I agree! It is sad to think the Palestinians avoted in the Hamas to govern them when they knew the attitude of the Hamas. Th UN thinks that people should be able to do what they want  and still have the consequences they want . There is a law of cause and effect. If someone attacks my home I will retaliate. Period. The Palestinians should rise up and get rid of the Hamas who provoke in many ways - the Israelis. What are the Palestinians doing for themselves. It's been like this for 40 + years and The Arab world does nothing. It's sad. Israel would live in peace if the Hamas would not provoke them.
    The Arab world has left the palestinians in their camps since Israel was created even though ssthe Israelis incited them to live with them. The Arab world said "no" we wi destray and drive the Israelis into the sea. They are still saying this. This is NOT peace talk. The Hamas have one abjective and it is not peace.
   Let's get real. The UN should get off the butt and pedestal and do something useful. Thank you. Leonard Purnell

So what?  There were millions of Jews killed in the holocaust and millions more in pograms throughout the Diaspora. Head counting is not valid in this situation. If the other Arab countries had just allowed those living in the tiny new Israeli state of l948 to relocate and live peaceably in the surrounding Arab countries. ALL of the bloodshed since 1948 would have not occurred.

It is so ironic that with all of the death and suffering, the constant bombardment by Israel, the deliberate attack on civilians find full and unconditional support for Israel as it moves on with its attack on the people on Gaza. The US government is a partner in the Israeli/Jewish crime in Gaza. Keeping in mind Israel never left Gaza it only sealed it cut off access and took the key away. I wonder how those who supports the Israel war crimes on Gaza feel if their children meet the same fate as that of the children of Gaza. Would they send more arms and money to Israel. The war on Gaza has nothing to do with Hamas. Israel continues to kill and destroy in the West Bank where there is No Hamas but its friends and allies Fatah.

First it is not all true some Native Americans were paid for their land, in the state of Illinois they received a dollar an acre and then the government sold it for a dollar and a quarter an acre.  Indiana the native Americans were driven out.

Secondly, when the Jews were dispersed by the Romans, they changed the name to Palatine, so that over the course of time it would be forgotten.  It was actually Judah as Israel was already dispersed.  It was forgotten desert until the 1940's and suddenly after the blossoming of the desert the Arabs said mine mine mine.

The old story of the turtle and the snake, the snake wanted to ride the turtle's back across the river and the turtle said, "your a snake, you can't be trusted."

The snake replied, "surely I would do you no harm or we would both drown."  After much convincing the turtle agreed and halfway across the snake attacks and as they both flailed to their doom, the turtle says, "why have you done this?"

"Surely, you know, I am a snake!"

Just to take issue with both Sami and Pat's comments.

First, Sami -- let's separate out criticism of Israel from sweeping statements about Jews.  The first is often justified, the second sounds like anti-semitism.  So, if you think there are "Israeli crimes" in Gaza, that's certainly your perogative.  If you think that there are "Jewish crimes", thereby implicating the entire Jewish people, whether they live in Israel or not, that's something else again.

Second, Pat -- even if it is a fable, the implication that Palestinians are snakes is equally offensive as blaming all Jews for what's happening in Gaza. 

Michael

There are so many to blame for this conflict. But the best way to move forward is to empower moderate palestinians to get rid of Hamas themselve with the international community supporting them. It was a mistake for the Bush Admin. to push for elections in the Gaza Strip. It was foolish for the Bush Admin. to not try to work with Hamas to try and get them on track, instead of the mark go negative. It was evident that Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, had too much support in the community, and were the likely victors. Isreal has the right to counter the missles that overwhelmingly were targeting population centers. In my opinion their response has been going overboard. But the death toll is a result of Hamas fighting dirty and prentending to be be civilians, though tha doesn't excuse Isreals response, With is fueling outrage across the world. 

This is a very STRATEGIC decision by Israel to attack and provoke Gaza, before Bush leaves, because obama won't let this happen. When Obama comes then he will see "stone throwing revenge" by palestinians and will be against them.

This kind of unilateral war against palestinians IS the reason why we dont see a peace. Palestinians can never trust israel, and will have to keep fighting to the end.

Israel can't declare a WAR adn then go to peace talk then year later declare another war.

