Steve Kelly

Cool, thanks for that, I'll add the necessary files for further reading and give a brief overview. I'm off on the bus now, cheers

Yeah, like war, when the fun stops, fight harder

Apologies, I combined Andy Onchan's comment about Hamas and attributed it to 2112. And no, that's my real name, have absolutely no links to any political parties and no intentions. But maybe when they do come round looking for votes, put that to them. It's going to be great for business here won't it, this war that's starting. And ask them to quantify it. And ask them then if aid to Palestine is appropriate and quantify that. If you believe they will keep your interests upmost on their agenda I've got a bridge to sell...

I made it quite clear why the same point was in two fora- the local element was that there was negative sentiment to us sending aid. My point is whether you can find a legitimately better case to try to alleviate their suffering. Can you? Sure the British Aerospace at Wharton will have lots of £££ dreams about their persistent surveillance abilities and so on. We have lots of gambling here so why not go all in? How would you have felt though if you'd been on the wrong side of a huge breakthrough in peace and say.. advocated for the Berlin Wall to stay up, Nelson Mandela remained in prison until he died? I can assure you I'm not blind to the realpolitik however your comment about Hamas simply proves to me that you don't understand the situation. I haven't got the time right now to do that but just think over my original point - their suffering is intense, surely a few of us could raise enough money which would go a very long way to improving life. We are talking about malnutrition, water, education in a place quite near where a lot of us have been on holiday.

Quite. The fear they have (and ability to make it happen) is the concept of the 'Shia Crescent' stretching from a minority area in Afghanistan to Iran, Iraq, Syria (Alawite leaders but few Shia) and Lebanon. That will definitely create greater military spending I would think. The world needs to realise the suffering going on

Olive farms, tomato farms, often which have been in that family for generations have been marked for 'settlement'. No doubt that this has occurred. And just to be clear, I wasn't referring to anyone as a troll however one or two people have been quite public about 'charity begins at home' so I repeated myself in local news. It's a view I have heard though more frequently from people who wouldn't be happy putting it in writing with their real name. If just one or two of us could raise a few hundred pounds (and yes I know it's not been great) a real impact on real people could happen.

A very wise friend compared the latest war by Israel as akin to a five year old trying to fight a heavyweight boxer who didn't hold his punches while using precision weapons and incendiaries in the world's most densely populated area. Don't take my word for it. Read the EU report on it. Gaza remains an effective concentration camp. Where's the UN condemnation? And, no, this isn't about religion. It's one of the most disgusting disparities in wealth anywhere. The rich are stealing family businesses with impunity. Wasn't there a lot of press in the local stuff about Isle of Man and its foreign aid budget. I'd like to hear our future leaders on that. You've all Google, check it out and do something, they need it. Pray for peace. War will only make it worse.