Let God Sort It Out

[legion]

Forcing premature cease-fires on warring parties can be worse in the long-run. Sure, you might stop the violence RIGHT NOW, but you also allow both sides to regroup, and allow animosity to build up until the next time they fight. Why not just let them slug it out and be done with it?

[IROC]

Which God?

If we "let them slug it out", Isreal will win. No doubt. But what exactly will they "win"? Say they eradicate Hezbollah. That solves their problem? Not even close. It just makes the rest of their enemies hate them worse.

I really don't think there is a solution.

[TheMentat]

Originally posted by legion
Forcing premature cease-fires on warring parties can be worse in the long-run. Sure, you might stop the violence RIGHT NOW, but you also allow both sides to regroup, and allow animosity to build up until the next time they fight. Why not just let them slug it out and be done with it?

+1 to some extent... Unfortunately, these things usually don't stop until one group goes on a genocidal rampage, forcing capitulation on the other side.

I'm undecided as to what point the rest of the world is obligated to step in.

[RPKESQ]

God never sorts anything out. So your solution is no solution. We need to rethink the Middle East. Using positions from the cold war is not applicable anymore.

[Superman]

That's the way we settled things on the playground in grade school.

[TheMentat]

Originally posted by Superman
That's the way we settled things on the playground in grade school.

unfortunately, I don't think all of those involved in the Middle East are ready to take a different approach...

[techweenie]

Originally posted by TheMentat
unfortunately, I don't think all of those involved in the Middle East are ready to take a different approach...

Not to mention the peanut gallery over here. You know, the ones always expressing envy over the way Israel handles threats... They never seem to notice that policy hasn't done them much good yet, though, do they?

[Tobra]

As stated above, "God never sorts anything out"

Biggest problem I see with letting it go on, is that when the Israelis really beat them down, Iran and Syria will step in to help their, "Muslim brothers" in a little more obtrusive fashion. Funny how all this comes up when the world is looking closely at Iran and their aspirations for nuclear weapons. Not too elegant, but effective. You give a bunch of firepower to a terrorist group that is willing to do all the things you would love to do, but can't for fear of repercussions.

Rather than giving them weapons and training, Iran and Syria get involved directly with troops and material, and before too long the entire Mideast is on fire, et voila WW III

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by IROC
Which God?

If we "let them slug it out", Isreal will win. No doubt. But what exactly will they "win"? Say they eradicate Hezbollah. That solves their problem? Not even close. It just makes the rest of their enemies hate them worse.

I really don't think there is a solution.

So how exactly could Israel's enemies hate them any worse? Seems to me when they're sending women and children as suicide bombers and their entire school curriculum is based on how evil Jews are, well, I'd say there's not much room to hate more than that.

Israel is doing the right thing. Jordan and Egypt learned a while ago that making peace with their neighbors is a lot more rewarding than what's going on now.

[singpilot]

Left TelAviv at midnight thirty this morning. Spent the night over the North Atlantic. Am recovering from the 12 hour flight in 99F NYC.

Funny how the forums here, and the non-local press have all these theories about who is doing what, and are usually wrong.

The more 'international' the press outlet is, the farther from the truth the story usually is. The bottom line is;

Israel did everything they could to 'appease' their neighbors thru the 'peace process'. Withdrawing from the Golan Heights, withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, pulling their remote (difficult to protect) settlements, and destroyed the remains so they could not be used as bases against them.

Thru all of this, there are forces surrounding Israel that do not wish for peace with the Israelis there, and they have taken Syrian support and Iranian arms and attacked Israel precisely to derail any attempts at peace.

I would hope that there was enough backbone left in this country to retaliate against an attack of this type on this country.

Oh wait. This has happened here, and even that is being debated ad nauseum. This is read in our enemies camps as a power vacuum. God (whoevers) help us if the enemies of this country act on this.

The enemies of Israel read the attempts at the peace process thru trading land for peace as weakness on Israelis part. The utter and complete failure of this process has lead to the present situation.

What now? Back to the past. Repeat of 1982. Maybe even 1968. Buffer zones, armed diligence at the sealed border. Hey, maybe that could work here too.

[legion]

Originally posted by Tobra
Biggest problem I see with letting it go on, is that when the Israelis really beat them down, Iran and Syria will step in to help their, "Muslim brothers" in a little more obtrusive fashion.

And this would be the perfect opportunity to squash those ambitions without having to wait 11 years for the UN to not act.

[livi]

Like IROC, I donīt think there is any 'solution'. Come back in a hundred years and the inherent conflicts will still be there.

Some people argue that if the US had not backed Israel up, the Jews would have been thrown out in the Mediterranean decades ago.

Too much at stake, too many interested parties, too much crazy 'by The Book' religion.

On the other hand, who would have thought the Northern Ireland conflict would calm down.

[Hugh R]

I like the rhetoric about Isreal not giving a "proportional response". If was on the nearby hilltop using a sniper rifle to pick off your kids, would a "proportional response" be to fire back with your rifle hoping you get a lucky shot, or call in your brother with a cobra gunship and blast them to hell and back?