OK, we're WITH the UN for what reason?

[Guest MikeSC]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas militants triumphantly displayed remains of some of the six Israeli soldiers killed in a roadside bombing in Gaza City on Tuesday, prompting Israeli threats of punishing reprisals if body parts are not returned.

 

Eight Palestinians were killed and 123 wounded in a battle that pitted hundreds of gunmen against Israeli troops firing from tanks, helicopters and rooftops.

 

The violence began after midnight, when a small Israeli force entered the crowded Zeitoun neighborhood to look for weapons workshops.

 

As the troops withdrew around daybreak, an armored personnel carrier transporting at least 220 pounds of explosives for use in the raid was shredded by the roadside bomb.

 

(AP) Hamas leader Dr. Mahmoud Zahar is pictured in this April, 1995 file photo. Mahmoud Zahar, a...

 

Through the day and into the night, hundreds of troops searched Zeitoun for the remains of their comrades, which were scattered across a 300-yard radius.

 

"We are checking every roof and every balcony in order to locate the remnants of the armored personnel carrier and the bodies of our soldiers," army Maj. Gen. Dan Harel said.

 

Israeli security sources said the search could take days, creating an unprecedented situation in which many Israeli troops would remain in Gaza City - a militant stronghold - for an extended period. Israeli soldiers have raided Gaza neighborhoods before but usually withdrew after a few hours.

 

Al-Jazeera, an Arabic-language TV channel, broadcast a video it said showed two masked Islamic Jihad activists taking responsibility and displaying what they said was the head of an Israeli soldier on a table in front of them. Israel TV carried the footage but electronically obscured the head.

 

"We are not conducting any negotiations," Israeli military commander Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon said. "We will show no forgiveness toward those who are responsible for (what happened to) the bodies."

 

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat convened his security council in the West Bank city of Ramallah and issued a statement saying the Palestinian Authority was in touch with "our brothers in Gaza" to solve the problem of the body parts "according to religious and humanitarian traditions."

 

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called an emergency session of his Security Cabinet, and participants decided not to negotiate with militant groups for the return of bodies and to continue searching for body parts, officials said.

 

Before the meeting, Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and military commanders agreed on a series of pinpoint military actions, the officials said. Army commanders recommended against targeting Arafat, security sources said.

 

Sharon told parliament that Israel would strike back hard.

 

"We will not stop fighting him (the enemy) and hitting him, wherever he operates and hides," he said.

 

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, meanwhile, said President Bush has written to the Palestinian Authority, affirming his commitment to the "road map" peace plan and the creation of a Palestinian state.

 

Bush wrote that disputed issues must be resolved by the parties, said Shaath, who will meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Jordan this weekend.

 

The Bush letter appeared aimed at easing tensions with the Arab world over assurances the president gave to Sharon last month, including a declaration that Israel would not have to absorb Palestinian refugees or withdraw from all the West Bank.

 

Powell called the Israeli foreign minister on Tuesday, said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, who added that "we are very concerned and shocked" about the reports from Gaza.

 

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed deep concern, especially over "the heavy fighting in densely populated neighborhoods, which is exposing more Palestinian civilians to death and injury," spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Annan urged the Israelis and Palestinians to stop fighting and resume negotiations.

Israel's Channel Two TV showed footage of the armored personnel carrier with its sides blown out and pieces of armor plating scattered over a wide area.

 

Hamas militants displayed pieces of metal and bits of flesh, laying them out on the ground. In another scene, a Hamas gunman on a motorcycle held a bloodied burlap bag with body parts.

 

Hamas claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb, but two other groups, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - linked to Arafat's Fatah movement - and Islamic Jihad, said they also had some remains. They offered to negotiate with Israel.

 

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was approached by Israel with a request for help retrieving the remains.

 

The deaths of the six soldiers - the highest casualty count in a single army operation since November 2002 - renewed debate over Sharon's proposed withdrawal from Gaza. Sharon says he wants to reduce friction and create defensible borders, but the plan was vetoed by his Likud Party.

 

In a separate incident Tuesday, Israeli soldiers killed one Palestinian and wounded another near the border in northern Gaza, Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli military said there was no such incident.

 

Tuesday's battle was one of the fiercest in Gaza in recent months. Throughout the day, explosions and machine-gun fire from tanks and helicopters could be heard.

 

Hundreds of Palestinian gunmen participated, and the army eventually blocked the main north-south road. Gunmen planted mines and fired automatic rifles and homemade anti-tank shells.

 

Residents said one metal workshop was damaged.

 

In all, eight Palestinians were killed - seven in battle and one in an Israeli missile strike on a car. At least three of the dead were gunmen.

