I don't know about you, but I really, really liked the "Never Ending Story." I was at the perfect age for a sort of fantastic tale that involved getting sucked into books, fighting evil monsters, and that had a touch of sexuality that appealed to my nearly-pubescent self.
The never ending story in the Middle East is...well, nothing at all like that. No redeeming qualities.
In the face of continuing rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, Israel began a bombing campaign. It didn't stop the rocket attacks (as we all knew it wouldn't). It did, however, kill hundreds of people. Only some of them could be called terrorists. The targeting isn't quite as discriminatory as one would wish...I heard one NPR report state the Arab University received a good beating from the Israeli airforce.
This hasn't stopped the rockets in the past. How many times have Israeli tanks and planes attack Gaza? And...still, the rockets fly? Does anyone in the Knesset really think this latest offensive will do more than stir the pot?
The only way to stop the attacks from Gaza extremists is to make their message irrelevant. By giving the Palestinians an alternative to violence. As long as Israel kills, maims, starves, and freezes the population of Gaza, the militants are relevant. Their message is the truth. Israel proves with each air strike, with each ground incursion, the worst propaganda Hamas can tell the people.
How can the average Palestinian believe in a peace process when the Israelis behave like this? How can they possibly be expected to make friends with the people who do this?
Maybe it's because I grew up with three sisters, but I learned that when someone is fighting with you, you don't win just by fighting back harder. You just make the situation worse. Israel may fool itself into thinking that each tank, each missile, each platoon they use in Gaza will make them safer.
In reality, they're just sowing the seeds for another generation of brutal, inhuman conflict.
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