Mashaal if this is what you believe, then call Israel's bluff and make a real and lasting peace. This way you can prove that you are peace loving and it is Israel that is not. Go on, we dare you.

you loose!

The Israel Project hired pollster Stanley Greenberg to test American opinion on the Middle East conflict -- and got a big surprise. In September 2008, 69% of Americans called themselves pro-Israel. Now, it's only 49%. In September, the same 69% wanted the U.S. to side with Israel; now, only 44%. Although there is public support for a two-state solution, rather than create a Palestinian state now 60 percent of Americans believe "There should not be a Palestinian state until Palestinian leaders end terror and recognize Israel's right to exist." Israelis generally know what most Americans still don't: Suicide bombing, supposedly the trademark of "Palestinian terrorism," has virtually ceased. As a result, Israel's chief complaint has switched to Hamas rocket attacks. How can we let them have the West Bank, the argument goes? Look what happened when we pulled all our settlements out of Gaza and got nothing in return but thousands of rockets. But after the Gaza's blight with the Isdraeli Cast Lead, the thousands rockets story does not hold convincing for the Americans. The Israeli air and ground attacks destroyed 5,000 homes; put 200 factories out of operation, including the only flour factory in the country; systematically destroyed egg-producing chicken farms; and bombed sewage and water systems. "If that isn't collective punishment, what is?" Goldstone asked.

they speak the language of war, and know nothing else.

Israel has the ability to liquidate him anytime, so it must be in our interest that the government is allowing him to hang around.

Your articulate and selective blog here portrays the Palestinians as "victimised saints". Now why does every sane Israeli see things differently from you? Makes me wonder..

I wish Israel would break out a war with syria, hezbollah, iran, or hamas if either one gets hit the region will become a mess and every israeli would probably end up making aliya to california. If you guys were serious you would have done it by now but the thing is you know the repercussions, one lost war with a country and its over for israel. And that is not just an opinion the government of israel nows this well thats why they are always on top of things knowing if they mess up once it could be disastrous! If you had only given up occupied lands a long time ago you wouldnt be in this mess better hope that option is still on the table!

Once Israel steps outside the US shadows they will be on their own and the neighbors they have been tormenting for years will give them a ruddy good hiding. Neither Saudi Arabia. Egypt nor Turkey will come to their aid and if they couldn't defeat Hamas/Hezbollah with Bush's support, they will get clobbered by Iran Syria and Lebanon. Israel won't even be able to call on the UN, since they have been busy trying to destroy the very organization that gave them birth in the ME.

good point, right ?

I wish the ideal world of your imagination could be realised! Wake up!! Israelis are dealing with murderous enemies who wish for nothing less than the destruction of the State of Israel!

HAMAS DONT WANT ANOTHER WAR That can easily be acompolished all Hamas need to do is declare an end to all terror. No more suicide bombers, no more rocket attacks which are still continuing. If Hamas are such pacafists now why is it only this week Mashaal denied that he had made any statements that Hamas regrets harm suffered by Israeli civilians during Cast Lead. ISRAEL IS NOT A SOURCE OF PEACE IN THE REGION. IT SENDS WAR SIGNALS TO GAZA AND LEBANON Who kidnapped Gilad Shalit from inside Israel? Who carrys out suicide bombings in pizza parlours, hotels and busses? Who fires rockets into civilian towns? In 2006 Israel was no longer in Lebanon but who was it who kidnapped & murdered 1 soldiers from inside Israel and provoking Israel into a war? ISRAEL IS EVEN TRYING TO TURN SYRIA AGAINST IRAN Both Syria and Iran proudly support terror attacks against Israel and threaten to attack. Enemies divided makes you stronger. He accuses Liberman of fanning tensions between Israel & Syria. If his memory wasn't so selective he would remember that Assad threatened to fire missiles into Israeli cities. Libermans comment was if Assad does fire missiles then it will mean alot of dead Syrian soldiers and the end of the Assad regime. Convenient though Liberman responds to a threat to bomb Israeli cities but he is the bad guy fanning tensions. When Mashaal starts backing up his claims for a desire for peace with actions then the region will be a safer place.

