60 years

Death toll 980 Palestinians, (many civilians), wounded 4400.

Or there are other ways to render "occupation of the country … unnecessary." Though it is just a suggestion, mind.

( Ma'an news, the agency where the second story is drawn from, is a Palestinian news agency, with a good reputation, funded by both the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA))

Well, we did it to the Australian Aborigines, and the same occurred in the United States. Indigenous populations get wiped out by settlers, or what come to be dominant populations all the time. I think it took about a hundred years in Australia, probably longer in the U.S. as settlement occurred earlier in time, and weapons weren't quite as sophisticated. Within the West Bank, the settlers are the equivalent of setting up a town full of David Dukes, or Reverend Fred Niles, in the heart of New Orleans. Israeli forces are then provided to protect the settlers, but not the local population. Or really, as I was talking about indigenous population, it is equivalent to sending the extreme right to Aboriginal or Native American land, and giving them free reign. These same settlers were in Gaza until 2005.

With modern technology and mass media I guess 60 years is maybe just about the right continuum. I know much smaller populations do not get the attention that this incursion has attracted. I know atrocities occur all over the world. It is a cruel place. I guess either side in this case has some kind of access to media, though one side's access is much stronger than the other. And many people are watching, which of course has probably given free reign for other regimes to wipe out their troublesome populations while the world's attention is turned. With so many people exposed to 24 hour coverage (though not those who could really help change things), and with either people becoming a symbol for either religion, I do feel though, that the repercussions for this are going to affect not only the people in the region, but all over the world, as they already have.

Retrospectively, I guess our leaders will be able to chide themselves for their actions or failure to act.