 

Hospital officials said 123 Palestinians were wounded, 14 of them critically, including an 11-year-old boy on life support with a head wound.

 

Thousands of mourners marched in a funeral procession for the Palestinians, and militants struck a defiant note.

 

"Our message to the cowardly Zionist army, which was defeated by the freedom fighters in Zeitoun, is to leave our land now, before it's too late," a masked gunman told the crowd.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040512/D82GN5280.html

 

So, an Israeli soldier is beheaded --- and Kofi Annan is upset because the fighting is putting PALESTINIANS AT RISK?

 

OK, kill the U.N. Let's get out of that corrupt, anti-Semitic cess pool immediately.

-=Mike

[Guest Brian]

It didn't say he was placing the blame on Israelis. He just says he would rather not have the fighting in densely populated areas, which is understandable. Innocent people get swept up in the violence.

[Guest MikeSC]

It didn't say he was placing the blame on Israelis. He just says he would rather not have the fighting in densely populated areas, which is understandable. Innocent people get swept up in the violence.

But the concern is that PALESTINIANS are in jeopardy --- not that Israelis are getting DISMEMBERED.

 

It'd be like being at Pearl Harbor and worrying that the Japanese pilots might be burned by the explosions.

-=Mike

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

OMG he's concerned that Civilians might be hurt?

 

That BASTARD.

[Guest Cerebus]

There are plenty of reasons to hate the UN. Thata bolded statement is not one of them.

[Guest MikeSC]

OMG he's concerned that Civilians might be hurt?

 

That BASTARD.

When his concern isn't the BUTCHERING of Israeli soldiers --- yes, there is a HUGE problem.

 

Until the U.N treats Israel as an equal and not as an outcast, then Israel and the U.S should remove themselves from it.

-=Mike

[Styles 0]

The UN is an anti-semetic organization, run by corrupt regimes that have been against Israel since its inception. I'm sick and tired of this shit. Kick the UN out of NY and let them meet in Europe. I want to be allies with the following countries: Great Britain, Israel, Australia maybe Poland. Canada can chill too if they would stop acting like a jealous middle child. We can form our own group, UNTM, or United Nations That Matter...

[Guest MikeSC]

The UN is an anti-semetic organization, run by corrupt regimes that have been against Israel since its inception. I'm sick and tired of this shit. Kick the UN out of NY and let them meet in Europe. I want to be allies with the following countries: Great Britain, Israel, Australia maybe Poland. Canada can chill too if they would stop acting like a jealous middle child. We can form our own group, UNTM, or United Nations That Matter...

Have all new countries that wish to join bring a really hot delegate who has to refer to us as "Big Daddy".

 

Ooooh yeah.

-=Mike

[teke184 0]

The UN is an anti-semetic organization, run by corrupt regimes that have been against Israel since its inception. I'm sick and tired of this shit. Kick the UN out of NY and let them meet in Europe. I want to be allies with the following countries: Great Britain, Israel, Australia maybe Poland. Canada can chill too if they would stop acting like a jealous middle child. We can form our own group, UNTM, or United Nations That Matter...

The best way to get the UN's attention would be to pull all US funding (dues) from the organization and pull our support from endeavours that we feel are not worth our trouble, then just sit around using our Security Council veto to fuck over people like Russia did back in the 50s and 60s.

 

The way the UN is set up, we may not be able to do everything by ourselves in the world but the UN CANNOT function without our cooperation on security matters. If some people are reminded that the US IS the backbone of the UN and that the organization cannot function without our cooperation, some of the shit we're getting may dissipate.

 

 

 

 

Granted, certain countries will always hate us, but out "allies" like the French, Germans, and Russians need to realize that they have to play ball with us and not pitch a fit over every little thing we do.

[tommytomlin 0]

Gee, you guys are foreign policy GENIUSES!

[Guest hunger4unger]

Criticizing Israel is NOT being anti-semetic.

[Guest Brian]

Mike, as I see it they're not showing sympathy for either group of combatants, just those that are getting caught up in the middle.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

The UN is an anti-semetic organization, run by corrupt regimes that have been against Israel since its inception. I'm sick and tired of this shit. Kick the UN out of NY and let them meet in Europe. I want to be allies with the following countries: Great Britain, Israel, Australia maybe Poland. Canada can chill too if they would stop acting like a jealous middle child. We can form our own group, UNTM, or United Nations That Matter...

The best way to get the UN's attention would be to pull all US funding (dues) from the organization and pull our support from endeavours that we feel are not worth our trouble, then just sit around using our Security Council veto to fuck over people like Russia did back in the 50s and 60s.

