scrubbedexpat141

Appears to be getting more and more serious each day.

Obama has backed Israel
Willy Hague has said Hamas started it

Is there no end to this sort of shit?

Inselaffen

both as bad as each other

put a blanket ban on reporting it and let them get on with it!

scrubbedexpat141

Not a bad shout, the land they fight over can't be worth much.

Meow

The value is largely emotional.

jackthehat

Everyone knows what happens when you throw stones at the Jewish Boys!

Alexa

Hmmmmmm.....not historically correct, but still...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evIy...ature=youtu.be

ctfc

Err.. actually, it's largely our fault.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration

We ran out of money fighting Kaiser Bill and entered a pact with some bankers. (Damn bankers...)

And it's not as if we hadn't been there before..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantations_of_Ireland

That didn't exactly go well.

As long as it stays local, not an issue for most of the world. The danger this time is there's no Mubarak to keep a lid on Egypt, the Iranians are a bit more trigger happy than they have been for many years. Most of all, clearly Syria is a mess and if there's one thing to bring enemies together it's a third party they both hate even more than each other.

It's a small bonfire for now, but it's like having a BBQ in a fireworks factory...

Boomhauer

American NeoCons in league with Khaleejis like Qataris and Saudis want the US to take a more proactive role in toppling Assad.
What I don't get is don't NeoCons realise that toppling Assad would increase Mid-East Sunni power creating a greater existential threat for Israel because now you have a Mid-East that is closer to Sunni hegemony . With a strong Shia Mid-East presense, Israel can always count on Sunnis and Shia fighting each other .

soukie

Totally agree. Only a matter of time before the panic buying of food starts here - seen it a few times over the years!

OriginalSunshine

I heard the Qataris have given the Egyptians US$20mln to "help the injured"....

Boomhauer

Don't think the Qataris will genuinely provide military assistance as they are trying to be a Mid-East player.

NorthernLad

You are assuming they have a real understanding of the religious/political situation out here. Schoolboy/girl error.

Meow

True that. To most people Muslims are Muslims are Muslims without any understanding of the issues between Sunnis, Shias and a dozen other sects and old rivalries.

I have always thought that KSA prefers there to be issues between other countries in the region as it suits their agenda. If they really wanted a Palestinian homeland they are powerful enough to get it sorted, but there are numerous other issues at play.

Miss Anne Thrope

Proper schoolboy error to imagine that US Intelligence (not just the CIA) don't have a very thorough understanding of the dynamics in all countries and areas within this and every region of the world. Just because some stupid blowhard American politicians mouth off their ignorance doesn't mean their long-standing and deeply embedded intelligence apparatus is not by far the most comprehensive and sophisticated (and paranoid) on the planet. Of course political considerations often over-ride acting on good intelligence or distort the available intelligence (viz. Iraq war) but that is a different matter. They know more about what is happening in most countries in this region than the governments of those countries do.

Norm_uk

I saw a youtube clip of Hamas trashing a wedding party someone in Gaza, including opening fire with automatic weapons on their fellow Palestinians because they were playing music at the wedding.

I think both sides are shits but at least the Israeli's aren't doing that to the Arabs or Jews who make up Israeli's citizenship. That's Taliban territory level of craziness....I won't even start on the TV shows for their children which glorify suicide attacks.

Some nasty stuff going on. That said the last year in Syria has been a lot more deadly than the last ten years of the Israeli-Arab conflict. No one seems to get so polarised, upset and partisan though when Arabs/Muslims murder each other as when Israel does it's bi-yearly retaliation for having rockets fired on it for over a year.

Mad world eh?

N.