"Israel takes action in retaliation for attacks and also assassinates high ranking terrorist leaders."
Nope. Not only "in retaliation". Israel has declared, formally and many times over, that it reserves the right to attack "legitimate targets" in any manner, place and time that is convenient. And it has.
Tellingly, every time the other side has formally or informally ceased fire, Israel has almost immediately attacked "legitimate targets", and more often than not, in a manner that causes tremendous "collateral damage" (aka the death and injury of innocent civilians, including children). These attacks predictably flare up the other side's anger. And we enter the vicious circle again.
"Obviously such [Israeli] retaliation could be made in a manner such that it is disproportionate to the actions being retaliated for."
That obviously came out wrong - but I won't take advantage of that slip. It's just funny!
"However, a certain degree of [disproportionality] is necessary for there to be any deterrent value to such reprisals."
Strange thing, but Israeli repression, including its wholesale slaughter of innocents and the destruction of the livelihood of others, seems to deter little, if at all, the resistance of the Palestinians. Or the terrorists. So, deterrence value = very small.
Israel leads things inexorably towards its desired objective: Israel wants to be dealing with the most extreme, radicalised, fanatical opposition possible! In this situation, no one "expects", and certainly no one "pressures" Israel to compromise, negotiate or deal! Whereas, if the other guys were (god forbid!) secular moderates, then Israel would have fewer fall-back arguments for its continuing intransigence.
"But the key question is, is the Israeli military almost every day just lobbing shells into civilian targets?"
Yes. It does.
Not "every day", of course! Nobody does anything like this "every day". But it is preposterous that someone would dispute what is being reported routinely from the region and what we have seen on TV countless times. (Even with the pro-Israeli bias of the American media, some things do slip through, you know.)
"Or shooting random Palestinians at checkpoints?"
Yes. They do.
And sometimes it's not so random either! Case in point, the shooting of a 14-year old girl, some distance away from an Israeli checkpoint. (Do you wanna read the dialogue over the military intercom? It has been made available.) The Israeli officer approaches the girl, and shoots her (that's a 14-year old, unarmed, already heavily wounded girl, right?) in the head about six more times at close range. Then he "confirms the kill". That guy was slapped on the wrist -- and only because some independent media was nearby.
Do you know how many Palestinian children have died from Israeli bullets? Or kicks in thne head? Or rockets that were "legitimately fired against a target"? Thousands upon thousands. (Even Ariel Sharon cabinet members have discreetly expressed their "discomfort" with the IDF brutality.)
And this actually constitutes daily routine for the Palestinians. Humiliation at the check points; restrictions in their everyday business life; arbitrary brutality against anyone who looks the wrong way; the occasional "stray" bullet that "regretfully" kills or maims; abductions of suspects; serial, extreme torture; total political impotence; etc etc.
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I think it's to UNITE MANKIND that we became bloggers! Don't see language as an obstacle but as a challenge (though you can use the translater BabelFish at the bottom of my page!) and think for a minute if I and the rest of the world are not expecting something like a broad cumplicity. Remenber that pictures talk also. Open your heart and come along!!!!!
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