The problem with the current crisis in Gaza is that Hamas has lost all rationality in assessing its military advantage against Israel, and that Israel has lost all rationality in its conception of proportional retaliation. Hamas is idiotic in the sense that they fire rockets into Israel, knowing full well that they WILL be forced to hide behind civilians because… well… Israel is quite frankly stronger, more well-equipped, and has tanks. So they commit the sin of short-sightedness in their people’s future by inciting violence, and if they are doing it on purpose, they are committing an even greater sin of using their own people as human shields in their war against Israel.
The Israeli military is no better. Their attitude is that civilians’ lives are worth catching Hamas leaders, if not GOOD, since some in the military might even think those civilians supported Hamas in the first place. They make such a big deal when they kill a Hamas leader, but in reality, there are so many men who are fed up of seeing their families and friends blown apart by rockets, bombs and Israeli ammo that Hamas will not have difficulty finding a replacement within a couple of months. The sheer scale of their assault is really quite senseless because they’ve done this ALL THE TIME, as in, large-scale offensives that kill hundreds of civilians, but nothing EVER changes. In the meantime, I remember Condoleeza Rice having once claimed that George W. Bush contributed greatly to the Middle East peace process during his eight years (!!!) in office.
Where is his peace now? Bah humbug.
I love the Middle East. Aside from India and Egypt, it is the cradle of humanity. It breaks my heart to read the current events that is tearing the centre of the world in two. And the worst thing is that it’s not external forces committing that crime, but forces within.
agreed. hamas is pretty dumb to be firing useless bottle rockets into israel. they know the consequences, but they may be thinking that they will be like hezbollah of 06. lebanon had HUGE civilian casualties, while israel had few, but hezbollah was still the victor because they (a rag tag group of guys) held off the strongest military in the region. causing huge changes in israel itself as it reeled from the defeat.
however, hamas did not violate the truce, because part of the truce was that israel would open the borders, which it never did.
Oops, I will change the error in my post. Israel has also done so much to make the lives of Palestinians a living hell, and this is what I hate above all – 5 hour border checkpoints, blocked roads, the construction of the wall that is solely to hinder Palestinian daily life – without roads, how can a society function properly?