The Size Of Gaza

at

gaza1gaza

Mark Malone writes:

“A map of Gaza, a defacto open air prison and currently being bombed and droned, superimposed onto map of Dublin and its surrounds…”

Palestinians say death toll over 70 as Israel pounds Gaza with air raids (Guardian)

Via Mapfrappe

Update:

cv5slNGXiXLd64Cdeu8Edtu6_eR-UDFE8dJXiZpDN0c4zr3FZNNH0UAtA77SzzVVOKaGloza3adWSlitTorgKVKQk0mo0-TgxJD2uVcc6G8KlvMeBdGxOSsDqNpZTCpJrdgBqDshMaZw470_JcC4I4ZQrGTKpFMwiUnGW7OcJ2ngiw=s0-d-e1-ft

Thanks Mark

Meanwhile:

90348556-2
90348558

Protestors including Sinn Fein TD Sean Crowe (above left) with Sinn Fein Cllr Chris Andrews condemning the continuing shelling of Gaza outside Leinster House, Dublin this afternoon.

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

Meanwhile:

BsICixqCQAAT17z

Allan Sørensen  writes:

Sponsored Link

95 thoughts on “The Size Of Gaza

    1. bozo

      Small place, large population with lots of places to hide. The IDF have no boots on the ground in Gaza. Yet. Stay tuned though this looks like it’s getting worse for both sides every day and there only loosers.

      1. bozo

        Also (In percentages at any rate) the Iron dome has been very successful at stopping rocket attacks this week, about 80% and above don’t make it. Every IDF strike does though.

        1. carl

          Actually the iron dome system has proved to be greatly ineffective, it will actually only destroy a warhead if it meets it head on, side on impacts are normally ineffective. The IDF have been singing its praises, however it is pure propaganda. It was rushed into operation by Raphael and the US paid for it, just don’t believe the Israelis when they say anything regarding it.

          1. droid

            Again, can you use google? Try “Palestinian child deaths 2000-2013” and you will find B’Tselem included in the multiple sources.

            And yes, whilst its clear that you are a child, that doesnt mean Im obliged to spoonfeed you.

          2. realPolithicks

            Citing spurious “facts” without backing them up, then attempting to insult people who disagree with these “facts” generally indicates a weak argument. You do your cause no good with this sort of nonsense.

        1. droid

          I cited an actual fact, not a ‘spurious’ fact. Its backed up by official figures, Israeli human rights groups, the UN and various other credible sources. You can verify this with a click of a button if you chose.

          Your inability to check whether or not this is correct is your issue. Nothing to do with my argument. I assumed you could do the most basic of research yourself. It seems I was mistaken.

    2. Chamos

      The Qassam rockets aren’t the high-tech, difficult to manufacture variety you’d generally see in military use. It’s a pipe filed with fertilliser-sugar to propel it, fins welded to the side and 5-10 kilos of TNT on top, mixed with nuts and bolts for extra people-hurting:

      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Rockets-latrun-exhibition-1.jpg
      http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/47/50/00005047_medium.jpeg

      All that’s needed to make it is some hand tools, a welder and a lathe for the nozzles.

      The Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system is close to making them a non-issue, shooting down about 80% of them. They’re in the process of adding a new anti-rocket laser system, Iron Beam, to bring that success rate closer to 100, though it still showers the ground below with the metal remnants.

      1. munkifisht

        …And you’ve got a sexy pig.

        Tactless talking about pigs when the conflict largely involves Jews and Muslims?

        1. Zynks

          True, lets get the priorities right here. Meanwhile, my bacon is almost ready. Hmmmm, bacon!

  1. Cool_Hand_Lucan

    It’s smaller than the surface area of Lough Neagh with the population of Northern Ireland crammed into it.

    1. scottser

      actually, i’d be happy to give the palestinians that swathe of dublin marked out in green. i mean, who in their right mind wants to live in swords, clondalkin, blanch etc.

      ducks

  2. ffintii

    Palestinians really shoot themselves in the foot with these rocket attacks, but maybe that is the only voice that they got?

    1. All the good ones fly south for winter

      It’s spelt vice and I doubt it. They occasionally through each other’s political opponents from the roofs too.

  3. Not Gerry Adams

    Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing?

  4. Clampers Outside!

    Israel, the best small country in the world in which to commit war crimes.

    Israel, the best small country in the world in which to launch a land grab.

    Israel, the best small country in the world in which to play the victim and get away with it.

    Israel, the best small country in the world in which to…….

          1. Zynks

            Once upon a time both lived together in peace. Then something happened and one of the groups became highly militarised and the other was restricted to a high-density walled land and acquired the image of being terrorists. This label even being used the justify the deaths of children and women.

            Leaving allegiances aside, this story is extremely sad and it proves that the stupidity of human beings knows no limits, with religion and foreign sponsorship being the fuel needed to ensure that there will never be peace for this people.

