Israeli Army Unit Enters Gaza After Rocket Strike

[Darranar]

GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli tank and two armored bulldozers entered the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants there landed inside a large Israeli city for the first time, witnesses said.
They said the bulldozers began felling trees in the Beit Hanoun area. An Israeli security source confirmed the operation. "We are leveling shrubbery, bushes and trees used as shelter for the (militants) who fired the Qassam rocket," the source said.

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3352112
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This is inexcusable. Destruction of trees is despicable, though less than destruction of humans.

[vierundzwanzig]

1. I saw this story, too

and I wondered why they even reported on it. This is unusual. Reuters has recently run a fair number of stories such as the arrest of the dozen+ ISM activists, something AP never picked up.

I wonder what considerations lead them to distinguish themselves in this matter.

This is a verys hort blurb but actually appeared on news.google.com for a moment.

[Darranar]

2. That's where I got it from...

news.google.com is very helpful if you're looking for such articles.

[tinnypriv]

3. HAHAHAHA

Yeah right.

The IDF razed Beit Hanoun less than a few weeks ago. What, did the tress grow back in that time?

The rocket attack is just the excuse to continue with the existing policy. That policy is to expand the area of the settlements in the north of the strip.

[Darranar]

4. Are you saying...

that the report is innacurate, or that a lot more is going on then felling trees?

[tinnypriv]

5. The report looks accurate and

...the Israeli PR guy is lying.

As for other things going on, obviously "security" isn't the reason (that is trivial just on logic alone), so it must be something else. One of those is Israel's long-standing policy of expanding the municipal boundaries of places like Nisanit in the north of the strip in order to grab more and more land.

[Darranar]

6. Okay...

I agree that it is pretty obvious that the Israeli PR guy is lying. It doesn't mattter whether someone fires rockets from an open field or a tree; the Israeli military can't be everywhere at once. The trees are as a much a benefit to Israeli snipers as they are to Palestinian ones.

[tinnypriv]

7. The felling of the trees serves a dual purpose

Destroying the trees is symbolic (they're considered very important in Palestinian culture), but since the Palestinian economy is essentially agricultural felling them also serves as a method of collective punishment. This is why the standard practice of the settlers is to beat up and shoot at Palestinian farmers trying to harvest (burning them en masse isn't new, but novel in the recent history).

The equivalent would be if the Palestinians had the ability to sever oil supplies to parts of Israel (since Israel is a high-tech economy).

[rini]

10. Sad

It is so sad to see any type of moral equivelency in this situation.

[Darranar]

11. I don't get that...

are you finally admitting that the Israeli extremists are morally equivalent to the Palestinian extremists?

[rini]

8. Duh

What do you expect? A cleared area can't haide terrorists and missles.

[Darranar]

9. See post #6

n/t