Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:16, 22 June 2008

Palestine Start‑class Mid‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Palestine, a team effort dedicated to building and maintaining comprehensive, informative and balanced articles related to the geographic Palestine region, the Palestinian people and the State of Palestine on Misplaced Pages. Join us by visiting the project page, where you can add your name to the list of members where you can contribute to the discussions.PalestineWikipedia:WikiProject PalestineTemplate:WikiProject PalestinePalestine-related Start This article has been rated as Start-class on Misplaced Pages's content assessment scale. Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Archives

Archive 1: November 2006 Archive 2: November 2006 - March 2007

List of Victims

What do people think about including a lst of victims' names in this article?
There are some prior examples of this, e.g.Kent State Shootings, Bloody Sunday (1972), the Jerusalem bus 2 massacre or the Columbine High School massacre. Another even more relevant example may be the Gaza beach blast.
QmunkE pointed out the WP:NOT#MEMORIAL when I initially added the names, and referred to the discussion on the Omagh bombing, in which it was eventually decided not to include the list of victims. I am not connected in any way with the victims of this blast, which appears to be what the above policy is targeted at, and I do believe that the list of victims should be included. It was the death of these people that made this a noteworthy incident, doesn't that make them noteworthy?
The list of victims can be found at http://www.btselem.org/English/Statistics/Casualties_Data.asp?Category=1 It's a bit of a wade through to find, but they are clearly listed. B'Tselem's reports have been criticised by the IDF but not on their numbers, only on definitions of combatants vs non-combantants, which is hardly an issues in this case. Puddleman 20:47, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

I like the idea.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 12:15, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Cover-up of a massacre

When Hezbollah kills civilians with inadequate munitions in this fashion, it will be called a massacre - why are Palestinians not given the same decency?

It's not as if even Israelis weren't horrified - see what they read on this subject - "No one is guilty in Israel" - "Nineteen inhabitants of Beit Hanun were killed with malice aforethought. There is no other way of describing the circumstances of their killing. Someone who throws burning matches into a forest can't claim he didn't mean to set it on fire, and anyone who bombards residential neighborhoods with artillery can't claim he didn't mean to kill innocent inhabitants. Therefore it takes considerable gall and cynicism to dare to claim that the Israel Defense Forces did not intend to kill inhabitants of Beit Hanun. Even if there was a glitch in the balancing of the aiming mechanism or in a component of the radar, a mistake in the input of the data or a human error, the overwhelming, crucial, shocking fact is that the IDF bombards helpless civilians. Even shells that are supposedly aimed 200 meters from houses, into "open areas," are intended to kill, and they do kill. In this respect, nothing new happened on Wednesday morning in Gaza: The IDF has been behaving like this for months now." PR 08:01, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Anything to add, Jay?

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 12:02, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

i worked through logs. it seems like there were quite a few move wars and attempts on the article, and a status quo was reached with 'incident'. it survived for almost two years until you brought it back up again. no new material surfaced to substantiate the claim that it was intentional, and a newspaper polemicist article is definitely not proof. i think that further trying to push this point of view will result in nothing more than a moveprotect. 80.179.69.194 (talk) 12:34, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

"Incident" leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, considering the consequences, although I see the problem with "massacre" when intent cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. One of the redirects is Israeli shelling of Beit Hanoun, which I reckon strikes a good balance. What do you think?

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 19:32, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

If there's no logical objection, I'll move the article there.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 08:40, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Since there is dispute about the move, it is best not to move it yourself. I recommend filing a request at WP:RM. --Elonka 13:58, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

The same month that you moved the article to "massacre", User:Imad marie moved over a dozen articles about massacres of Israelis to the titles which removed the word. I'm fine with the title "2006 Beit Hanoun shelling". Jayjg 23:05, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

OK, sounds good. Anyone else want to weigh in?

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 19:13, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Move wars

The yanking back and forth of this article must stop. See WP:RM. If a move is controversial, then build consensus for a move on the talkpage, otherwise leave the page at its original title. --Elonka 17:50, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

As a reminder, this article is under the scope of Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Palestine-Israel articles. As an uninvolved administrator, I have wide latitude in restrictions that I can place on the article, as well as discretionary sanctions on the involved editors. So please, stop with the edit-warring, and discuss differences at the talkpage. --Elonka 16:29, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Italian Foreign Minister

Why is the statement of Italy's Foreign Minister being moved to the lead - as opposed, say, to the statement of Russia's Foreign Minister? For that matter, why would the statement of any foreign minister belong in the lead? It almost looks as if the statement was placed there because it was the statement most prejudicial to Israel from any Western politician - but that couldn't possibly be the reason, so there must be some other explanation. Is Italy's foreign minister a known expert on Middle East affairs, or unusually famous in some way? Jayjg 23:09, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

