Israeli ground troops enter Gaza

Before I dive in and make the post about the good and bad side of Israel I’m going to comment on today’s news of Israeli troops entering Gaza: http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&date=true&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20090103%2fisrael_gaza_090103

Israel pulled out of Gaza in an attempt to let Gaza have more autonomy. When it did that Hamas stepped up it’s campaign to continuously send rockets into Israel indiscriminately. True there were not a high number of casualties from the rocket attacks because their aim sucked. They would just fire them into civilian areas randomly. This created a continual sense of chaos and fear for Israelis in southern Israel because they would have to idea when or where a rocket would hit next. I’ve discussed the build up and the air strikes. Today the troops move in.

"According to Israeli defense officials, 10,000 troops had gathered at the edge of Gaza, including tanks and special operations units.

‘We will do all that is necessary to provide a different reality for southern Israel, which has been under constant attacks for the past eight years,’ Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Channel 2 TV.

According to CTV News correspondent Janis Mackey Frayer, the troops have entered the northern part of Gaza, backed by tanks and combat helicopters. She said they may attempt to secure an area along the border that is a known hotspot from which militants fire rockets.

‘The buffer zone between Israel and Gaza at the border has been widened on the Gaza side,’ Mackey Frayer told Newsnet. ‘Every time the army has made it a little bit wider to push back the potential for these rocket squads to be able to fire rockets. So what they're going to try to do is contain at least part of this area.’

She added that ‘the Israeli political establishment has been very clear in saying that they do not want to reoccupy the Gaza Strip’."

So there you have it. It cannot be any more simple than that. They are creating a buffer zone. Since Hamas refuses to stop launching rockets at them they are pushing them back out of range so that their rockets will not be able to hit them. There is nothing more simple and straight forward than that.

Don’t worry. I’m going to discuss Israel’s dark side next. Every person and every country has good and bad. I do not agree with everything Israel does. It’s just that this time the situation cannot be any clearer. On this occasion, I agree with them.