Interesting and heartbreaking at the same time…
The Israelis have kicked a whole people out of their country and herded them into a tiny enclave a fifth the size of London - then they get outraged when their victims have the temerity to fight back - and pound them with high explosives delivered via F16s, tanks and artillery - with a kill rate of one hundred Palestinians to every Israeli.
This response is disproportionate and constitutes a war crime.
It’s an outrageous situation, very painful to watch it continue day by day… was talking to one of our consultants who happens to be Palestinian. Interesting views to say the least, not mentionable on a public forum… Q
Couldn’t agree more Sid, absolutely disgraceful!
+1
This site
http://194now.net/Killingfields/
shows the actual death rates for the last 8 years. Saddening stuff. I hope for a quick ceasefire. I will be protesting at the Israeli embassy on Sat, as I was last weekend…
In my opinion, there’s only one way tiny chance the Israelians are going to be stopped and that’s with a big consumer boycot. A worldwide movement like the one against apartheid would possibly work, otherwise America and the west are going to keep giving Israel money and weapons and the palistinians will keep to fight back.
I noticed Sainsbury’s changed the description of their fresh herbs origin from Israel (reason why I haven’t bought any for years) to West Bank. So next time you pick something up, think where it comes from.
Nice comments fellas - excellent practical suggestion regarding boycotting Israeli goods Driesie. 
.
remember also Marks & Spencer supports the IDF financially to the tune of $200 million per year 
Interesting point that, I have to be careful what kind of political action I get involved in due to the fact that I work for the Govt but this is something I could do without any fear of comeback or complication, and after a quick Google I found a site dedicated to the promotion of boycotting Israeli goods for this very purpose.
The saddening thing about all of this is that I watched a programme on BBC1 last night called The Secret Diary of the Holocaust which was a documentary telling the extraordinary tale of a 14-year-old Polish girl, Rutka Laskier, who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1943. A deeply moving story of a poor girl who eventually knew that she would soon die. The programme explained what was happening at the time in Poland and how the Nazis were treating the Jews, there were so many similarities in how Israel has and is treating the Palestinians it was frightening.
It’s sickening to witness the fact that a people who were so heavily persecuted themselves are now doing exactly the same thing to another group of people, and while the rest of the world said that the holocaust should not be allowed to happen again they stand by and allow these kind of crimes to continue! 
Nice one Tim am in total support of boycotting Israeli goods. Not much anybody can do until the US stops backing Israel. Let’s see how Obama reacts. Q
This page http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.php#companies
shows a list of who to boycott - interesting to see who they suggest - don’t wear Brylcreem when you go to watch Arsenal, boys
Sadly that’s not likely to happen as Israel is one of the few pro US/Western countries in the Middle East and is far to valuable an ally to the US for strategic military purposes. After all we all know which two countries supply Israel with the military firepower they need to commit the crimes we are currently seeing on the news every day.
Its always the way that the oppressed turn into the oppressor…
What astonishes me is the way in which so many people accept blindly that its the Palestinians doing by firing rockets during a ceasefire despite the fact the Israelis have been destroying the Palestinians for decades through economic measures. They’ve managed to make the West Bank and Gazza completely unsustainable, and continue to do so everyday!!! What sort of reaction do they expect!!
Absolutely Tim mate - this irony is not lost on a lot of conscientious Jewish people who feel as outraged as everyone else by Israel’s dispossession and persecution of the Palestinian people. This is why I think that it’s important not to confuse Israel (which was founded by Zionists) with the Jewish people as a whole.
I was moved by Alexei Sayle’s condemnation of the attack on Gaza - he is typical of many decent Jewish people who are horrified by what is going on:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7808005.stm
The genocide committed against Jewish people in the holocaust should never be forgotten - however it is depressing when the Israelis constantly refer to this event to justify their own acts of genocide carried out against the Palestinians - the Palestinians had nothing to do with the holocaust and should not have to pay the price for it.
Thanks for the list Jetsream - I hope it doesn’t include Akrapovic exhaust cans!
ON THE NAIL! 
I’ve just watched this as I only caught the end of Annie Lennox piece on last nights news, I like the fact that Alexie Sayle made a point of saying ‘not in my name’ as a decent Jewish person who respects human life.
so they should sit back and take the missiles from Hamas…
Its always the same these days, the agressors are justified in blowing people up because they have been badly treated, but woe betide the powerful respond with force? Complete hypocracy…
The Israelies have to defend themselves, they have little or no choice, and please dont go on about them oppressing the Palestinians, they are not the only ones who have done that…the palestinians have never had a home or country…and now they want part of ‘Israel’…my suggestion is give them part of the unpopulated sinai desert, let them populate there, they are arabs after all and then their would be no conflict with Israel…
the solutions we, a la the western world, keep trying to impose in the Middle east will never work.
If the palestinians kill innocent people then you have to expect violent and disporportionate responses…slap a tiger and expect to be eaten…
Peace is the only way and that means talking and being sensible…anyone ever heard of that from any Middle east country…
I have been entirely unwittingly boycotting almost all of the brands on the list, with the sole exception of Intel- weird eh?
I read something in the Times on the train the other day (BTW read it, didn’t buy it ;)) written by a Jewish commentator which I thought seemed to summarize quite succinctly a view of what had led to the latest violence. He said that the recent mortar attacks from Gaza that triggered the invasion were made in response to Israels earlier targeted assassinations of individual Hamas leaders during the ‘ceasefire’. Whether this is the case or not there can be no justification for indescrimate killing on either side IMO- but then I see no point in war.
Continuing my conversation with myself, supposing instead of invading the Gaza Strip, Israel had temporarily evacuated all civilians out of the area of their country being mortared- I assume the mortars being used have a limited range. I guess the mortars would then stop as there would be no-one there to fire them at. At this point (let’s say the evacuation took place on a Monday and the mortars stopped on Tuesday) there would be an immediate fait accomplis ceasefire and peace negotiations could resume in ernest with no further loss of life. Or is this too simplistic an idea?
I wonder if this tactic has ever actually been adopted in history?