Again, my perception and your perception are not the same. I do not agree with your characterization of the situation, and what you call "facts" I call rhetoric and rationalization. I am sure you would say the same thing about my facts.

On the other hand, I do think we (the Jezebel community) can disagree and have a respectful discourse without using profanity or calling each other names.

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As to whether Gilad has been killed or not, well, no one has received any evidence that he is still alive. If you had a political advantage like that, it's in your best interest to prove that he's still alive, and that you wish to negotiate for his release. They refuse to do so. Also, they've already killed two of him fellow men that he was captured with.

For your other arguments, you confuse a lot of issues together. There was no "annexing Palestinian land against all international regulations". You need to read about British mandates and the birth of Israel. You also should read about Palestinians history, their origins, and when they first started to identify themselves as a culture and a people. Also, many of these settlements have a long and tortured history. Most are near Hebron, which is a whole other issue for many Jews.

Also, if you think Palestinians are in ghettos, get a load of Israel itself. I agree with Ella in that Jews have built their own ghetto as well. But unlike Palestinians, we can't leave ours and travel through the surrounding Arab countries. Also, their wall is not "illegal". In fact, construction was halted for ages because some routes were considered controversial, and they had to hammer it out (pun, sorry). But luckily for you, you don't understand the need for walls. This statement is particularly telling, given by Natan Sharansky:

"When Israel's free society was defending itself against an unprecedented campaign of terror, most of the international community was calling for an end of the "cycle of violence" and a return to the negotiating table. When the Palestinian terrorists struck... Israel was condemned for imposing "collective punishment" on the Palestinian population. When Israel chose to target individual terrorists with precision air strikes, its actions were condemned as illegal extrajudicial assassinations. It seemed that in eyes of many, the Jews had a right to defend themselves in theory but could not exercise that right in practice... our government understood that there were three options to maintain an acceptable level of security for our citizens. The first was to wage a total war against Palestinian terror using weapons that would claim many innocent Palestinian lives. The second was to keep our reserves constantly mobilized to defend the country. The third option was to build the security fence. Had the Palestinian Authority become a partner in fighting terror, as it was obliged to do under all the agreements that it signed, none of these options would have become necessary."

Despite these walls, Palestinians can exit and enter of their own will. They can go through Egypt and Syria. A country is not obligated to provide passage to all. The United States requires student visas and all sorts of documentations and special identifications before you can come visit. Why is this any different?

As to your belief that no one is treated Palestinians with the respect they deserve, I would like to point out that in a recent poll, 47% of Israeli Arabs don't want Jews as their neighbors. In the entire world, no one is held up to more scrutiny than Israel is. And now, they're not allowed to defend themselves against CONSTANT terrorism. You can't get more third-class citizens than that. You're actually proving my point rather well on this score.

Btw, you need to read Hamas's mission statement. That might give you a bit more illustration into their purpose.

PS - bombing UN schools? WTF? Are you referring to the school used as a missile bombing station that Israel attacked? And warned them in ADVANCE that they were going to attack? (Leaflets rained down on the area: Please leave the school. We will bomb this site due to weapons being launched from this location.)

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But how fucking dare you get your facts wrong (Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006...really? And why did they "invade" Lebanon?...Perhaps because Hezbollah crossed borders and killed and abducted Israeli soldiers?! And the ones they adbucted we got back after a prisoner exchange...our men were in bodybags) and how fucking dare you say that Hamas, a terrorist organization THROUGH AND THROUGH are legitimate soldiers, and how fucking dare you downplay the plight of an 18 year old who was abducted for serving his MANDATORY military service. You are DEAD wrong.

My young cousins are in the mandatory service right now. I pray everyday that they do not get abducted while they fight to keep the country safe. Safe from what? The suicide bombings perpertrated by the exact TERRORISTS who are holding this poor kid. I got to run for my life once from one of them. Great memory.

And guess what, dear. My family (ISRAELI SOLDIERS) believes that the Palestinians are getting a raw deal, too. They support a Palestinian homeland. They don't hate Arbas. They don't support west bank settlements. Neither do it. So, with all due respect, fuck off.

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BUT. People have a right to mourn their losses and feel their pain and demand that that which was taken from them be returned. I realize that we're not actually at that march, we're not actually with those people, but it just strikes me that this post was not the post to compare and contrast the various losses and pains. And ask anyone here -- I am usually the first one to jump in and call bullshit on Israel and demand justice for the Palestinians. Sometimes people need to be allowed their pain.

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And being an Israeli soldier doesn't make you guilty by association. Every single 18 year old -- male, female, citizens of other countries who wish to immigrate to Israel from the diaspora -- are required to serve. The other option is jail.

Israelis aren't monsters. They're people too. And they've suffered greatly at the hands of Hamas and Hamas's idiotic, narrow-minded, psychotic ancestors.

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That is something that struck me the first time I went to Israel, is that its small size makes for a community intensity that is not present in other places of the world. It is beautiful, agonizing, and terrifying by turns to me. I cannot pretend to grok the Israeli paradigm, I have only ever been a visitor. I just know that I hope to live to see families reunited and peace in a place that I love.

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It is perfectly reasonable to ask for a greater level of sensitivity on issues such as these -- this isn't a picture of someone who has signed her life over to the Hollywood machine, this isn't a report on political shenanigans. I believe that you didn't intend offense, and I can even see that BeckySharper's point might have been better served if she had said something like "This seems insensitive" rather than "Really?" -- but I can't help but feel that something like "Wow, I didn't really see that there. I didn't mean to offend" would have been a fairer response from editor to reader. This is a power relationship. You taking the time to disagree with us is not the same as commenters disagreeing with each other. In my opinion, both BeckySharper and the sensitivity of the issue deserved at least that much more consideration.

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It's a Snap Judgment.

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