Rest assured, the world's people tired of lies and Israeli allegations. It's a matter of time, so we must be patient

please know, that unlike the arab armies that used russina fighter pilots and generals in all their wars against israel, ISRAEL NEVER EVER USED AN AMERICA SOLDIER, AN AMERICAN ADVISOR ON THEIR SOIL DURING ANY WAR. if you talk about military hardware, israel has not recieved any from the usa up until the 73 war. yet, it beat the crap out of 7 arab armies in the millions in 1948, beat the crap out of 3 arab armies supplied to the teeth by russian military advisors, jet pilots and armaments in 1967 and again beat the crap out of 3 arab armies again in 1973. all wars without any american foot soldier in israel. israel doesn't count on the usa for personell assistance like the arabs do and america doesn't ever train any idf or iaf at all. israel trains its own the way it needs to be trained. fighting assymetrical wars against terrorist entities that wear no uniforms and are not an army conducting itself like an army is a different ball game. these terro organizations do not represent a sovereign state and the war against them is quite different from regular military maneuvers. israel can obliterate hizbullah and hamas both is it used 100% of its firepower. but that would mean that civilians in the hundreds of thousands will be killed in those areas and israel doesn't operate as a terror entity. israel's fight against the terror organizations is like the usa fighting against the mexican drug cartel who think nothing of sacrificing mexican lives at the border between mexico and the usa. because like hamas and hizbullah, their citizens mean nothing except propaganda numbers to their benefit. the more, the better for them and their anti israel propaganda, they think. only 5% of fire power was used by israel in lebanon against hizbullah. and unlike what you claim, israel has never ran to the un to have a cease fire. they were always imposed on israel to stop the completion of any israeli operation that looked like it will be totally sucessful. fuad saniora from lebanon cried before the un to make israel stop. israel was already about to cross the litani river heading towards hizbullah stronghold. did you know that? i guess you didn't. what stopped the advance was the un imposing an immediate cease fire and israel had to obey. later nasrallah said that had he known israel will do what it did, he would have never kidnapped and killed the israeli soldiers. he apologized for the destruction he brought on the lebanese people in 2006. israel has never deoended on any un rescue on their part. israel laughs at the impotence of the un. the un is there to protect the arabs, not israel since it is governed by a majority muslim nations block. saudi arabia, egypt and jordan, believe me, will gladly help israel since they are mortified of iranian hegemony and threat to their monarchies and regimes. remember the arab saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. you would be surprised, miss. syria and lebanon know they will be clobered very hard. both assad and nasrallah know this very well and this is why no missile has been sent from there and this is why syria didn;t retaliate after the israeli iaf bombed their nuclear site. dream on. hameed aboughaze, iranian

you will be patient forever, my dear. forever. israel is too strong, too economically stable and sucessful and too militarily advanced to let vermin like you even think of eliminating it. it won't happen. your salladin conquests are over and jewish dihimi status has died with the fall of the islamic empire. when the oil dries up and so will your water, what are you going to do/ drink oil and eat sand? it is better to concentrate on building a civil human society with smart leaders instead of terrorists, to behave not like animals and cockroaches but to start teaching for the future and betterment of your society. it' a matter of time. but your time never seems to come. i wonder why? could it be something you are doing very wrong??? think about that for a minute if you have any ounce of self criticism at all. hameed aboughaze, iranian

accuses 'extremist leadership' of Netanyahu, Barak and Lieberman of fanning tensions with Lebanon, Syria HOW COME ???,. ISRAEL DO NOT WANT ANY CHANGES IN THE REGION. IT IS SYRAIA WHO WANT TO CHANGE THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND, EVEN BY WAR "If war breaks out, it will not only damage Gaza, but the entire region. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the entire Arab nation. We in Hamas don't want war; WHOM DO YOU TRY TO DECEIVE HYPOCRIT ???., IRAN,SYRIA,HIZBOLLAH AND YOU, HAS PLANNED AND PREPERED YOUSELF FOR THIS WAR TO COME, FOR MANY YEARS NOW. YOUR MISSILE CAPASITY SAYS THAT BECAUSE THE ARE USELESS WITHIN GAZA ITSELF. GO TO HELL YOU AND THE YOURS !!!. Arn..

