Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel. (Hyperthetical question)

[Lonnie]

If Israel returned its Lebanese prisoners, the captured soldiers returned, and Israel pulled back, How could you stop Hamas and Hezbollah launching raids and rockets into Israel?.

I don't for one minute believe it'll happen, but if it did, how could you stop Hamas and Hezbolah?.

[Clanad]

Lonnie, Israel has only traded prisoners for their kidnapped soldiers or civilians or, in some cases, the dead bodies of it's soldiers, a very few times. In all those cases, the results were disastrous for Israel. Thier stated policy has always been to never negotiate with terrorists, especially under duress. I personally think Omert has learned this painful lesson. Netanyahu has clearly warned what would happen by unilaterally pulling out of Gaza, and it's come to pass. I also think Israel would like to settle the issues of border security once and for all and views this as an opportunity to do so...

[Dom Tuk]

........Once and for all.........

What employ weapons of mass destruction???.

trust the Americans will love it when they lose the crown of being the only country to have used WMDs.

[Lonnie]

Hi Clanad and Dom, I appreciate your views, especially yours Clanad, but asked an IF.

What would it take, for hezbollah and Hamas to stop attacking Israel, that was really the gist of the question.

[Dom Tuk]

The shiite group Hezbollah have many of their cadres in israeli prisons for the past 20 years. They number in their thousands and have been languishing in israeli prisons ever since Israel went into lebanon in 1978. Israel says their masters have to renounce violence...an unending situation.

For Hamas, a democratically elected government in the Palestine authority they also want their people released and basically they want what is rightfully theirs...their land.

[Drusilla1S]

I think the more extreme elements within Hamas and Hezbollah would be satisfied if the United States handed over New York State to the Jewish people as the new homeland of New Jerusalem or New Israel. Somehow I don't see this happening or being deemed acceptible by the American or Jewish people.

I accept my answer is flippant, but for the extremists within these groups, nothing less than the destruction of Israel as a nation state would be acceptable. I just hope the radicals do not prevail and all people within the region can find peace and a sense of justice. I won't hold my breath though.

[Lonnie]

Dom, I can agree with you upto a point, but the handing back of prisoners in Israel was part of the original question, if they did, would Hamas and Hezbollah stop attacking Israel. I personally don't think so, and when you say their land, could you define that for me please?.

Dru, I don't think your answer was flippant at all, don't forget, at one stage, Uganda was put forward as a homeland for the Diasporic Jews.

And the second part of your answer just about sums it all up.

[maxximus]

this land http://www.gush-shalom.org/media/seperationmap _eng.swf the land the whole world understands is rightfully theirs. so if they were released from their concentration camp existence and old men and women with children didn't have to stand in the hot sun being humiliated every day at checkpoints being asked (ver are your papers) just to run basic errands, like you and me and everybody else take for granted, as it is our god given right and maybe if the palestinian's that are living in the ghettos of the neihbouring arab countries with no citizenship or rights were allowed to return and have their stolen property returned to them or a least be given fair compensation, it would go a long way towards rectifiying matters. we are talking about righting a wrong from forty years ago, not the biblical era! you would think that the jewish people as a race would have some comprehension of the palestinian situation, as per the daily reminders i have had through the media my entire life as to what they suffered through. so you tell me, why would they treat others so abominably. it cannot be rationalized or justified! there are towns in irael where jews and arabs co-exist with no problems, after all, we are all the same, just people. the government controlled media fuels all of this hatred to suit their own agendas, unfortunately most of us buy it hook, line and sinker. the money spent on those patriot missile launcher's alone, never mind their obscene wall, would easily take care of the financing to get the ball rolling in a positive direction. but quite obviously this is not desired.

[Dom Tuk]

Well said max. I will give you an analogy. What if your neighbour came into your house and said this house belongs to me and shoves a fictional book as proof. He then locaks you in the box room and says right you live here now. He then posts a sentry outside the room and questions you everytime you have to go to the toilet. if the people in the box room then make some trouble when the invader of your home is cooking he shouts to the rest of the world...'look i cant even eat in peace'. How would you like to be the family in the box room for 40 years of your life???

[Lonnie]

Sorryy chaps, I could answer the last two posts, but that would probably mean getting into a bit of acrimony, which, in the light of my original question, which no-one has answered yet, I am loathe to do.

I worded it the way I did, hopefully, so there would not be the type of answers I am getting, but if you do want me to carry on with this, in the way it has gone, just say.

[Lonnie]

tonyted, thats probably the most sensible answer on this post, sorry I asked it now.