This illustration pretty much sums up what I observe is happening whenever Palestinian and Israeli forces engage each other in combat. I'm no fan of the IDF - the Israeli Defense Forces (who can be pretty ruthless), but unless Palestinian militants stop hiding behind their own civilians, then I will never fully support the cause that they claim to espouse.
In every pro-Palestinian web page I view, most of the pictures include civilians who were killed during Israeli military strikes against Palestinian territory. While I do not doubt that many Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israelis, what I find unacceptable is the way these web pages are completely silent about the way Palestinian militants fire rockets on Israeli civilian neighborhoods, and then subsequently hide in their own civilian neighborhoods when the IDF pursues them to retaliate. They hide in places where women and children are located, and complain loudly to the international media when these same women and children are killed alongside their comrades-in-arms.
And it's not just the militants. I've never encountered a Palestinian civilian - in person or online - who did not pledge their hearts and their will to the destruction of the state of Israel. They willingly shelter Palestinian militants even though Israel consistently announces that any civilian who does so will be considered hostile by the IDF.
Now, being a civilian myself, I certainly know how it feels to be supportive of one country's own armed forces. If this country ever goes to war against another, say China, I think I would also shelter AFP soldiers if the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing them here in Batasan Hills. (Heck, I might even throw a rock or two against advancing PLA soldiers...if I still have my cojones when that time comes.) But if my whole family dies because my home, where AFP soldiers are holed up, received multiple direct hits from PLA artillery fire, I'm not gonna do a Palestinian and denounce the injustice of the PLA killing civilians. I'll be angry, yes, but I'm not going to be a bleeding victim.