Stop the lies and stop blaming Israel. It is intolerant Islam which rejects Israel's right to exist that is to blame alone !

Is war money what fills his coffers?Is the money of your people residing in some bank in an account in Switzerland? In other words are you an Arab Maddof continuing the pretence that Israel is out for war,and you are out for Peace ?You are a villain holding up "Shallit"s release,hiding behind someReligious Pretence that G"d" is on your side.You will always be defeated in every sense of the words,and finally I hope that your Religious Co-Religionists see through you,and meet-out the just fate that you deserve as that of Sadam Hussein...Then we might get some Peace in the region with the likes of you removed?

This arafat wild eyed big mouth hear this-you want war, lets go. It will give us a chance to put you in a box, yoiu bloody big mouth, you ahmadinejad and haniyeh. You better check on your assoicates and get yiour hiding places ready. You are exactly like arafat-wild eyed demonic who will get it in the end.

Observer, It's all very well you and others complaining about Cast Lead and it's effects, but so far I haven' t seen anyone, even now in retrospect, stating a coherent idea for what Israel could have done instead of attacking within Gaza, that would have produced anything like the results that Cast Lead did in terms of cutting back on rocket attacks int Israel. It's no use saying 'negotiation for cease fire' because they'd tried that on and off for 8 years, and the best they'd managed to secure was temporary lulls. Also, it was known that Hamas were now using the lulls to stockpile longer-range propriatery (i believe chinese and iranaian built) missiles smuggled in via the tunnels on the Egyption border, so the whole thing had reached a watershed, and required decisive action, not more ineffectual pussyfooting around. If the palestinians have pretty much ceased suicide bombings in Israel, I think that's a great deal more to do with closing the gates on Gaza and building the barrier around the West bank that any altruistic decisions made by any Palestinians - I'm in no boubt that if they could still suicide bomb, they would. Once the decision to take anti-terrorist action into Gaza had been made, Hamas's propensity for fighting in civilian clothing and out of civilian buildings and residential areas pretty much guaranteed civilian buildings would be affected. I find it laughable if, according to your talkback, some americans find that hard to believe: Perhaps they should consider US anti-terrorist actions in Fallujah where, even taking into account the differences in population size as compared to Gaza, 10x as many civilians (per head of population) were killed as were in Gaza - and that's even using the figures Hamas claim for civilain deaths due to Cast Lead, which are pretty much guaranteed to be inflated. The fact is, Israel did the only thing it reasonably could have done after 8 years of missiles fro mGaza and longer range ones on the way. If the Palestinians were/are so keen on peace, they could have had it any time since about 1920, but they have refused it, and having their own state, many times. The only solution they appear willing to accept is the total demise of Israel, (and preferably, the death of all Jews everywhere else too) , and they and their allies appear to be prepared to do absolutely anything to achieve these aims. Your standards may well differ from mine, but personally I don't call that 'wanting peace'.

Israel defeated the Arab countries in 1948, 1967 and 1973. Those wars included Egypt and Jordan. The next war will be Iran, Syria,and their terrorist pals the Hamas and Hezbollah. Jordan and Egypt will stay out of it. Israel will win and then it will be time for major adjustments in the Middle East.