          2. rotide

            You needn’t bother with the ‘foreign sponsorship’ thing, thats a red herring.

            It ALL comes down to religion and land. Thats all it ever comes down to.

          3. Zynks

            I was in El Salvador a few years back and I got a great answer as to how their ugly civil war ended: “The USSR collapsed and stopped sending weapons. Then the Americans lost interest, and it was all over”.

            Sorry, but unfortunately it is not only land and religion.

      1. Nessieos

        It’s actually really sad that for everything Jewish people suffered that they are so willing and ready to do it to another people. The Holocaust was an awful, awful time and was nothing more than ethnic cleansing. The problem is that since WW2 Palestine has been Ethnically cleansing on a scale and a time frame that is so beyond defense. How many Palestinian people have been murdered and displaced in the last fifty/sixty years for Israel to gain more land. Oh but it’s ok cos of the Holocaust? I’m sorry but the Holocaust is no justification for the horrors inflicted on Palestinians (who btw had nothing to do with the Holocaust). Its needless, heartless, calculated extermination and also the bs about “it was promised to us, here look in this book right here” is no justification either.

        I live for the day when human’s wake the hell up and realise that yeah we’re all human beings first and foremost and that life regardless of Religion, Nationality, Culture etc comes second. Your life is no more or no less important than someone in Gaza, trying to stay alive cos someone else has done something in their name. Resistance against tyranny and Barbarism is not terrorism!

        1. droid

          How many Palestinian people have been murdered and displaced in the last fifty/sixty years for Israel to gain more land?

          About 850,000 – 950,000 from 1948-1950 and 300,000 in 1967 (expulsions). Casualties impossible to calculate, Jewish Virtual Library says 90,000 killed and 70,000 wounded since 1920. At least 600,000 Palestinians imprisoned since 1967 according to the Strategic Studies Institute.

    1. rotide

      The best small country in the world in which to give an inch is to practically sign the death warrants of a sizeable number of your citizens.

      I’m no fan of theirs but as was mentioned, neither side are angels.

    2. Ben Zona

      If I recall correctly, there was this bit of a six day war in which the surrounding countries of Israel bound together in an effort to wipe them off the face of the earth. And it all went horribly wrong for them. So if you want to talk about land grabs, let’s start there.

      1. droid

        Or you could try Tom Segev’s ‘1967’, where he documents Israel’s plans for the surprise attack on Egypt and the deep concern in the Israeli cabinet to give the impression that they had been attacked first in order to avoid international condemnation.

        Evidently, the myth of Israel as ‘victim’ in the 6 day way persists to this day.

  5. shitferbrains

    And Israel’s the size of Munster. Big deal all round. Maybe the Israelis should pull their settlers out of Gaza. That would solve everything.

    1. Zynks

      I doubt it. The Palestinians are really picky and demanding. Once they get their land back they will want freedom, self determination, an internationally recognised state. The list goes on and on… Can you imagine that?!?

    1. Pretendgineer

      Yeah, it’s a good thing they don’t lock all those potential terrorists in one small area and deprive them of a the majority of goods, all but the bare essentials…

      Cus, ya know, that wouldn’t lead to them organising or anything…

  6. Christopher

    Ugh- the reason they are getting attacked by Israel is because they are firing rockets into Israel- why is this left out of the piece? Palestinians do great wailing and crying for the TV cameras when their children are being killed but if you insist on using them as human shields then that is going to happen. Israel have a rocket defense system that knocks out 80% of the Hamas rockets but they still are living in fear but since they have less casualties than the Palestinians because of the shield and bomb shelters they are painted as the aggressors.

    The leader of Hamas called ALL civilians of Israel targets so they have lost ALL sympathy in my eyes. THEY are the war criminals.

    I am so sick of people in Ireland blindly condemning everything that Israel does and happily ignores that they are dealing with a neighbor that sees nothing more than annihilation of Israel as a solution.

      1. All the good ones fly south for winter

        Interesting reply. Who needs facts when you’re a poser?

      2. rotide

        Are you going to tell us how it’s wrong or are we just going to take your renowned word for it?

      3. droid

        Where to start?

        Go look at UN, HRW, Amnesty reports regarding the habitual and consistent use of human shields by Israel during their various incursions. You might want to check out the results of several Israeli judicial investigations into same. Contrast this with the utter lack of evidence for their use by Hamas, ameliorated only by the launch of weapons in civilian areas, which TBF, is difficult to avoid when you’re fighting from the most densely populated place on Earth.

        The ‘retaliation for rockets’ narrative. A cliche trotted out endlessly but contradicted by even the slightest familiarity with the pattern of ceasefire violations, dating back to the withdrawal. Completely ignores the wider context and the perennial causes including the ongoing siege of Gaza, absolute and consistent refusal of Israel to negotiate, ever expanding settlements and land grabs in the West bank, the soft ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, constant attacks by the IDF and settlers and the attrition of living standards and resources in what remains of Palestinian towns etc.