Also, this is only to make paletinians and arab world hate america, in the end it pays back to israel.

I will never understand why these people would vote in a terrorist group such as Hamas to represent them. Play with fire and you get burned, lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas.

Israel gave the Gaza strip to  the palestinians in an effort to make peace with them. They now had their own land.  When the jews had lived there they were very productive and made great use of the land.  The palestinians voted for Hamas to be their leader and have the one and only goal of torturing, murdering and mutilating the bodies of all infidels , especially the jews, and making Israel nothing but history. They have no desire to ever make peace with or even recognize Israel as an  existing country. Most palestinians are unemployed.  Israels efforts to make peace was a total failure.  Next they must get rid of the Hamas and have the Gaza strip back under control of  civilized people who have higher goals in life than to do nothing besides teach to hate and murder.  There are no innocent palestinians. They almost all voted for hamas, and anyone who   supported Fatah, has either left Gaza or been murdered by Hamas activists.  If you think Israel is wrong in defending itself from being fired upon daily by Hamas, then give Tennessee to the KKK, give New York State to the Al Qaedas and Pennsylvania to the Taliban and just be peaceful with then!

The constant stream of supporters of Israel blaming Hamas for Israel killing 300 or so children, and bombing of homes, schools, ambulances. Right from the mouths of the Israeli propaganda department to news feeds all over the place and "good people" happily helping with the cover-up of massacres all over the place.  Israel never targets civilians, there's no humanitarian crisis, and if anyone accidently gets killed it's Hamas fault.

Never a mention that Israel was founded on the premise of deliberately targeting civilians in order to expell them from land coveted by the Zionists and 80% of the people of Gaza are refugees from the mass murders of 1948.  Israel lied about this for years afterword.   Never mind the use of white phosphorous, the shelling and sniper firing at Palestinian paramedics, the bombing of schools.  So many people want to be blind to the mass murders committed by Israel, so many actively engage in regurgitating Israeli propaganda.  Never mind that Israel broke the last truce, and around 80% of the truces agreed to by Palestinian militants.

Amazing that anyone actually believes those Israeli army spokepeople, who along with the Israeli government spokespeople as a group have a well-established track record of dishonesty.  Why do you think they refuse to let journalists in, and try to prevent human rights workers from getting in?

This whole situation is stubbornness at it's worst. The Israeli's won't leave because they say this is their "homeland". The Palestinians say the same thing. I think most of both the Israeli's and the Palestinians would live in peace if it weren't for the few stubborn extremists who keep inciting for war. The other arab nations would be happy enough to get rid of the Israeli's so they do nothing. In all likelihood they encourage the likes of Hamas. But if people are displaced from Gaza then the arabs should step in... how can there be hungry, homeless people in the middle east when there is SO SO SO much money in Dubai they are building ski resorts in the desert and creating their own islands? 
I for one, am tired of the US pouring billions of dollars into the middle east trying to stop these stubborn, war-mongering people from killing each other. It's all well and good to be passionate about your heritage or your religion, but enough is enough. They need to grow up and learn how to live in peace. They need to learn to say NO to their own extremists. If the middle east wants peace, then let them do something about it. 
It's not President Obama you all should be pitching here, it's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Let the gazillionaires in Dubai take care of their 90,000 homeless brothers and sisters in Gaza.

This has nothing to do with 1967 borders. Israel has given back land it won in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1978, 1982 and every time it has resulted in increased attacks from the neighboring Arab states. Giving back land will not alleviate this problem. To think so is both naive and with a complete lack of understanding of the situation.

It is unfortunate that many people are displaced, but Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses civilians as shields. Israel has been extremely careful about not targeting civilians. They held off their attacks for two years until Hamas' weaponry got to be too deadly. There needs to be much greater acknowledgement about how humane the Israeli military has been and continues to be. Israeli soldiers are put in much deadlier situations because they do not blindly attack from the skies, but rather go in by land, exposing themselves. This not something that US did in either Iraq war or in Afghanistan.

Peace requires two willing parties. Israel has always, always been available for negotiation. They have acquiesced every time and it has never ended well. Why is Israel being looked at as the aggressor here?