Actually, it's the opposite. The world is beginning to see the lies of the "palestinians" - those that claim to want peace, but then send rockets into civilian cities. Those who claim to want a State but steal all of the aid money given to them. Those who want Israel to return to peace talks, then tack on so many pre-conditions that the outcome is essentially known before talks begin. Over 80% of Americans polled support Israel in this conflict, and the majority of Americans view "palestinians" as terrorists. Nevermind their views of Hamas and Hizbullah. While you're being patient hoping for the demise of Israel, you're allowing opportunity after opportunity to pass you by for peace...and everyone is noticing this.

According to an admission by the head of Palesitnian Islamic Jihad to Al-Jazeera, they are having a very tough time launching attacks inside of Israel because of the border wall. An article in Ynet a couple weeks ago speaks directly to the lack of ability for "pals" to launch the same type of attacks they did in 2002 because the IDF roadblocks and increasing crackdown on Hamas by the PA (for political ends, not to end attacks on Israel). Your claim is very ingenuous. It's not because the "pals" want peace that they've ceased suicide bombings, it's because they can't - thus proving both IDF actions in WB and the Wall are necessary things. And this supported by polls showing "pals" supporting overwhelmingly suicide attacks on Israeli civilians...essentially, they are a group of terrorists as seen by Americans.

200 factories?? What exactly do they manufacture? So far, the Gazans have claimed a high level of unemployment, and this after they themselves destroyed factories at Erez Ind Zone and hampered movement of goods at Karni and Erez by launching attacks. The flour mill? Hamas used it to fire on troops - once that happened, protection of the building was lost (per Geneva Convention). 5000 homes? How many were damaged by the powerful IEDs Hamas placed right next to them to kill IDF troops? How many were weapons depots? Nevermind answering - we have video footage of most of this, which is accompanying our reply to Goldstone. Once you weed out the locations that were really not involved in war....you have very little to complain about.

It shouldn't be a surprise that an American who watches sound bites thinks he understands the entire history of a conflict. Hell, you probably didn't know where Iraq was until Bush went in. Case in point - claiming that "leaving occupied lands" would have fixed everything. Exactly which lands are you referring to? Do you know that Israel offered ALL WB/Gaza in 1967 publicly on BBC in return for peace and the Arabs scoffed, claiming they will wipe Israel off the map? Again in 2000 with Clinton. In 1995, after signing the Oslo Accords to reach peace, Arafat told a group of Muslims in South Africa that his real goal was the destruction of all Israel and signing Oslo was just a step in that direction. I don't expect you to know this by reading the news ticker at the bottom of CNN's screen 10 minutes a day, but you should educate yourself. As Moe from the 3 Stooges said "every time you think, you weaken the nation"

mashaal is displaying the classic arab "disease" of mistaking fantasy for reality. the "arab world" is tired of footing the bill for iran's proxy wars in lebanon and gaza, and has more to fear from these fanatical islamists than from israel. the hezbollah war got more reaction from the e.u. than from the arab countries, and the hamas war didn't get more than lip service from their arab brethren. certainly egypt, jordan, and saudi arabia would be glad to lose hamas (and hezbollah), so why would they risk a war with israel, and the resulting crushing blow to their armies? even syria, in spite of its bluster, has seen what the iaf can do to "advanced russian air defences" when they need to bomb a target deep inside syria. saying it doesn't make it so.

fought with one arm tied behind its back. If it comes to a matter of survival then the power will be truly overwhelming. Israel does not want this. Israel wants peace, stability with its neighbors but Israel is not stupid enough to think that the neighbors are still not of the mindset that Israel can be eliminiated. Therefore no peace. As for Mashaal? He is so full of crap. He must be useless and that is the only reason mossad has allowed him to breathe this long.

Thank you. Your analysis is great, honest and brave and destructs completely lunatics as John, Lydia, Salma, etc. Keep on posting!

with "intellectuals" like you, Salma you need patience forever.

And in the end, Israel will be victorious and Iran, Syria and Lebanon will be in ruins, and Hamas and Hizbollah will be destroyed. The gulf states, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan all will wait it out. And in the end, there will be peace. Enough is enough.