Israel is one country and should remain as such.
We already have a 23 state solution. 22 Arab states, one Jewish state. I don't see how we can claim it's "our" country if we allow ourselves to become a minority. There is no reason a Chinese or Iranian missile can't be lobbed from Lebanon, Syria, or Jordan. The little bit of extra land won't protect us from modern weapons. That's what our nuclear deterrent is for.
A two state solution is imperfect but it is better than having 4 million hostile Arabs inside our borders.
The type of solution you propose will lead to massive international intervention of a sort we are too small a country to resist. Mutual destruction is just not appealing to me.
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