What seems disingenuous about these postings is that while it is unfortunate and even tragic that people are displaced, it is nothing compared to other attrocities that are happening in nearby Islamic countries. In Algeria 170,000 civilians have been murdered in an Islamic civil war. Where are the postings about that? What about the massacres in the Sudan? In Darfur alone there have been more than 300,000 murders by Islamists and another 2.3 million spread out through the whole country by Islamists targeting Christians and other non-monotheistic tribes. Where are the postings about that?

We need to have a bigger view of the world situation before we rush to judgement.

we have six beautiful grandchildren, three are of mixed parents.

please inform me & others: "what do we tell our children's, children!"
in year 2009, killing innocent children, adults, animals, in the name of "land, create & owned by the "CREATOR"!
we must stop: all this devilish madness on both sides!!!
stop: thinking/acting/as a crazy people in a pool of  humane body's waste!!!
again, after we pray/meditate to our "LORD", what do we tell our children's children of our "history of total madness to all humanity" shame on us! (especially, those is so-called power: "the do nothingers"!! "remember, karma that goes around will/can be a giant mountain of a bitch !!!
lizziejames /harlem usa
p.s. have we become: united snakes of america!?

I have always thought that the Israelies would have avoided conflict if instead of taking the land, they would have paid for it.  I mean, bought (purchase) the land where Israel now sits.

Maybe it is not too late to offer to 'buy' Gaza and relocate the people that live there?  If nothing else will solve the problem, how about money?

Remember that saying that goes "God rules the Heavens and money rules the Earth?"  Should we try it?  Ask "what money could do for them?" kind of thing.

This may sound stupid and simplistic.  But, what else is working?  What has worked for all these years?

As a response to Daniel:

- For postings on Darfur - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=38

- For postings on Congo - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=3561

- For postings on Zimbabwe - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=1741

- For postings on Afghanistan - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=4172

- For postings on Somalia - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=12454

- For postings on Sri Lanka - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=135

- For postings on climate change and humanitarian response - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=393

- For postings on the Pakistan earthquake - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=1138

- For postings on the Philippines - see here:

http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog?category_id=24948

Israel should listen to the United Nation resolutions since the U.N. shares responsibility for the inception of Israel and Israel owes its inception to the U.N. Had it not been for the same U.N. that is now calling upon Israel to stop human rights violations Israel may not have gotten a chance to become a country in 1947. It was agreed it would be a state like other states in the U.N. and not the rogue state it is today, comitting serious human rights violations, having occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, and having clandestine WMD's. Just look at the surgical bombing of evry city in Lebanon in 2006...map on Wikipedia. See for yourselves.

Stop all aids to Israel before a Peace settlement has bee reached.
Expose crimes agaist humanity with a UN mandated investigation team and the prosecution. No more millitary equippement or financial aid to any aggressor nation. Mandate Peace & diplomacy.

A genocide is occurring in Palestine.Hilary sounded very war like.Iran would not be involved if Israel/USA had not helped Hamas get in Power.Neither Israel of the US or Iran or India or Pakistan should have Nukes.Our abilities to behave in a moral way means we should not be trusted w NUKES.Violence begets violence.Thou Shalt Not Kill. Dr King knew this ..Study up all..

The subjugation and extermination of indigenous people is what happens when a powerful, aggressive, technologically superior, empire wants your homeland.

Our forefathers did this to the indigenous peoples of North and South America.  Now we in “the civilized world”, can watch as Israel, with the help of the US, does the same things to Palestinian people. 

Déjà vu all over again

If  you would like to learn how we are able to watch this happen and do nothing please go to the link I have posted.


http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565&ei=7-RoSc7POoLorgL-9r3PAQ&q=Peace%2C+Propaganda+and+the+Promised+Land%3A+Media+%26+the+Israel-Palestine+Conflict&hl=en

No one on this Blog protests Hamas-ide, only Israel's legitimate actions in defense.  Why haven't you protesters howled when thousands of Israels were displaced into air raid shelters each time a Hamas rocket landed?  There are now nearly 1,000,000 Israelis in range.  Medical studies show that nearly all Jewish children in the Gaza border communities suffer from trauma-induced illness.  Hamas has launched over 10,000 rockets altogether, and nearly 7,000 since it took over Gaza.

Or is it that Jewish suffering doesn't move you, only the suffering of those who would commit genocide?

