My personal view is that the Gazans should be won over with positive words. Punishing people, particularly when they are ignorant and uneducated and brainwashed like the Palestinians are, does not achieve compliance. Firing rockets into Israel does not make the Israelis compliant; in the same way, punishing Gazans will not make them compliant. Attacks harden opinion against the attacker. Another way needs to be found.

I am of the view that Israel makes its case poorly to the rest of the world. I’ve seen Israeli PR people take many different tacks when dealing with the media over here in the UK, but each time they seem to miss the point. Speaking as someone who lived during the years of IRA terrorism, I know for a fact that it makes you bitter when you are under threat from people who hate you unconditionally and want to kill you. You see things through the prism of someone who is considered a target. The Israelis are seeing things through this same perspective, but cannot understand why people who are living comfortably in other nations don’t see things as they do. They feel that they are being condemned unfairly, but are trying to explain their actions to people who are not living under the same threat and have no concept of what it feels like to be threatened by terrorists.

If I were an Israeli explaining my point of view to the world, I would approach it this way: begin by explaining that Israel wants peace. This may seem like a given, but a lot of people out there don’t get this. Many people think that Israel is happy to live bordering a neighbour in a constant state of war. Make it clear that it is not good for the economy and the psychology of its citizens to live next to a belligerent neighbour. In the same breath, say how nice it would be for everyone if the Palestinians were positive, friendly neighbours. War costs all parties.

Then go on to say that Israel did not start the war with the Muslims. Historically they were attacked first. They were not the aggressor. This is something that is often glossed over by anti-Israel campaigners.

Then go on to say that Israel has been depicted by Muslims for many years as the enemy of all Palestinians, and that Palestinian children are brought up on this view. Therefore Israel finds itself under a real and genuine threat, and one they cannot simply wish away. Then ask the question: how would the people who criticize Israel deal with this threat? Show them the ridiculousness of what the appeasers are suggesting: passively accepting rocket attacks that kill and maim people every year indefinitely.

Don’t say things like ‘this is unacceptable and we must fight back.’ Let the people you are making the case to come to this conclusion. People react better when they reach a conclusion like this on their own, rather than have it fed to them.

Finally – and this is going to be hard – end on a positive note. Always, always end an explanation of your actions on a positive note. Tell people that you hope for a way to reach a peaceful settlement. Let people know you really want to reach out to the average Palestinian to try and show them that you are not their enemy. Let the world know that you do not choose to live in fear and under threat, and do not wish this on the Palestinians either. Even if you can’t see how peace can be accomplished, it plays well when you make conciliatory statements.

Palestinians always tell the story as if they are victims. Israelis, to counter this, should always tell their side of the story as if they are the peacemakers, reaching out but being spurned.

The problem is that Israel seems to be so clumsy when explaining itself. This is made worse by the excellent manipulation of a sympathetic media by the Palestinians. Israel may have a great military, but it has a poor PR wing.

Just my thoughts.

Daniel

The Israelis should cease all exports to Gaza until the Palestinians guarantee security, all across the board. If they want to continue conducting rocket attacks on civilian centers and terrorist strikes on distribution workers, let them suffer the consequences of those decisions. If ordinary Gazans don’t like the consequences of Hamas’ actions, then Gazans need to eliminate Hamas themselves.

Capt. Ed: Nice to see another person following these issues agree with me on this. I’d like to see economic warfare come into play here, alongside precision strikes and commando raids as necessary against Hamas & the rest (i.e. Fatah, Hezbollah, al Qaeda) in Gaza for starters. At the most – re-enact the Sherman March and take out the war machine to start repeating a good & emancipating part of American history.

The very idea of sanctions is to hold innocent people hostage…there is no dressing it up in nice-nice, and it’s always better to force an end to them quickly.

The Israelis should cease all exports to Gaza until the Palestinians guarantee security, all across the board. If they want to continue conducting rocket attacks on civilian centers and terrorist strikes on distribution workers, let them suffer the consequences of those decisions. If ordinary Gazans don’t like the consequences of Hamas’ actions, then Gazans need to eliminate Hamas themselves.

That would be nice, but it won’t happen.

Palestinians are like spoil rich girls who can do no wrong. URGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lance Murdock on April 11, 2008 at 4:42 PM

Funny comparison, considering a majority live under the poverty line.

mycowardice on April 11, 2008 at 9:54 PM

:::Sigh!:::

Palestinians are like spoil rich girls who can do no wrong. URGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lance Murdock on April 11, 2008 at 4:42 PM

Funny comparison, considering a majority live under the poverty line.

It’s been almost 2 years, long past time for Israel to put his case front and center.

If he’s no longer alive….well, I guess the Gazans’ don’t have a very good negotiating position. Boo hoo.

TexasJew on April 11, 2008 at 5:13 PM

Absolutely! BTW, it is obvious that this particular attack was designed to produce this very response, just as Carter goes to parley with the thugs.

What do you do with a dog that bites the hand that feeds it?

njcommuter on April 11, 2008 at 6:33 PM

I once had a dog that did that to me. I bit its tail – hard- and it never tried that again!

What do you do with a dog that bites the hand that feeds it?

njcommuter on April 11, 2008 at 6:33 PM

Obviously, show it your other hand and expect something different!

The Israelis should cease all exports to Gaza until the Palestinians guarantee security, all across the board.

In your wildest dreams!

This is Israel of the 21st century, the creation of Condi Rice and George W. Bush and Olmert.

It’s surrender time baby!

If Mexico sent rockets into the town I live in, less than a mile away, I would expect my government to blast the holy crap out of them. And not “proportionately”, either.

But since Mexico just sends criminals, drug dealers, and rapists, our government gets out its kneepads for them. Amirite?

China’s Xinhua news agency seemed to stray from the approved script this week in registering complaints by station owners that Hamas was taking a cut of the fuel supplies before releasing the rest to the general public. “They seize the fuel to ensure that their cars will not stop and that [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh’s convoy will continue to work,” one disgruntled driver told Xinhua, whose report also noticed that “instead of lining up for fuel supply, vehicles of Hamas police and security services bypass the long queues and go straight to the electric fuel pump.”

The Kassams that are daily being sent into Sderot should be amswered instantly by a huge, terrifying and very lethal response. If Mexico sent rockets into the town I live in, less than a mile away, I would expect my government to blast the holy crap out of them. And not “proportionately”, either.

Most Israelis feel this way, and they are helpless while they face attack after attack and their “leaders” do nothing.

Why is there a fence between Egypt and Gaza?

What fence? Oh, you mean the wall not of apartheid.

-Famous Racist Muslim/Christian Pastor that Obama never listens to

‘And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations’…

What, pray tell, is an “ordinary Gazan”? Are those the ones who give out candy on 9-11?

VolMagic on April 11, 2008 at 4:29 PM

Amen to that brother…I’ll never forgive them for celebrating in the streets after 9-11. These “ordinary Gazan’s” hate us and the Israeli’s no matter what we do or don’t do.

What little sympathy I had for them before 9-11 all went out the window and will NEVER come back. They reap what they sow!