Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas’s official spokesman, said the attack was an act of “self-defence” which he said was a reaction to “the continued Israeli crimes against our people”.
“The Israeli occupation bears responsibility for the continuation of its aggression. Our people are in a state of self-defence and they have every right to use all means to defend themselves,” he said.
Hamas interior ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Helal also said the bombing was a legitimate response to Israeli “aggression”.
“This operation … is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people,” he said.
Clearly, there is no better way to defend yourself than blowing up a restaurant full of people eating. Everyone here still rah-rah about handing Hamas money for its new “moderate” stance?
I saw “Paradise Now” this weekend. A very thoughtful and interesting look at suicide bombing, from the perspective of Palestinians.
My conclusion was that all Palestinians care about anymore is hate, revenge, and spitting in the eye of Israel. It consumes them wholly (schmidt).
The book “The Lexus and The Olive Tree” gives an interesting perspective on this conflict. Essentially no other country will give homes to the Palestinians or let them in as a people. They are used as a scapegoat by the rest of the Arab world as a reason to hate Israel (that and oh, the wars Israel started in the 50s and 60s). So they sit there, in the West Bank, in Gaza, living in a third world while a rich, proprosperous democracy with a powerful military lives right next door.
Hey, maybe Mexico should try to take over Texas or California again. A lot of people down there are living in squalor, and their ancestors owned land in those states. Why not?
In the end, Palestine will never be viable unless they stop intentionally and outright killing civilians like this. They earn no good will of the international community, they accomplish nothing but more houses being bulldozed and retalitory strikes. They have no hope of overthrowing Israel. They should start with Ghandi-like tactics if they want to win. Organize, protest, strike, cause a non-violent uprising. That might not work, but it will get them FAR closer than blowing up buses with children on them.
Also, Israel needs to control its military more tightly.
A clearly reprehensible attitude, and one not likely to help bring about a peaceful resolution to the situation. Likewise indiscriminately shelling farmland in Gaza to the tune of 150 shells a day isn’t helping much either, but is considered to be “self defence” by the Israelis, even if the only people it kills are children.
I hate to be the one to point out the tit-for-tat nature of the conflict in the region, but some people seem utterly focused only on the tit, and not the tat.
I say nuke the place. Give them a year for everybody to evacuate and leave their old lives behind, then completely destroy it. Then nuke it again every year for the next fifty years. Every nuclear nation could have a go - use those stockpiles up. No more kitty litter box, no more nukes. Perfect.
TEL AVIV (AP) — Hamas revolutionaries defended themselves Monday after being placed under attack by Israeli civilians wielding cheese sandwiches and polystyrene coffee cups.
The suprise defensive move involved a desperate rearguard foray into a restaurant while under a sustained assault from the smell of lightly grilled cucumber rolls and a little puddle of milk left dangerously unmopped. Hamas sources claim the agents were lucky to escape the assault delicatessen with their souls, faced as they were by the highly aggressive and well-trained oblivious civilians sitting eating breakfast.
The guard action follows similar last-ditch defensive manoevers in recent weeks, including a phyrric victory against a brutal invasion by bus station workers, hotel lobby attendants and traffic-bound commuters.
They will be forced to leave if they won’t do it by choice! And, in fairness, I will be bombing Israel too. Man, this is going to be great. A big fucking radioactive crater - that’s some motherfucking holy land right there.
I have pretty much fallen into despair about any level-headed Israelis and level-headed Palestinians being able to effectively stop their respective sides from killing innocent people on the opposing side only to use the “well they do it too” justification afterwards.
I do abhor seeing the Israelis using US armaments to do their dirty deeds. If they want to kill each other no matter what, then we can’t really stop them without some incredible changes in our foreign policy. But, to sell Israel the high end military hardware to do it? Oi.
Hey, if wanting to nuke Israel and Palestine into oblivion and herd the people out of the area like cattle is anti-semitism, then call me an anti-semite!
Ok, here’s why it was stupid to not give Hamas the tax money: If Israel had given them the tax money, conditional upon Hamas’s commitment to peace, it would, right now, be Hamas’s fault that Israel was keeping the taxes collected on behalf of the PA. As it stands, Hamas can and will point to that as an example of why this stuff is necessary, because Israel refuses to recognize their democratically elected government, deal with them like people, etc.
Just a nice, clear example of Israel failing to elevate themselves above their enemies and prolonging this struggle as a result.
