Israel and Gaza

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has gone on for the last sixty years. In November, in Annapolis, there was once more a furtive effort by the Bush Administration to move the region towards a peaceful settlement. This week, that effort came tumbling down, as has all previous efforts. As the years go one, it is clear that the World, particularly the United States, has become quite jaded to the carnage that periodically results. How can one look at a picture like this:


or this:


and not feel compassion?

And the carnage is always one sided. It is 10 eyes for and eye and 10 teeth for a tooth. And that is a result of this:


and this:



These weapons, along with over 200 nuclear bombs, give Israeli's the power to say:

When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.

Or their Parliament to declare:

During Sunday's cabinet meeting, Vice Premier Haim Ramon asked why the IDF was not directing massive fire at the areas from which Qassams are being launched.

"According to international law, you can do that," he said. "In the Second Lebanon War it was clear that if they shoot from within a village, we can fire on them even if the area is populated."

which leads to more of this:



Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and John McCain are all steadfast supporters of Israel. They all label Palestinians as terrorists. Any one of them as president will continue to pump money into the bloated Israeli defense establishment against which the Palestinians have little more than:



I admire this boy. He has far more courage than I do.