And how many israelis have those rockets killed over the years? A handful? So israel exacts its 100 eyes for an eye revenge. Poor, poor israelis. Can't feel safe even if uncle sam gives them billion$ every year to buy weapons from him to kill and threaten their native population with.
There's an amazing amount of israeli bloggers out there, all over the net. They have a list of talking points, i've seen them all. Totally one sided. Makes me wonder about israelis. Are all those evil things i heard about the talmud true? That make judaism  just like any cult, where you must be afraid of and hate everybody not in your clan, and are required to double deal any outsider? Are we americans all shmucks, feeling sorry about the Holocaust(TM) and never doubting your sincerety as perpetual victims? Could it be that victimhood is powerful and there's a sucker born every minute? Those Palestinian children are not terrorists. Blowing them up and blaming people who express the only way they know their rage at being starved and crushed to death by israel's blockades and bulldozers only proves what bullies you are. All your bloggers do not outweigh the dead children, and no amount of word twisting changes the fact that YOU killed them.
Israel needs to learn how to share, see goyim as human beings, and how to turn the other cheek. But that is against their religion.

The original UN resolution called for a Palestinian State and an Israeli State.  Israeli terrorists ambushed and murdered the British peacekeepers and the State of Israel was born prematurely. The Palestinian State was stillborn and never came to life.  

Terror is the war of the displaced and disenfranchised.   War is the terror of the powerful and privileged.

Only when the powerful insure that the poor have a safe place for their children to sleep, and adequate food and clean water for all to drink, will peace have a chance.

    

As I read through the comments above, I see what the problem is: NO ONE actually listens to the other. Intelligent dialogue is replaced by rhetoric and talking points. And, those that actually have some knowledge about the situation (personal or academic) are shouted down and insulted. No wonder we cannot find a common ground. We're way too busy trying to be right. Last I checked this blog was about humanitarian relief, which Gaza needs. I am INSULTED that people would divert their attention from this very REAL problem to hash out their personal or political feelings about who or what side is right. NO ONE, not even Israel, is refuting that Gaza is a humanitarian crisis, so any takers on how we resolve THIS issue (i.e., get food and medical supplies into Gaza).

To Gordon Clark: your "argument" -- the Talmud is evil, Judaism is a cult, Jews are a clan who hate gentiles, only shmucks care about the Holocaust, etc. -- suffused, as it is, with overt racism and bigotry, speaks for itself.

You'd find fellowshipwith with HAMAS [Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya] as they share the same outlook.  HAMAS just enacted amputation and crucifixion to punish offenses against Shari'ah [Islamic law] in matters like theft and adultery.  In a recent pronouncement, HAMAS boasted it has made an industry of death and "the women exceed at this, and so too, do the mujahideen [fighters in jihad] and the children."

You approve, right?

The real issue is this: how would Americans respond in like circumstances?

Imagine a fanatical religious party wins a string of elections in Mexico's northern states, and then stages a civil war to drive out the federal government and take full control of Mexico. The party's charter demands a return of the occupied Mexican territories of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas.  The party’s gunners fire homemade rockets and advanced missiles into the U.S.  These projectiles were smuggled in from Iran and China.  They target a total of one of every seven Americans, or 43,598,000 people, in a broad swath which includes Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, and Las Vegas. In all of these areas, pre-schools, grade schools, and universities are all forced to shut down. American families sleep in bomb shelters and return to them several times a day during air raids. Businesses are shuttered and the economy shuts down.

What would the U.S. government do?

Here’s another analogy.  A man comes into your home. You were once his landlord. There is much bad blood between you. He has a homemade gun. He points it at your family. He fires, but misses. The gun has little accuracy. He fires again and misses repeatedly.  You own a much better gun made in a real factory. It is in the drawer in your bedroom. Demonstrators in London and San Francisco - distant relatives of the man across the street - stage a protest, calling you a murderer and demanding that you keep your factory-made gun in the drawer because using it would be “disproportionate.” The man sends out his older son, nicely dressed, to knock on your door. Your older daughter opens the door. The man’s son greets her politely and presses the detonator on a homemade bomb, killing himself and your daughter.  The man and his wife dance in the streets in joy that their son has become a martyr while you mourn your murdered daughter.  Demonstrators claim you got what you deserved because you kept the man and his family locked in their house across the street, and at times, you failed to pay his water, gas and electric bills – both of which are untrue. As you are no longer the landlord, the man across the street obtains a larger, accurate weapon he smuggled in through his basement.  His compatriots in an adjoining neighborhood give it to him.  You cannot stop it because you are no longer the landlord. The man across the street shoots this accurate weapon from behind his younger son and wounds your second daughter. You take out your factory-made gun. You aim for him and hit the son, killing the boy. The demonstrators are now calling you a Nazi and chant “Slaughter the Landlord!”

