If a state of war exists between a Country and another Country or an autonomous region, there is no such thing as collective punishment. It is war, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you are going to get hit. That is what comes of choosing to support a government which has decided to wage war on an enemy that is many times better equipped than itself.

This "Collective Punishment" crap is absurd. So the Luftwaffe collectively punished the inhabitants of London in the Blitz? The RAF collectively punished the inhabitants of Cologne, Berlin, etc. in the bombing raids they conducted? I mean, both were expressly designed to kill civilians, why was "collective punishment" not suggested then?

Yes Mikk, it can be argued that firing of missiles into Israel is
legitimate, but not by civilians.
This is what I was referring to when I said that Israel should clarify
the situation by declaring war. They perhaps could answer by saying
that Hamas declared war with its declaration to destroy Israel.

Remembering that neutral blockade runners have been sunk in the past,
do you realise that doing such action causes a loss of neutrality ?

The question you might answer is considering that in the past ships
have been seized carrying arms and rockets, would you insist on
inspecting the cargo ?

Custard
you are talking bollocks. You obviously dont understand the concept of "collective punishment". It is not the blitz or the bombing of Dresden etc. It was the nazi policy of destroying whole villages in retaliation for resistance raids. The dragging into the town square of any number of civilians and murdering them to try to deter the Resistance.

Article 33 of the Geneva convention.
No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.

For "protected person" read civilian.

Israels blockade of Gaza and the recent war are both blatant examples of collective punishment. Even more heinous is that 50% of Gaza is under 18. So it is collective punishment of children. Talk about child abuse!

Bazz
If Hamas thought they had a chance of being seen as a legitimate defense force Im sure they would be stoked.
Declaring a state of war may make sinking blockade runners "legal" but I doubt the worlds reaction and condemnation would be any different than in the recent case.
It would also raise many many more problems for Israel.
Hamas could "legally" seek better weapons and if they could get them past the Israeli blockade they would be well within their rights to use them against Israeli troops or military targets.
Even now Hamas could say they are "aiming" their missiles at military targets. Its not their fault they only have crappy missiles that wont go where they tell them to.
Like I said before it would make Gilad Shalit and any other "captured" Israelis in the future prisoners of war not hostages and thus no chance at all of coming home until the cessation of hostilities.
It would mean settlements and Israeli expansionism are definite warcrimes.
Israel knows what it is doing. Its obfuscation and intransigence are all calculated to prolong the conflict for as long as it takes to bring about "greater Israel" in the land supposedly given to their ancestors by their insane, cruel imaginary friend 5000 years ago.

People can froth at the mouth as much as they want. These activist/terrorist obviously have no idea that they can't win. Israel existed long before the terrorist sympathizers would like to admit and will remain long after most if not all of the sympathizers will be dead. A number of times nations have united to take on the God of Israel. Simply put they have no hope. Anyone who can't see that Israel is a modern day miracle is totally blind. A basic understanding of Scripture has already foretold of Israel's enemies and its subsequent victories. It is not surprising to see mostly god haters pouring out their bile on the only democratic nation in the middle east.

HOT Israeli vs Islamic Knights:

Well as your (overt) custodian of Current Intelligence ("CI" to those in the (covert) know) all I can say is you are behind on what is happening.- and that's terrible.

As postulated by moi "Posted by plantagenet, Thursday, 3 June 2010 10:54:43 AM" on this thread.

Israeli security forces boarding MV Rachel Corrie was and is the next big event that you sundry ideologues (and Koran bashers) didn't see or care about - it has now happened as foretold by yours truely:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/05/2919241.htm

After 4 hot nights in the saddle (you know) I'm here at home - almost alone. My sweet wife is at a French night a la Champagne and here I'm at home with the wog, not from next door, but delivered by a chickadee up the road. While I write a Uni essay in pursuit of a bigger, better H-Bomb for our fair land. But I digress.

At this juncture I present, again, my new daughter/niece/whatever (Shiri Maimon) who is hot, singing her rendition of "Hatikva" (the Israeli National Anthem) see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ian_NCV4aCM&feature=player_embedded

This is again a bitter criticism of Israel, that Western outpost of the Middle East that never ceases to puzzle or horrify.

For balance, as an appreciator of hot semitic women (on youtube) I present a representative gal from Israel's worst enemy and custodian of the Islamic Bomb, Pakistan, sung in hot Urdu and (sort of) English:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZmubKmFPKY&feature=player_embedded

You do the math. This girl rather than Shiri, my "niece" is definitely hotter (and within OLO tolerance I hope). And this from Pakistan - a rogue Islamic state - very, very confusing!

Disregard the other bloke. He's my nephew. Except I'm more Arab looking.

Very close family ;)

Pete
( http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2010/05/nuclear-weapons-for-australia-ongoing.html :)