It is the statement most accusatory about the IDF's intentions from any Western politician (which makes it unusual in itself), but you were close. Russia's, on the other hand, is just one more run-of-the-mill bland plea to "both sides". I'm not privy to the minister's sources.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 15:35, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Am I reading this correctly, and you are saying that, almost exactly as Jayjg surmised but incredulously rejected, that this statement was chosen because 'It is the statement most accusatory about the IDF's intentions from any Western politician'? If so, you should review Wp:NPOV carefully, before further editing any Misplaced Pages article. Canadian Monkey (talk) 00:25, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

You seem to have missed the thrust of my argument, Monkey.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 19:14, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Disambiguations in quotations

It's best not to place any disambiguation links in quotations, particularly contentious ones, because quotes should be exactly what an individual said, not what we think he meant. And, of course, disambigutations in general shouldn't lead to re-directs. Jayjg 23:11, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Are you referring to my linking of Abbas' mention of the "occupation" to Israeli occupation? What other occupation do you think he may have been alluding to? I take your point about leading to a redirect, I'm surprised doesn't have its own article yet. That may change, of course.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 15:39, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Accurately representing sources

Israel's U.N. representative specifically referred to the "incident in Beit Hanoun". Why is Lapsed Pacifist changing it to say "ninetennpeople killed at Beit Hanoun"? Aside from the punctuation error, it misrepresents what he said. Can Lapsed Pacifist explain why he prefers this to a direct quote of the source? Jayjg 23:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm delighted by your willingness to emulate the terminolgy of UN representatives, this bodes well. I apologise for the clumsy punctuation. I have no strong preference, to answer your last question.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 15:44, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

"appeared to defend the massacre"

Lapsed Pacifist is inserting the claim that "The Israeli Prime Minister's office appeared to defend the massacre". This claim appears to be unsourced original research which places a pejorative interpretation on the PMO's statement. Could Lapsed Pacifist please provide the source for this claim he is inserting? Thanks. Jayjg 23:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

That's not a defence of IDF tactics? How do you make that out? It seems pretty plain to me, but perhaps I'm missing some nuance.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 15:46, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

A defense "of IDF tactics" is not the same as a defense of the "massacre". Surely you see the difference between those statements? Canadian Monkey (talk) 00:28, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Fair comment.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 19:16, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Protest against government policies?

Lapsed Pacifist has inserted the claim that Israeli protests were "against government policies", rather than against the killings. Given the fact that the link itself is dead, can Lapsed Pacifist please explain the source for his claim? Jayjg 23:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

The policies led to the killings, no? I'm sure these groups didn't just decide IDF tactics maybe weren't all they were cracked up to be just because of Beit Hanoun.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 15:49, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

U.S. vote

Lapsed Pacifist has changed the wording

voted against by the United States, which holds veto power, on grounds that the resolution was "biased against Israel and politically motivated".

to

voted against solely by the United States, which holds a veto under rules drawn up in the 1940s. The US claimed that the resolution was "biased against Israel and politically motivated".

What does the fact that the U.N. voting rules were drawn up in the 1940s have to do with this article? When China or the U.S.S.R. veto resolutions, must the articles discussing them always mention that the rules were drawn up in the 1940s? Also, regarding the changing of the wording to "claimed", please see Misplaced Pages:WTA#Claim. Jayjg 23:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

It's illustrative that these rules have been with us since the end of World War II, and perhaps not that well known. I'd be happy to accept similar educative additions to articles about Chinese and Soviet vetos. I take your point on the use of "claim".

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 15:53, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

There's no need to bu "illustrative" in such a fashion. Simply link veto to UN Security Council Veto Power, and anyone interested can read the details on that article.

"Israel" vs. "the Israeli state"

Lapsed Pacifist has changed the word "Israel" to "the Israeli state". Could he please explain why he is using the lengthy pleonasm for the name of the country? Jayjg 23:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

I disagree that this constitutes a pleonasm. For example, if a right-wing Israeli assasinated the prime minister of Israel, that could be interpreted as an attack on the Israeli state. That's not the same as saying the man "attacked Israel".

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 15:58, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

"huge" vs. "wide" margin

Lapsed Pacifist has changed the wording "wide margin" to "huge margin". Given the fact that the term "huge" is more emotive, can LP explain his reasoning for the change? Jayjg 23:31, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

"Huge", given the amount of states in the UN, is hardly emotive.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 16:02, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Summary of Israel's MFA statement

Lapsed Pacifist has replaced the statement by Israel's MFA with his own summary, which doesn't appear to capture the MFA's point, which was about distorted U.N. processes, not blaming Palestinian militants. Could he explain why he is doing this? Jayjg 23:34, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

"Distorted UN processes"? There's no need to have such a large piece of apologist propaganda in the text, especially when it's already linked.

Lapsed Pacifist (talk) 16:06, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

• Start-Class Palestine-related articles
• Mid-importance Palestine-related articles
• WikiProject Palestine articles