Please take a moment and think and take an accurate account of what happenned in Gaza. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, Palestinians had in place an exmplary government that was 100% pr-peace. Members of the Palestinian government spoke fluent Hebrew and were fully in agreement with the Oslo process. Yet, Sharon chose not to deal with them (this was after arafat had died) and instead chose to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza rather than coordinate with the Paletsinian Authority which would have made a totally different set up in Gaza. Many years of futile negotiations with the moderate Palestinians who recongise Israel's right to exists..etc produced only more settlements, more incursions and more extra-judicial assassinations. This is the main reason why Palestinians elected Hamas. The corruption of Fatah was just an additional encouragement but never it was the main reason.

When Hamas took over Gaza the first thing they did was to halt any atrocities against Israel. For several months not one shot or terror act against Israelis came from Gaza. Instead, Israel started assassinating Hamas's leadership and announced Gaza as a hostile territory cutting it from the outside world entirely. At best times, parts of Gaza got few hours of fuel… fishermen were not allowed to fish in the sea, even sewage treatment plans were not allowed to be repaired and raw sewage was being pumped into the Mediteranean. It was only recently and after Tony Blair's interevntion that Israel allowed some cement to enter gaza to allow for the partial reparation of the sewage plant.

If you remember nothing from what I wrote above, please remember one thing: Israel had the chance over the past two years to prove to the Palestinians that it meant well by giving freedom to the West Bank and allow the moderate Palestinian leadership there to establish an independent entity as a first step. This would have shown Hamas supporter – especially in Gaza – how wrongly they were in electing a Hamas government. But instead, Israel gave nothing to Abbas in teh West Bank… on the contrary, more land was confiscated to build illegal settlements, more incursinos took place into the hearts of Paletsinians cities than ever and peace talks were stuck more than they had ever been.

We, as Christians, should be more concerned about people rather than about land. This is what Jesus would be concerned about. I cannot believe ever that jesus would approve that Israel would kill the hundreds of children and women in Gaza and would tell Palestinians “you deserve it because you elected the wrong leadership”. Bush has done more eveil than any other US president and yet Americans elected him twice!!!

4 Christians have died in Gaza becasue of the Israeli shelling. Yes… did you know that there are Gazans who are Christians. Those Christians, and with them the thousands of Chritians in the West Bank, feel betrayed by Christians like yourself. You undermine our Christian witness to the Moslems and you make us ashamed.

May God open your eyes to see His justice and recognise His ways.
WWJD

The Zionist managed to assassinate the United Nations envoy in the Saint George Hotel bombing and they were constantly smuggling in weapons for the Haganah, the Irgun and the Stern gang. Israel was founded on terror and deceit and it has infected their relationships ever since.

I know that it wasn't perfect – not everybody was all warm and fuzzy all the time but I also know that David Ben-Gurion, the leader of the Haganah and first prime minister of Israel, went to great lengths to rein in other Jews and other Jewish militias – like the Stern “Gang” – which is what Israel needs the Palestinians to do, if they really are sincere about living in peace – rein in their militant, more violent members – and give more power to people who can talk to Jews/Israelis rather than just wanting to destroy Israel.?

So yes, they wanted a homeland for the Jews, but I think it is really true and ought to be acknowledged that the Zionists weren't only for themselves, and against the Arabs.? The early Zionists were capable of caring about themselves and others, and they were willing to operate according to the United Nations' mandate for a two-state solution.? If the Palestinians and the Muslim states had only gone with that, Palestinians would be in good shape now, and would have been thriving since 1947!

And the sad thing is that with Hamas we have a continuation of the attitudes and behaviors that have not served the Palestinians well, and which (in my opinion) don't serve “the Muslim world” well – violence, and making members of other religions – Christians, Jews, Hindus – second-class citizens to be subjugated to Muslims.

And on the internet, the word “post” refers to a short piece of writing, such as on a blog, or in comments.

Your 'post' or what traditionally might be referred to as a vocation, is to share the Gospel. Christ did not call the Roman soldiers to abandon their post, but to embrace His Truth.

Feels good to be in contact w/others like yourself – thank you for sending a response –
Shekhinah

Yes that is a good point . To blame Israel for Hamas firing untargeted
missiles into Israel without bringing up who voted them into power is valid
. The choice the people had was corruption or Hamas , in fact from what I
have read Palestinians living within Israel actually have Better Human
Rights and Democratic representation then most Middle East Countries offer .
But my point was when we make bad voting decisions it does not result in
bombs exploding in our day care clinics . America for all its warts offers
such a better way of life .

And I think the Israelis still want Palestinians to live long and prosper, it's just that when they withdraw from territory like Gaza, the disappointment is great when the Palestinians elect groups like Hamas, who have in their charter the same-old, same-old goal of destroying Israel, rather than building something good for the Palestinians.

From an evangelical point of view, Israel is still the God's chosen nation. Evangelicals have held that this means we need to always support Israel in everything. Due to the prominence which evangelicals have enjoyed in conservative politics in this country, their perspective on Israel has affected US foreign policy towards Israel–thus most of the weapons being used by Israel came from the US.

From a broader Christan perspective however, there is at least one other consideration: What about the 4,000-5,000 Christians who are Palestinian and who live in the Gaza strip? Shouldn't our first allegiance as Christians be to them and their safety? Shouldn't we do everything in our power to fulfill Jesus' command that we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ? Shouldn't their suffering cause us to suffer? Shouldn't bear their burdens? This statement doesn't add much to the blame game, or the argument over Hamas, but it does call into question the historical evengalical position of unquestioning support of Israel, which, like it or not, underlies much of US, neo-con foreign policy.