        The emphasis on the willingness of Hamas to target civilians, whilst willfully ignoring a consistent and ongoing pattern of the targeting of civilians by Israel, as exhaustively documented again and again by HRW, the UN, Amnesty and various Israeli peace groups, also in the context of the fact that Hamas have disavowed the far more effective and bloody strategy of suicide bombing for at least the last 8 years, and this latest conflict has seen an unprecedented level of co-ordinated Palestinian attacks on Israeli military targets.

        And of course the old canard that Palestinians want only the ‘annihilation’ of israel, despite again the tacit recognition of Israel by the PLO dating back to the acceptance of UN242 by the Arab states in 1976, followed by explicit recognition since 1988, as well as Hamas’ various ceasefire offers, which again, have offered implicit recognition of Israel on numerous occasions, most recently in 2012 – contrasted with documents like the Likud charter which clearly calls for the annihilation or removal of Palestinian populations in ‘greater’ Israel and similar and even more extreme sentiments articulated regularly in mainstream Israeli political opinion over the last 3 decades.

        And finally: ‘Palestinians doing great wailing and crying when they are being killed’? Really, what can you say to this? The repulsively amoral cherry on a perfect cake of stupidity and ignorance.

        1. BluBlu

          Excellent!
          That must have felt like getting slapped by a fresh fish to the idiots above!

          1. droid

            Without discussing the veracity of that link, I assume you’re aware that Harry’s Place is one of the most vehemently pro-Israel websites in existence? Practically every post about israel over the last 10 years includes calls for the extermination of Palestinians in the comments from regulars. I’d trust an IDF spokesperson over anything that comes from that place.

            As for the alleged ‘call for human shields’? the IDF warned his family about the imminent attack and urged them to evacuate the place, but they refused to do so. That is not the use of human shields. That is a family refusing to leave their father. 11 children died in that airstrike.

            Contrast that with documented israeli use of human shields, where they systematically kidnap Palestinian children and force them to walk ahead of them in the middle of warzones to intercept booby traps and for use as physical cover.

            “The commander pulled me back and said: “We want you to go inside, call Iyad and tell him that he’s better off coming out, because if he doesn’t, we’ll destroy his house and the houses nearby.” I walked two or three meters past the wall and asked the commander what to say and who to call. I spoke out loud deliberately, because I wanted to make sure that whoever was in the alcove would not shoot me. I walked in and stood at the opening of the alcove. It was dark and I couldn’t see inside. One of the soldiers was standing by the ruined wall pointing his gun at me. I called out to Iyad.” From the testimony of Khaled Kamil, 11 November 2002

            There has been a consistent use of this tactic by the IDF since at least 2002: http://www.btselem.org/human_shields Needless to say, its a war crime, and has been recognised as illegal in the Israeli courts, but continues nonetheless.

    1. dan

      Isn’t the rocket thing to do with the fact that Israel is slowly eating into the what is left of Palestine? As in stop bulldozing our settlements or we fire rockets?

    2. realPolithicks

      There’s a lot of truth to what you say, certainly regarding the anti Israeli aspect to Irish society whatever the reason for that may be. Also there is no doubt that Hamas attack Israeli citizens indiscriminately. However you cannot ignore the fact that the current right wing Israeli government reacts in a totally disproportionate manner to these kinds of attacks, which simply inflames the situation. As always its the ordinary people on both sides who suffer.

    3. Clampers Outside!

      Well… all Israel has to do is give them back their land and it’ll be over.

      Israel CAN end this but that would mean shrinking instead of expansion so they don’t want it to end it. Simples. Everything else is politics.

        1. jungleman

          Israel should never have been established as a State in that region. That is the cause of all this strife.

  7. munkifisht

    Both sides are twats and are both terrorists in my eyes. Think it can all be summed up by religion sucks and people are idiots.

    1. All the good ones fly south for winter

      Twats in my eyes – you can use that title for your autobiography.

  8. Caboosicle

    Obviously there are wrongs on both sides here but there are a number thing that particularly annoys me in these conversations.

    1. It’s not Palestinians firing rockets, its Hamas. It’s the same as saying the Irish bombed the UK in the 70’s whereas it was the IRA.

    2. If you don’t support the Israeli actions you are not automatically an anti-Semite (but you may be an anti-Zionist).

    3. An Hamas rocket attack is no where near comparable to an Israeli rocket attack, even without Iron Dome protecting the Israelis

  9. peter

    To read these comments you would think that only pro palestinians known any history.
    So pompus, arrogant and self righteous.

    1. bisted

      …I think you meant to write…pompous, arrogant and self-righteous…add to that an ability to defend the indefensible and an insatiable blood lust and you just might make it into hasbara school.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie