As of 4:00PM EST, per AP reports, the numbers now stand at 460 Palestinian deaths to 4 Israeli.  So, now we’re looking at a kill ratio of 115 to 1.  What will the final ratio be???  Maybe I should start a kind of a Dead Pool!  The winner gets . . . nothing.  We already know who the losers are. —   YUR

According to new figures from an AP report the death toll from Israel’s decision is up to 430 Palestinians, while the Israeli death count remains at 4.  And, it only looks to get worse for the Palestinians, as the Israeli ground forces are crossing into Gaza.  Troops seldom move without artillery cover, and it is being reported that Israeli artillery has joined the offensive, to add to the carnage from their warplanes and gunboats.   Artillery fire is far less precise and discriminating, so the Palestinian civilian casualty rate is very likely to increase significantly.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator, Maxwell Gaylard, has estimated that 1/4 of the Palestinian dead are civilian, with a “significant number” of them being women and children.  He also estimates that some 2000 people have been wounded in Gaza.

107.5 to 1 seems to be the latest ratio on the value of Israeli life over Palestinian life.  107.5 is also the estimated number Palestinian civilians who have joined the ranks of collateral damage.  If you just look at the civilian deaths, and assume that the 4 Israeli deaths were civilian, then we’re looking at a ratio of 26.875 Palestinians equaling 1 Israeli life.  Wow.  The Old Testament used to call for “an eye for an eye”.  That’s 1 life for 1 life.  How does one justify taking nearly 27 lives for every one life taken, let alone 107?  It boggles the mind, and sickens the stomach.

It would seem that Israel is making hay while the sun still shines.  The U.S. is in a transitional phase, with a lame duck President, who won’t take any definitive action, due to a large number of reasons, and a new President Elect, who can’t afford to overstep his boundaries before he takes the oath of office, on January the 20th.  The international community is outraged over Israels’ disproportionate use of force, but as always, is hesitant to actually do anything, because Israel has become a kind of sacred cow.  You can’t touch it, without the fear of violating various alliances, and of being labeled anti-Semitic.  Israel feels that they effectively have carte blanche right now.  No one is likely to enter the fray, on behalf of the Palestinians.  The world is, once again, watching passively as the Israeli government reinforces the age old notion of might makes right.

Happy New Year, Gaza!

YUR

http://unclerave.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/the-price-of-human-life-in-israeli-terms/

Currently it’s at about 374 Palestinian lives for every 4 Israeli lives.  I guess to some that sounds fair!  I don’t know, though.  It sounds a little iffy to me.  I wonder who decides?  Hmmm!

Maybe a conversation, somewhere in Jerusalem, went something like this (with all due apologies to The Untouchables):

Ehud Barak: You said you wanted to get Hamas. Do you really wanna get them? You see what I’m saying is, what are you prepared to do?
Shimon Peres: Anything within the (cough) law.
Barak: And *then* what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms (you know – MUCH less than humans) you must be prepared to go all the way. Because they’re not gonna give up the fight, until one of you is dead.
Peres: I want to get Hamas! I don’t know how to do it.
Barak: You wanna know how to get Hamas? They pull a stick, you pull a gun. They throw some rocks, you fire grenade launchers.  They fire some rockets, that rarely hit the broadside of a barn, you send in air strikes with F-15l Ra’ams and F-16l Sufas, firing Raphael Python 5 missiles, and of course, your Apache Longbow attack helicopters armed with AGM-114 Hellfire and Hydra 70 rockets.  He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send ninety-some of his to the morgue. *That’s* the *Israeli* way! And that’s how you get Hamas. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I’m offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?
Peres: I have sworn to take down this organization with all legal (and otherwise) powers at my disposal and I will do so.
Barak: Well, HaShem hates a coward.
[jabs Peres with his hand, and Peres shakes it]
Barak: Do you know what a bloodbath is, Mr. Peres?
Peres: Yes.
Barak: Good, ’cause you just started one.

Sounds feasible to me. —   YUR

PS.  I’d go into detail on my personal views on Zionism, but no doubt someone would jump to that popular (via indoctrination) assumption that I must be some kind of Anti-Semite.  Because that’s how narrow minds work.