fighting for peace

mark regev makes a good case - on al jazheera, of all places! - but what most of the world doesn't know is that it's not "months" of bombardment we're finally responding to. it's been a continuous thing for years now. i'm disappointed in the israeli government for waiting so long between actions, because it sends a message to the hamas that attacking israeli civilians is totally alright.

oh, wait one moment. responding sends the same message. any westerner who thinks that death is a deterrent for the palestinians is seriously overestimating their quality of life.

it doesn't matter that their average joe thinks, more or less, like you, me, anybody.

it doesn't matter that their pitiful situation can be directly attributed to their leadership (at the mercy of the rest of the arab nations), and that israel is the only country (oh, the irony!) with incentive to improve the palestinians' lot; the hard reality is that the people who count and their representatives are raised with malice and hatred, and put in a situation where they have more to gain by dying (martyrdom, stipends, freedom from horrible conditions) than by seeking peace.

we have nobody we can talk to that can change that. and bombing them occasionally most certainly isn't going to fix things.