is there not something unpleasant about the portrayal of jews as Nazis?
in opposing how Israel treats the palestinians in Gaza, over dramatising it into an event comparable with the holocaust is not helpful, Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a fundamentalist group dedicated to the destruction of all Jews. Hamas allows and supports terrorist attacks against Israel to which Israel responds; however there is not an effective siege of Gaza, and the border between Israel and Gaza is far more open than the border between Gaza and Egypt- yet there is no campaign to get the Egyptians to raise their 'siege' or condemning Egypts 'holocaust' of the Palestinians??

before people react to all darren's comments together....

Yes what is happening in Palestine is unpleasant, yes there are gross infringements to life and humanity perpetrated by Israel, unjust and illegal, but also yes I find it wrong to portray Jews as Nazis. There is not systematic genocidal extermination going on (of course there's collective punishment and indiscriminate death whether through shells or starvation etc).

But I disagree with some of darren's comments about Hamas - yes they allow attacks on Israel, but Israel attacks Palestinians. At least sometimes, Israel strikes first, then Palestinians strike back as best they can.

The siege is pretty damn effective - the figures are out there, about the lack of fuel, food, medical supplies etc going in, the impact on people, below the poverty line, not being allowed out for medical care not available in Gaza, etc etc. The fact that it's not absolute is irrelevant, as is that it's not just Israel complicit in the siege (by the by, the Egyptian border is joint-controlled by Egypt & Israel, with 'EU monitoring').

And why the sea isn't being tested.

Because this isn't about the Israeli 'siege" of Gaza. It's about the Israeli "embargo" and the political question of whether Israel has a right to exist in the first place ("occupation" aside).

Need to look at the realities. The Palestinians need MORE that a complete and total end to "occupation". Just a complete and total pullout of anywhere the Israelis might still be and allowing the palestinains complete and total control of their own territories and their side of their borders with the outside world would not be enough for a VIABLE Palestinian state.

The Palestinians would then be in an horrible bargaining position. Remember, the Israelis don't NEED peace as they would win any cross border artillery duels. Crushingly. All they need do is fail to reOCCUPY Palestinian territory and they have no responsibility for the survival of the civlian population. Transit of people and supplies THROUGH ISRAEL is not something that could be demanded by right -- if you look at a map of the area you will see that although perhaps the only economical route, not the only routes.

So this is about the right of the Israelis to EMBARGO (goods/people can't go in or out through Israel). If the UN tried to use other routes and the Israelis allowed that (and I think they would) what has happened is that the right of the Israelis to embargo has been reinforced. Which means that the Palestinians would have to pay a fearful price at the bargaining table.

Remember -- the Israelis can '"force" a "two-state solution" any time that they want -- simply pull out of the West Bank and leave the Palestinains to their own devices. But without an arranged settlement of temrs, the result would end up being one hack of a lot of dead Palestinians. Might come as a shock to you, but most Israelis don't want that. Keep in mind that you can talk about how many Palestinians the Israelis kill, but that's nothing like the level of that during the time the Egyptians and Jordanians were the occupiers. So it's tricky. The Israelis don't want a lot a dead Palestinians but not so badly as they want their own existence -- and sadly, at the moment the only thing that could bring PEACE* to the Palestinians is for israel not to exist.

* Do you imagine anything other for a fully independent Palestinian state than being repeatedly smashed by israel in response to cross border attacks or having to fight a civil war to satisfy the Israelis that they are doing enough to stop the attacks. A STATE is presumed to control its side of its borders.

"is there not something unpleasant about the portrayal of jews as Nazis?"

Yes. However, if they continue to act like them, I'll bet we'll be seeing more of this, so get used to it.

"over dramatising it into an event comparable with the holocaust is not helpful"

Nothing is being "overdramatized". If anything, people aren't taking this seriously enough. The International Community's shameful silence brings to mind the many public apoligies these countries have made for their identical inaction in the face of Hitler's rise.

"Gaza is controlled by Hamas"

And because of their electoral victory, and Israeli belligerence, Israel is illegally punishing the entire 1.5 million people who live there.

"a fundamentalist group dedicated to the destruction of all Jews."

That is not true. Their unamended Charter calls indirectly for the "destruction of Israel". I believe this is the pro-Zionist Talking Point you're referring to. This is fairly irrelevant, as moderate statements from the group over the past few years, along with its stated intent to satisfy Israel's demands for recognition (supressed by the Israeli and American Governments) prove that their opinion has changed.

"Hamas allows and supports terrorist attacks against Israel"

Israel is the aggressor. If Zionism were to end its war to annex the whole of Palestine, the resistance would be unnecessary.

"there is not an effective siege of Gaza"

Yes. There is.

It is illegal, and illegtimate, as the success of the two trips by the group Free Gaza demonstrated over the past few weeks. I guess that's why the Western press chose to ignore these historic actions.

recently there have been few comparisons between Nazis and Jews on indymedia, but we need to be careful not to slip back into this
 http://www.shiftmag.co.uk/3gohamasgo.html

Israel controls both acces by sea and access by air to Gaza, the international community is weak in accepting not providing humanitarain supplies by aur or sea. The holcuast was indeed terrible with millions of jews killed, but the terror inflicted on the Paletianian people is just as bad, but in a different way, They have living under occupation or in refugee camps for 60 years.

>recently there have been few comparisons between Nazis and Jews on indymedia, but we need to be careful not to slip back into this

Everyday all of us should reflect upon the Nazis. past and present.

Hi
My 1st comment was hidden, I have no idea why.
I'll repeat the question.

Israel has blocked their boarder crossings so aid cannot get in.
I would like to know why Egypt does not open the Rafah boarder crossing so aid can go in that way?

Please can someone let me know??