Wild and Crazy

From Bluester (Scroll to June 10,2006):

AZA (Reuters) - "Islamic militant group Hamas called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel after attacks blamed on Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians, including children playing on a beach.

Palestinian officials said Israeli air strikes and artillery fire killed 10 Palestinians in Gaza, the highest Palestinian toll in a single day since 2004. Seven people, including five from the same family, were killed in what Palestinian officials said was Israeli shellfire from boats on to a crowded beach.

Among the dead were three children, aged 1, 3 and 10. Their sister, who had been swimming, survived. Twenty people were wounded. Covered in blood, children screamed as adults carried the wounded and dead from the sand."

This was the beginning of the current violence involving Israel. It is clear to me now and has been for quite sometime that Israel would not simply give up land around Gaza without retribution. They kept looking for an opportunity but Hamas wouldn't give it to them so they did what any authoritarian structured society would do; created their own opportunity. This is post 9-11 muscle flexing Israeli style.

To be fair. There was an investigation done by the Israelis'into the beach shelling. It concluded Israel wasn't shelling during the times alleged. Other logs kept of the events disputed that finding. The game was on.

Then this June 25. Source israelinsider.com

"Hamas militants, backed by reinforcements in the Gaza Strip, infiltrated southern Israel through a 300 meter tunnel Sunday, lobbing grenades and bombs inside a tank at a border military post, killing two soldiers and kidnapping a third, the military said"

Then: Source here.

"On Tuesday, June 27th, the Israeli military launched an all-out assault on the people of Gaza....

The destruction of vital bridges and power stations, which led to the cut off of electricity and water for well over 1 million people, is nothing short of collective punishment imposed on a civilian population. Israel has also taken nearly 100 elected officials and leaders of the Hamas party as prisoners in the last few days."

Wed.July 12.Link.

"In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Hizbullah's spiritual leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, lauded the Hizbullah for the attack in which seven IDF soldiers were killed and two others kidnapped and warned Israel that the Hizbullah would only release the captives in exchange for security prisoners.
"Our operation succeeded, we have results and honor," the sheikh declared. "We kept our promise to kidnap soldiers [to secure] the release of prisoners, and therefore are calling the attack 'Operation Promise Fulfilled'."

Here's more on what motivated Hezbollah to kidnap. Link.

"Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he would free the Israeli soldiers only in a prisoner swap, adding that he was open to a package deal that would include the release of the soldier held in Gaza.

"The capture of the two soldiers could provide a solution to the Gaza crisis," he told reporters in Beirut."

Wed. July 12 Israel began its' punishing campaign on Lebanon, all of Lebanon, even though Hezbollah is shooting rockets at the south Lebanon border. Today is the 24th, so the punishment has been going on for 12 days. Hundreds of Lebanese civilians dead and billions of dollars of damage done.

All American leaders can say is "Israel has a right to defend itself."