Actually I believe North Korea qualifies as the world's largest prison.

Gaza would come second.

What exactly does "justice for the Palestinians" mean? What would it entail?

Good article, Stuart! It deals with some of the facts about the brutal Israeli occupation which has been underway for nearly sixty-four years.

What amazes me is most Australians, who are supposed to embrace the idea of a 'fair-go', are sympathetic to the Israelis who are the most brutal and cruel race of people on the face of the world, next to the Americans that is.

Why this shortcoming? The Jewish Lobby here is almost as powerful as it is in the U.S. Another reason is that the issues between the Palestinians and the Israelis are not discussed rationally in our schools or in our media. As well, our politicians go on little 'junkets' to Israel and regularly sell their souls.

The Palestinians have suffered long enough. Give them their freedom!

We have almost no media willing to report facts, Paul McGeough is one exception to the rule.

The rest take junkets paid for by the Jewish lobby here, they go to the museum and the border town of Sderot and pretend that is all about the Palestinians slaughtering the jews.

OUr own lazy media have all forgotten or never bothered to learn the facts, people like Gerard Henderson tell me I am raving when I point out the facts laid out by Ilan Pappe, Akiva Eldar, Tom Segev and many other great Israeli writers who are less afraid of their history than the west is of supporting the Palestinians.

Marilyn Shepherd, I do not believe any race of people is any more or less brutal or cruel than any other race of people.
There are plenty of Israelis who are opposed to the way Israel treats the Palestinians. Look at such organisations as Rabbis for Human Rights, B'Tselem, Women In Black, Machsom Watch, and Hamoked.
Similarly, there are obviously many Americans who are opposed to their own government's actions, such as Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, and Chris Hedges.
I also do not believe the term "Jewish lobby" is apt. I think "Zionist lobby" is a better term. There are Jews in Australia who are opposed to the way Israel treats the Palestinians. Look at the Australian Jewish Democratic Society and Independent Australian Jewish Voices.

Sadly, I believe, until the terrorist state of Israel, aided and abetted by its supporter, the US of Paranoia, cease stealing and annexing Palestinian land this conflict will never end.
Just how long will it take before this terrorist state realises that there are no title deeds buried under the sand somewhere.......

Ok, the summation of all the previous posts so far is that we round up all Israelis and ship them back where they came from!

What do you people not get? When Hamas talks about "the occupation" they are talking about all of what is currently Israel.

As for the nasty blockade, so where did all those missiles come from then? Not a very effective blockade is it? We can get missiles through, but not humanitarian supplies come on get real!

In addition if the aforementioned missiles were indeed manufactured in Gaza (which by the way, was Egyptian until 1967) how about the resources being used for something productive?

Jon J, please point out where in this thread it has been suggested that Israelis be forcibly expelled from Israel?

Are you seriously suggesting there is no Israeli blockade of Gaza? Or no occupation? Because there are both. So Hamas has some rockets. That does not mean there is no blockade or occupation of Gaza.

Sorry, Marilyn Shepherd, it was David G who claimed Israelis and Americans are brutal, cruel races of people, not you. My mistake.

fungus, while you may not want to contemplate it, Hamas are dedicated to eliminating Israel and all the Jews living in what they consider the occupied territories. You may not have said it, but your support of Hamas implicates you.

Gaza is actually historically (until 1967) Egyptian territory. Egypt has decided to ignore this uncomfortable fact.

The Israeli blockade is on my understanding intended to stop the importation of military equipment into Gaza. If as widely reported (over 150 in the last 24 hours) Hamas has managed to fire over 700 imported missiles into Israel this week, the blockade has rather obviously failed.

Rees’ criticism of Israel gives no acknowledgment that Hamas has never tested Israel’s bona fides as Hamas’ rockets have never stopped other than to rearm, a strategy Hamas is currently committed to by its Charter. In spite of scepticism on both sides there are encouraging signs. Most notably, the ceasefire was brokered by Egypt’s Moslem Brotherhood leader, that group being the progenitor of Hamas. Egypt under President Morsi has affirmed its Peace Treaty with Israel which hopefully may pave a path for Hamas to follow.

Coincidentally, Jon J's first post in this forum seemed to be a paraphrasing of what Andrew Bolt wrote in his column recently.

Now, in answer to Jon J's second post in this forum:

It is absurd to claim that opposition to Israel's actions in Gaza equals support for Hamas. That is just like when George W. Bush told the world, "Either you are with us, or you are against us. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." You can disagree with Israel's actions without supporting Hamas, and vice versa.

Here are some links about the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7545636.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle+east-10520844

http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/report/palestine-report-260609.htm

http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Ocha_opt_Gaza_impact_of_two_years_of_blockade_August_2009_english.pdf

Here is some more information about the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/11/23/roy/sctFniw6Wn2n9nTdxZ91RJ/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw

Sorry. Jon R, not Jon J.

Great article Stuart.

To those who keep referring to the Hamas charter to show Hamas is committed to wiping out Israel (as if they could anyway) how about taking a look at the Likud charter? It states, very clearly, there will NEVER be a Palestinian state.

And I agree that it is more appropriate to use the term Zionist lobby rather than Jewish lobby. There are many Jews, in Australia, the US and Israel, who are appalled at Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, and who say so very loudly. Unfortunately they are often derided as "self-hating Jews" "traitors" or similar.

In my previous post I suggested that the use of the terms "Israeli lobby" and "Jewish lobby" might be better replaced by the term "Zionist lobby". Since sending that post I have read an article quoting from Jewish spokesmen who have used both the terms "Jewish" and "Israeli" lobby, and not "Zionist" lobby. So if it's OK by them to use those terms, then who am I to suggest otherwise?

gabi, in answer to your question, I still believe the term "Zionist lobby" and "pro-Israel lobby" are preferable to "Jewish lobby".
Here is a website that proves my point.

http://www.angelfire.com/co4/intl-islamic-res/gateway/Jewish.html

Gosh, I knew there were a lot of Jewish and/or Israeli groups unhappy with Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, but I didn't realise there were so many. Very impressive. Thanks for that info.

To bugsy:

Justice for the Palestinians would entail

- self-determination for the Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Teritories

- an end to the systematic discrimination the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are subjected to in Israel

- the right of return for Palestinian refugees

- compensation for Palestinian refugees choosing not to return

- people guilty of crimes against the Palestinians to be brought to justice

To gabi:

You're welcome.