I posted the following on TPM, in reply to "No Other Option?!" by the truly mature Sam Bahour:

Since 2000, according to Democracy Now (the link to Monday's show is not up yet), one commentator (an enthusiastic and voluble apologist for the Palestinians) reported that while the Israelis have counted 8,000 "qassam" rockets fired from Palestine into Gaza--little more than RPGs, albeit deadly if you happen to be within range (about 20 yards)-- Israelis have themselves fired more than 10 times that many--and exponentially larger and more powerful--missiles, artillery shells and air-borne bombs INTO Gaza over that same period.

The spectre of the suicide-bombed Israeli bus smoldering in the street is horrendous. It will ALWAYS be widely promulgated--make the front pages/top story--through the 'civilized world'.

Unfortunately, the artillery or F-15 borne, air-to-ground missile-shattered autos or mini-buses in Gaza are ignored--in no small part because the Israelis won't permit outside reporters into their 'combat zones.'

It is credulous and naive to believe that the Israelis do NOT harbor territorial ambitions in Palestine. It is hard to avoid the implication that the Israelis are ethnically cleansing the Palestinian authority. They already have wrapped up almost all the water and other local natural resources sufficiently to prevent a Palestinian state to have any leverage in any future discussion of the distribution of those resources in some truce-divided state...

If you read the first comment in the first article, the commenter mentions Israel's "right" to exist. I'm just curious, where does that line of thought come from?

Is it just from the bible? From the British mandate? Or is it just manifest destiny-like thinking?

Not to mention that giving a State "rights" is bullcrap, but it just seems to be a way to legitimize anything they want to take or do. Really the more I think of this, (and backed up by the attitudes of real life Pals and Jews) the Israeli argument seems always very childish. The problem is the children have the power, while the adults have none.

I mean, despite repeated attempts to frame the argument as "not simple", I fail to see how it goes beyod, "we have the right to take what we want" and "they have the right to accept that".

Maybe I'm being pedantic, but that's an abuse of the term "rights". (And if I wanted to be even more inflammatory I could say how that stems from some of the BS "rights" in the Universal Declaration)

There are Israelis who do not support their govt's policies and are conscientious objectors. They need our support. One can give tax deductible contributions at...
http://www.refusersolidarity.net/

"Israelis Soldiers refuse to serve in Gaza"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cMs0nai4JQ

Please sign if it applies to you and you agree with the statement and spread it widely. Thanks.

http://www.ajjp.org/campaigns/signStatement.php?cid=15