How would Americans respond?

To be "proportionate," can Israel fire 10,000 missiles into Gaza, given that is how many HAMAS and Islamic Jihad have fired into Israel?  After all, fair is fair.

You believe the argument turns on missile accuracy because only twenty-five Israelis have been killed.  This reveals your thinking: you believe military inferiority equates with moral superiority.  Great logic.

You are right about one thing: Palestinian children are not terrorists.  Instead, according to HAMAS, they are the mujahadeen of tomorrow, and bullet shields of today.

So who should we blame for that, Israel or their parents?

Stephanie is right on.  This is a forum on Humanitarian Relief.

There are bright folks in this forum.  Can we redirect the conversation, using the collective intelligence here, and try and find ways to help get food, water  and medicine into Gaza?

Elizabeth

I could not agree more with Stephanie -- personally, I'm appalled at many of these comments, on both sides of the issue.  What this thread makes painfully clear (as if it wasn't already) is the stark inability of people on either side to see any remnant of humanity, much less shared humanity, in the other side. 

Calling all Palestinians terrorists, or -- and here I'm talking to you, Gordon Clark -- making sweeping generalizations about Jews is completely and utterly unacceptable.

Feel free to criticize the Israeli Government, Hamas, or the US Government -- or, the UN, or any other government or political party. 

If you feel the need to go further, and slur an entire people, then that's your prerogative, but this isn't the forum.

I know that there's a tremendous amount of anger, rage and indignation out there, on both sides.  If you feel that this is best expressed by making racist comments about Palestinians or Jews, then please read another blog.

PS - In case it wasn't clear from the previous post, I wrote the previous comment as the blogger on this site.  And really, if you can't abide by these simple rules, please vent elsewhere.

To Eric MacEachern: You apparently believe in the stereotype of Arab terrorists as underprivileged Islamic youth yeaning to be religious martyrs. If, as you say, "Terror is the war of the displaced and disenfranchised," then kindly explain why most Arab terrorists are urban males, age 22-24, from upper middle-class to rich families, and university educated?  See, e.g., Walter Reich, ed., Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind (Cambridge University Press, 1990)

Terrorism is capital-intensive; fueled by oil and the drug trade; and made possible by an international network of corrupt Arab dictators, drug kingpins, and megawealthy shiekhs.  9-11 cost al-Qaeda $500,000 to carry out.

Take Mohammed Atta, for example.  He was the 9-11 ringleader.  He spoke fluent English and German, was educated at two universities and the son of a prominent Egyptian lawyer.

Displaced and disenfranchised, indeed.

That's it, I've had enough.  As Stephanie and others have so kindly mentioned, this blog focuses on humanitarian relief.  Again, if you want to fight your own version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, do it elsewhere.

Michael

Because Israel is punishing the Gaza-population collectively, it is against the 4.th. Geneva-convention article 33.
It´s a humanitarian crises of enormous dimension and must be stopped by dialogues and israelian withdrawel to the borders from before 1967.
Also I think UN-forces ought to help the moderate israelian people in order get all the illegitimate ultra conservative israelian people out of their illegitimately occupied pallestinian-land.according to The International Agreements and Solutions. 

I must ask how many people are contacting their representatives and demanding that the US get in alignment with what the UN and Red Cross are requesting?  I have been going to Israel for 30 years and have strong relationships in both Jewish and Palestinian communities. What I know is where we as US citizens have the power is forcing our representatives to listen to respond to what the UN and red cross are saying and force Isreal to follow through their agreements.
It wasn't very long ago that a the head of the UN was walking over the rubble of Jenin in the West Bank and Rachel Corey ( a young Jewish American) was run over by a bull dozer for protecting a Palestinian home. 
We as Americans do recognise this - it IS a modern version of what happened to the native peoples here - we can at least try to stop paying for it in Gaza and the West Bank. Please make contact on a regular basis with your representatives and let them know you pay for this under protest. 

