Israel is justified in attacking gaza

There are numerous legal scholars who will argue, rather convincingly, that the occupation is not illegal. Just as it was not illegal when Palestine was "occupied" by Jordan and by Egypt. Their are numerous arguments I could use, such as the land was conquered from Jordan and Egypt who have since relinquished claims over it, to the fact that Israel clearly intends on allowing the Palestinians to have their own country as soon as they can clearly show that they do not want to destroy Israel. I give as proof that in 1999 a year of relative calm in the conflict (only 3 suicide bombings) the Israeli people overwhelmingly elected Ehud Barak on the platform that he would aggressively pursue a two state solution. Unfortunately that feel apart in violence, and while a majority still support a two state solution... enthusiasm has waned. Or the fact that Israel willingly dismantled settlements in Gaza evicting residents from their homes where they grew up and raised familes and even had grandchildren. Israel has been agressively pursuing a two state solution, and the Palestinians would have it if a majority of Israelis could simply be convinced that the Palestinians no longer want to kill them. The idea of "resisting occupation" in this case is ridiculous since the whole purpose of the Oslo Accords were "We will give you your own country just please stop killing us." The absolute worst thing the Palestinians could do is fire rockets indiscriminately at civilian population centers clearly discouraging Israel from ever allowing the Palestinians to have their own state. Now of course this goes to the root cause of the attacks by Hamas. Hamas in particular (and perhaps a large number of Palestinians in general) want , as their charter states, to "kill Jews" and does not want their to be an Israel. They do not want a peace process or a two state solution. And unfortunately by electing them, the Palestinian people have shown this to be their desire as well. This isn't "legitimate resistance." This is an effort to subvert peace and any hopes of a two state solution. And Qassam rockets have been falling since 2000... well before any "blockade." Now you have numerous factual errors in your argument. The Parts for Qassams are smuggled in to Gaza, generally from Iran and are not simply made from spare parts. These are deadly warheads and have collapsed buildings. The rockets are CLEARLY aimed at population centers. They arent just tossed randomly. This is even more evident by Rockets falling further into Israel hitting areas like Ashkelon and Ashdod. Your number 6348 non combatants killed is incredibly erroneous. I have searched for any corroboration of this number and have found none. please show me your source. The Hamas charter calls for a return to the 1967 borders?!?!?!?!? you seriously have to look things up before writing things. Here is a link to the charter http://www.acpr.org.il... Here are some nice highlights of a document written just 20 years ago: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory). "The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. " "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors." "After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying." "Moreover, if the links have been distant from each other and if obstacles, placed by those who are the lackeys of Zionism in the way of the fighters obstructed the continuation of the struggle, the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: 'The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).' " I must have missed the recognition of Israel in there. As for the Turks, they have killed many Kurdish civilians, for much less than what Hamas has done to Israel. http://en.wikipedia.org.... Funny how the Arab population only gets upset when its Israel. Not about Arab Muslims killing Arab Christians in Darfur... or Arabs killing Kurds. only Israel gets singled out. Now in terms of Israel's response, it was indeed disproportionate, but not indiscriminate. It was incredibly surgical considering the Gaza is one of the most densly populated areas in the world. The 1300 number has been challenged by other sources and the number does seem more like 800-900 the majority of which were Hamas fighters, and i would say this... nearly all civilians casualties were a result of Hamas firing from civilian population centers. They knew the only way to defeat the attack was through international pressure which would only come about with civilian casualties. Hamas wanted civilians to die and therefore fired from schools and hospitals and mosques forcing the Israeli forces to retaliate. And one more point. Israel never hit any hospital school or mosque during the entire conflict. They were accused of hitting a UN school, but the truth was revealed and the UN admitted that no school was attacked. http://www.honestreporting.com... I never argued that the Israeli response was not disproportionate, just that it was justified. there is no contradiction. In terms of Israel leaving Gaza. they would like to do things in stages. Israel withdrew its forces and put millions of dollars into gazan infrastructure with greenhouses and other technology hoping that Gaza could show that it could reciprocate this benevolent act with peace. Once It was shown that Gaza could be peaceful ,restrictions on airspace and commerce would be lifted. After Israel withdrew from Gaza (before the blockade!!!) Rockets were launched into Israeli civilian areas and violent acts increased. After Hamas won the election, a known terrorist organization responsible for the murder of thousands of Israeli civilians and whose charter declares the desire to destroy Israel, Israel was understandably less than happy as again the peace process is based on the idea of "we will give you a country if you can show us that you will stop killing us." Hamas does not fit the small Palestinian part of the deal "stop killing us." I must say sometimes it is maddening how open and shut this is. Israel wants peace and security, Hamas wants neither.