Just want to get your thoughts on the subject matter.  I've actually watched a lot of documentaries and such from both perspectives and up until now, I tended to feel the Palestinians have been mistreated by the Israeli's given the fact that the Israeli's are pretty much taking over the West Bank and have massive restrictions in place to the point where Palestinians cannot access many communities or highways along the West Bank.  Also, within the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are pretty much trapped within the confined territory and need to obtain a special pass from Israel to travel outside of the borders, which is most often denied.   Additionally, the Palestinians do not have any business infrastructure, leading to the highest rate of unemployment in the world -- 50% of the population on the Gaza Strip relies on the UN subsidiaries (e.g., rice, beans, etc.) to feed their family, many of which have no ties to Hamas.

THAT SAID, there is no excuse for the reprehensible acts that Hamas took against the innocent civilians of Israel so there must be retribution by Israel to end this type of terrorism and prevent future acts of terrorism from Hamas, Hezbollah, and other organizations.  The Israeli Government has directed their military to cut off electricity, gas, and any food supplies within the Gaza Strip.  This will essentially bring all the people within the Gaza Strip to their knees, prior to Israel's expected takeover of the land.  This land was deeded to the Palestinians back in 2006 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in attempt to partially satisfy Palestine's demand for a 2-state region.  Again, the border was controlled by Israel so the people were essentially trapped in the Gaza Strip.

As Israel prepares to take action against Hamas and the Palestinian citizens of the Gaza Strip (and likely the West Bank), what are your thoughts on the subject matter?  How much action should Israel take and do you have any empathy for the non-Hamas citizens of the Gaza Strip?  I must admit that I used to but this recent act of war has me wondering if a 1-state region would benefit all of the citizens, provided that in the long run Palestinians were given certain rights that would result in employment (etc.) but that would require trust, which is far from conceivable.

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