It is our tax dollars that funding this humanitarian crisis. Dennis Kucinich has spoken out - make sure your rep HEARS from you and insist that they question funding of these humanitarian crisis in Palestine !! 

Oh Samuel. Your logic is so twisted it hurts.

Your landlord analogy is absolute crap. To begin with, WHY was Israel our landlord? Hm? What gave them that right? A 'go-for-it' from Nixon? Britain telling them Palestinian land was theirs?

Putting people somewhere because YOU don't want them somewhere else doesn't make them the 'landlord' of the country, just FYI- at least not in Palestinians eyes. It makes them intruders & it DOES create bad blood- regardless of religion, regardless of whether they were Jews, Atheists, Buddhists... WHATEVER... regardless. They are people that took over OUR land & OUR way of life and changed it FOREVER. Don't expect us to sit idley by. I am not sitting here & condoning HAMAS in ANYWAY, because I agree they are far too drastic in their measures... but at the same time, don't you dare put all the blame on Palestinians for being upset... they have every damn right to be.

I COMMENTED ON THIS SITE BUT MY COMMENT WAS REMOVED!  Are you in favor of what Israel is doing to Hamas & the Palestinans?  I am appalled!!

Leatrice - as I mentioned above, have started deleting posts that don't touch on the humanitarian situation.  If it's any help, you have plenty of company.  I've now succeeded in becoming both anti-Israeli and anti-Palestinian, according to my legion of new fans.  Which makes me think I'm probably doing something right.

If you're still curious as to why I removed your post, please read my comments above.

After reading the comments on this page, there is no wonder why the chance for peace in Israel/Palestine looks so bleak. Half of the posts attempt to justify Israel's slaughter of civilians through some sort of "they asked for it" rationalization as if voting for Hamas should be sufficient rationale for being executed on the spot.  The fact that hundreds of the victims are children is apparently of no moment and hardly worth the inconveniece of mentioning. 

The rest are apparently uncapable of condemning the Israeli government's disastrous foreign policy without implicating all of Israel, all Israelis, all Jews, the Jewish faith, the Torah, the Talmud and every Jew since Moses. 

I am used to seeing such garbage of HuffPo, et. al, but to see such comments on a Change.org page titled "Humanitarian Relief" leaves me with little hope of being able to find any enlightening discourse.

It's unfortunate that a situation so comprehensive is addressed in such a way. The fact is there were  already 400,000 Palestinain refugees in the Middle East, something like 700,00 in Gaza, the rest scattered throuhout Syria, Lebanon and so forth. At least from where I sit, it is pretty hard to comprehend how a people so marignalized have a shot at making the correct decision on their leaders, we in the US make mistakes choosing our leaders daily, and we are all for the most part sitting pretty comfortably with homes and food on our tables.

The additional 100,000 displaced Palestinians only makes this whole situation worse.

I know the IRC is searching funds for overwhelmed hospital
http://www.theirc.org/news/irc-funds-urgent-supplies-gaza-hospitals0108.html and of course UNICEF.

We cannot go back and change the past; we must move forward from here. These poor Palestinian people only want to live in peace and live productive lives. They are human just like the rest of us. The people of Palestine are not responsible for the actions of a few radicals. I don't understand why the U.N. has not sent a peace-keeping force into that region. All parties involved need to sit down and talk, including Ha-mas. This is the only way to find a peaceful compromise. it was Israel who created Ha-mas and the people of Palestine voted them into power, so they must be included in talks.

When you read how Israel controlled air and sea of Gaza since 2005 after they relunctantly left the Gaza Strip (bulldozing their homes before leaving) and restricting the Palestinians crossing borders so that the Palestinians could not travel or trade or even fish, it is easy to understand the appeal of Hamas.  Hamas did build the schools and hospitals.  According to the Israeli military's count on December 27th, 3,000 rockets hit Israel since the beginning of the year 2008.  Yet only 4 Israeli were killed in 2008- hardly justifies the massacre of over 1,000 Palestinians and the destruction of country.

