Boaz watches with interest as Strewth signs up for his next role of 'HAMAS SPOKESPERSON'... on ya Strewthy.. I've seldom seen such a well oiled "Tranzformers-Robots in Disguise" style re-construction of the events in Israel/Palestine as yours.
Your supplementary superannuation fund must be swelling to bursting point now with all the contributions from your 'string pullers' :)

1/ Palestinian Civilian deaths during Israeli counter terrorism attacks.

COMMENT Long ago, Arafat declared "Every Palestinians is a fighter, men women children" so.. diddums that a few "fighters" get wiped out along with the TERRORISTs they allow in their midst. (to use your quaint terminology... just being a mirror)
The Israelis could always use Mohammed's approach and take all the Palestinian males, cut off their heads and enslave the women and children, after all, Mohamed did it to the Jews of Banu Qurayza. (shhhhh F.H. we have gone through this b4 :) this is for Strewth only)

2/ RECOGNITION OF STATEHOOD.
Now Strewthy.. u can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people ALL of the time.
You and I both know, Hamas was recently kicking and screaming against the 'we have no money' problem with "No, we will NOT recognize Israel's right to exist"
I'll do it by numbers to help you :)

1/ HAMAS is elected (their platform includes non recognizing Israel's right to exist in 'Arab' lands)
2/ Western countries do not support 'Terrorism' nor the idea that Israel cannot exist. (this is their democratic choice, like it or lump it)
3/ AID is withheld from 'Terrorist' HAMAS
4/ HAMAS runs out of money.
5/ Palestinians who 'elected' a Terrorist government now reap what they democratically sowed.

yes.. a very acceptable outcome as far as I'm concerned

Dear Old Bamboozle, Still alone and palely loitering? To paraphrase a wise man, I have great respect for your religious views, but only in the sense and to the extent that I respect your theory that your wife is beautiful and your children smart.

Interesting comments so far. One question - did anyone notice that the Professor teaches at an Israeli university established by a leader of religious Zionism? I'm sure he can be just as objective as the next religious Zionist on the issue of the Palestinians! Or not! Kind of like asking an oil tycoon his opinion on global warming, or a nuclear lobbyist their ideas on the oil crisis!

One last comment - if human rights groups are to maintain credibility by not campaigning around ending protracted crises such as the Palestine/Israel fiasco, then what precisely is it that they will do? Lobby the Israeli authorities to campaign on the Palestinians behalf? Yeh right! NGOs such as HRW and AI perform a valuable function in the global community, and whilst it may be ineffectual most of the time, their persistant presence acts as a constraint on the actions of the big and mighty. Afterall, if the world weren't watching, all Palestinians would have been slaughtered in their sleep decades ago.

Ashley, you have a point, but this article is the usual propaganda line peddled by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council http://www.aijac.org.au . Anyone who criticises Israeli behaviour is immediately written off as an anti-Semite. I don't know why OLO perists in publishing this stuff.

I had to laugh though at Steinberg asserting that NGOs had to stop "political campaigns on behalf of Palestinians" as though he stands on some high moral ground free of "political agendas". He has persistantly argued against a Palestinian state http://www.aijac.org.au/review/1997/224/palstate.html . As ye sow so shall ye reap.

Please let's use some logic here. A lot of evidence exists that Israel was not in fact responsible for the Gaza beach tragedy. That is the point. If this is true it would suggest that these NGO's are lacking in credibility. The way they have jumped in and blamed Israel without consideration of the other point of view suggests bias.

A lot of news writers are quick to blame Israel without considering the full facts. The movement against the Taliban and Saddam certainly was done or sanctioned by countries such as UK USA Japan Australia and Spain, all countries with free press and democratic votes, and they used shells much larger than 155 mm.

Yes I too feel sorry for the Palestinians but don´t forget the Jews Christians and Israeli Arabs who have been constantly fired on by Palestinian rockets or been blown up by suicide bombers. And what is this thing about destroying Israel?

Why is Israel being treated like a pariah state when it operates a British style parliamentary and justice system? Would any of you truly like to live under Sharia law? A lot of Palestinians are not so keen on Hamas either, for that reason. Support for the underdog is to be lauded but is not always correct.

logic displays the usual tactics of the Zionist flak catcher: NGOs again and again expose Israel's lack of credibility and he deflects with "...these NGOs are lacking in credibility" and irrelevant waffle about sharia law. Uzi Benjamin summed it up well in 'Until proved otherwise', Haaretz, 18/6/06: "Describing the discrepancy between the versions of the state authorities and the victims of its operations as one that leaves the Israeli public wondering [but not Israel's local cheer squad] - is an understatement. Many Israelis actually believe the Palestinians, or those who speak for them, and not because they are consumed with self-hatred. They have regrettable precedents: abuse of Palestinians that is initially denied until clear-cut evidence discredits the denials (testimony from 'soldiers breaking the code of silence'); deaths of foreign human rights activists, which the state authorities ignore until the international pressure compels them to investigate the circumstances in depth (the case of Tom Hurndall); bogus descriptions of how innocent people were killed during assassinations from the air (the Salah Shehada hit); false accusations against international bodies (the claims that UNRWA had helped transport a Qassam rocket while photos proved it was a stretcher); incorrect data regarding the status of built-up areas that had been designated targets for shelling (populated homes in Rafah, May 2004); internal IDF and police inquiries whose conclusions were refuted or required double-checking..." etc, etc, Google it if you want the whole enchilada.