Israel vows to respond to rocket attack

[oberliner]

JERUSALEM - Israel promised a punishing response to a deadly Palestinian rocket attack Wednesday near the home of the country's defense minister.

The rocket — one of eight that struck Israel during the day — killed a 57-year-old woman walking to the grocery store in the Israeli town of Sderot near the Gaza border and raised the specter of a large-scale offensive against militant rocket squads.

Militants affiliated with the Palestinians' ruling Hamas group and Islamic Jihad both claimed responsibility for the fatal Sderot attack, calling it retaliation for 19 civilians killed by Israeli shelling last week in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

"The occupation hasn't stopped attacking Palestinians before or after Beit Hanoun, so we say resistance is a right of Palestinians," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_16

[frylock]

1. and the beat goes on..

IDF using the same heavy-handed tactics they used in the 50's.

[bemildred]

2. Gets sort of like a recording after a while.

Reminds me of the old commies going on about "Crushing blows to the running dogs of Capitalism" and all that.

[oblivious]

3. The hard men on both sides doing the only thing they know.

Militants...calling it retaliation for 19 civilians killed by Israeli shelling last week in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

Israel vows to respond to rocket attack...

Militants respond by bombing...

Israel responds by bombing...

Militants respond by bombing...

Israel responds by bombing...

I guess their strategy meetings must be pretty short.

[Amused Musings]

4. I imagine

civilians would stop dying if Hamas fighters began wearing standard issue uniforms, stopped firing rockets from civilian areas, and stopped targeting civilians on purpose.

That being said, Israel always needs to be more careful as they are held to a higher standard. Is it fair? Probably not, but that's the way it is. Israel must always take the high road because their enemies will jump on the opportunity and exploit it for all its propaganda worth. You'd think they would have figured this out by now.

[msmcghee]

5. I think Israel got over trying . .

. . to please the world a long time ago. They'll settle for survival.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

7. Actually, they won't.

Survival and continued occupation of the more valuable parts of the territories they hold illegally is the minimum they appear to be willing to settle for.

[msmcghee]

8. I think that's how they see survival now. n/t

[Donald Ian Rankin]

9. I'm sure some of them see it that way.

But they're wrong, and saying "Israel will settle for survival" rather than "Israel will settle for what it sees as survival" is misleading to the point of being inaccurate, I think.

[msmcghee]

10. If you'll check, you'll see that . . .

. . I preceeded both my statements with "I think" indicating that was my opinion and implying that others might not agree. Stop fighting and start thinking.

[oblivious]

6. I can imagine that being brought up at the next 'terrorist' strategy meeting.

Boys, I think to be fair, we should wear blaze orange jackets and stand in an open field when we fire on the enemy.