 

The way the UN is set up, we may not be able to do everything by ourselves in the world but the UN CANNOT function without our cooperation on security matters. If some people are reminded that the US IS the backbone of the UN and that the organization cannot function without our cooperation, some of the shit we're getting may dissipate.

 

 

 

 

Granted, certain countries will always hate us, but out "allies" like the French, Germans, and Russians need to realize that they have to play ball with us and not pitch a fit over every little thing we do.

Yeah because that'll show the world the beauty of Democracy.

[Ripper 0]

Soldiers die in war. Hell, in another thread you were saying how we shouldn't care if POW's are tourtured. But this guy saying he doesn't want civilians dying is CRAZY~!

 

 

I don't get it.

[Guest MikeSC]

Soldiers die in war. Hell, in another thread you were saying how we shouldn't care if POW's are tourtured. But this guy saying he doesn't want civilians dying is CRAZY~!

 

 

I don't get it.

When his concern is the possibility of civilians dying --- and not that the monkeys are causing the problem and dismembering Israelis --- then Kofi needs to just go bye-bye.

 

Then again, with the way he's run the U.N --- the need for his departure seems obvious to everybody EXCEPT that that collection of thugs and miscreants.

-=Mike

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

This is a poor excuse for UN bashing. The man was concerned about civilians being injured.

 

There's reasons to dislike the UN, I'm more than willing to admit that but this is not one of them.

 

It's been more effective than the League was and it's done some good so I think the UN is worthwhile. It definetly has it's MAJOR flaws but so does everything.

[Ripper 0]

Soldiers die in war.  Hell, in another thread you were saying how we shouldn't care if POW's are tourtured.  But this guy saying he doesn't want civilians dying is CRAZY~!

 

 

I don't get it.

When his concern is the possibility of civilians dying --- and not that the monkeys are causing the problem and dismembering Israelis --- then Kofi needs to just go bye-bye.

 

Then again, with the way he's run the U.N --- the need for his departure seems obvious to everybody EXCEPT that that collection of thugs and miscreants.

-=Mike

His concern is more over citizens getting caught in the crossfire of the SOLDIERS fighting.

 

Now I am not saying that any person deserves to be dismembered, but there are somethings that come when fighting a war as a soilder.

[Styles 0]

Anyone who doesn't see the underlying message is a mark, politically that is. Palestinians attack Isralie soldiers, and Kofi chooses to tell Israel they shouldn't retaliate (even against the perpretators) because the killers will more than likley hide amongst and be protected by civilian causing casulties. This way if Israel defends herself, the UN has another reason to condemn them for going against Kofi's plead, yet he takes no steps to condemn the Palestinians or offer assistance to Israel in finding the killers or even to deliver the message after Israel is allowed retaliation. The fix is in...

[Art Sandusky 0]

Is there a reason we're supposed to love Israel so much? I mean, the US has always busted its hump to help them out or whatever they needed, and they're the darling nation of the Right. What actually got them to this point with people?

[Styles 0]

Is there a reason we're supposed to love Israel so much? I mean, the US has always busted its hump to help them out or whatever they needed, and they're the darling nation of the Right. What actually got them to this point with people?

They are a free, representative Democracy created literally out of a need to help an opressed people after a great genocide, who through the tenents of hard word and determination took what was literally a desert land and cultivated it into an industrial country. They were immediately attacked by all of their neighbors, all authoritarian, theologic Islamic regimes and by their little sefl fought them all off and WON. They even gave back most of the land as a peace gesture. We have empathy for their situation because they've been dealing with little September 11th every day for almost 50 years from the same subhuman monkeys who want to kill us. It is America Middle East, founded under the same principles of the American Dream that is opressed either literally by hostile Arab nations, or politically by some European countries indebted to their suprisingly large Muslim populace. It's not right, and is why the United States will continue to defend Israel's right to exist as a free state and safehome for the long too opressed Jewish people, who would surely be subjucated to another Holocaust, this time carried out by the Arab world if they did not have an ally like the US standing behind them. If any of the rest of the region wishes to join Israel in the civilised world they are more than welcome.

[Guest MikeSC]

Is there a reason we're supposed to love Israel so much? I mean, the US has always busted its hump to help them out or whatever they needed, and they're the darling nation of the Right. What actually got them to this point with people?

Well, being the ONLY democracy and free society in that area DOES hold a lot of sway. And that they do not initiate wars, but get attacked constantly, definitely creates sympathy for their plight. And that they became this AFTER their people were subjected to the most intense genocidal campaign in history definitely helps.

-=Mike

[Art Sandusky 0]

Eh, that'll do I guess.