Michael, I completely understand your frustration with this blog... you are a good man trying to find aid for displaced, innocent people. However, I think the reason you are hearing so much anger on this blog, on both sides, is that people are sick of this conflict. I was born in 1967, and for my entire life I have had to witness innocents on both sides bleeding in the street. 
I don't care anymore who is right and who is wrong. After 40 years, what can it matter anymore? I just want them to stop hurting each other. Regardless of which side people are on, everyone is tired of it. 
I'm sure everyone here cares about these displaced people, but the elephant in the room on this cause is that it's a hard sell to ask us to heal their wounds today, when our historical experience is that their own leaders are just going rip those same wounds open again tomorrow. When Israel and Palestine's own leaders won't cease fire and sit down once and for all and work it out - is beyond frustrating, and heartbreaking. I've read somewhere the psychology of anger is that people get angry when they feel helpless to change a situation. 

In a way, this blog is a bit like trying to have a discussion about medical care for a battered child for the 20th time, without having any discussion about the child's abusive parents or getting the child out of that home. You are a brave man. 

It's unbearable to see what happened in Gaza.

I was sobbing every time I watched and see the Massacre in Gaza!!

And the whole world was watching too. But no action to stop the Israelis aggression of genocide of the Palestinians.

 I feel we've lost our humanity...Enough, enough, enough.

The whole world (except US) was aghast at what Israel did to the Palestinians.  But Israel does as it wishes.    Even "60 Minutes" on Sunday showed the building of settlements still in the West Bank. We need to give former President Jimmy Carter more clout and listen to him.  He has been urging change with our unconditional support of Israel for years.  Carter sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the root of both U.S. unpopularity in the region and the wider problem of Middle East instability. Once the historic injustice done to the Palestinians is resolved, he believes, other issues plaguing U.S. foreign policy will dissipate, if not disappear.

Hey Steve - I hope you are making a comparison of over 1,000 Palestinians murdered in 2009 and the severe sanctions preventing even humanitarian aid from reaching them TODAY with what happened over 200 years ago.   This is a blog about GAZA>

And - yes - as president Jimmy Carter endorsed many measures that favored the Native American.   He does worry about them but as you must know - Jimmy Carter is no longer our president so cannot do more - he is a humanitarian endorsing peace. 

What are you doing for Native Americans?  As an American, we need to be concerned about more than just the people that happened to be born in the USA.  If we are supplying Israel with ammunition and bombs, we should be speaking of how they are using them and what they do with the $3 billion a year we give to them.

Hey Mary of course I am.  This blog is typical of Americans.  Always demanding that someone else do something about the problems they see.  All the while doing nothing about the problems in thier own back yard.  Please also note that the Native Americans (me) like the Gazans still live in little pieces of land given by the invaders.  Americans and Isreal have slaughtered thousands to take the land from someone else.

Can you name anything that Jimmy Carter did that gave land or mineral rights back to the Native Americans?

I am a Native American!  And of course you would want to ignore the horrible things America did to the Native AMericans less than 90 years ago and focus on someone else.  Would you be willing to give your land back to a Native American?  If you would then you would not be a hypocrite.  Otherwise you are just like Israel!  By the way according to you in just 140 years then all the horrible things done to the Gazans (Palistinians) should be forgotten.

America is lucky that the Native Americans were murdered and detroyed to such an extent that they lost the will to fight!  If the Native Americans were doing what the Palistinians were doing I bet you would be singing a different tune!

You have a job - I am sure you make a decent salary, you have running water and electricity in your residence, you don't have to stop at 90 checkpoints to get around, you can get on an airplane to travel or fish in the Gulf.  Palestinians don't have those luxuries - especially in the Gaza Strip.  

You sound greedy, uncompassionate, and selfish to compare yourself to people in other parts of the world that are suffering today and don't have food or access to medical care.  What happened to native Americans was horrible and unjust but it does not justify you in ignoring the misjustices to people in other parts of the world today.   My grandparents came here 90 years ago to escape persecution and starvation.  Everyone has a past.  How would giving land to you erase what happened to your ancestors, blacks, or other immigrants?  We have a black president that is not crying about the injustices done to his ancestors.

Bravo, Mary -- and Steve's comments have been deleted, as being completely and utterly off-topic,

Michael