And they say they're a peaceful people Options

[Hartmann]

I am not sure how many of you have been keeping up with what is going on in Gaza but I find it interesting that the Palestinians say they are peaceful (a good number are) but they cannot have peace amongst themselves. How do they expect to live in harmony with the Israelis like they say they want to if they fight amongst themselves (and it's not even about land)?

We are dealing with a client in the Middle East and they are hard to deal with. The culture does not want to negotiate unless it benefits them. So, we go in, we tell them a price, they try to haggle, but we can't give. If we give in, they continue to haggle and it could continue indefinitely so we stick to our price. This is how everything is over there. They want globalization, well, that requires them to give a little when it comes to customs and business practices and the same can be said about the way they handle their politics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6751079.stm

[cupcake]

does anyone see Hamas as the destabling force here? It seems almost as if they are trying to sandwich Israel, even at the expense of the Palestinian Authority and Lebanon.

[Hartmann]

does anyone see Hamas as the destabling force here? It seems almost as if they are trying to sandwich Israel, even at the expense of the Palestinian Authority and Lebanon.

Hamas is an extremely large destabling force. They have so much pull by being the bully on the block that no one notices. If Hamas succeeds then I would pretty much put money on them making a full out assault on Israel and that will lead to a lot of bloodshed throughout the Gaza strip and Lebanon because the Israelis aren't going to sit back and play it safe. They'll fight fire with fire and they'll win.