About time

From the AP:

Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire Saturday in its 22-day offensive that turned Gaza neighborhoods into battlegrounds and dealt a stinging blow to the Islamic militants of Hamas. But Israeli troops will stay in the Palestinian territory for now and Hamas threatened to keep fighting until they leave.

Israel and the morality of ending it all

What happens if a rocket falls on your town?
You certainly don't let the perpetrators get away with it, right?

But what happens when the rocket comes from a terrorist organization that was legitimately elected to power in the Gaza strip, but you won't recognize those elections?

Let's face it. The increased bombing of Gaza isn't going to stop Hamas from firing rockets into Israel, especially when it was Israel that broke the cease-fire months ago. And it is especially risky to start a ground invasion of Gaza. Haaretz said this:

But Hamas officials and analysts said Monday that the organization would actually like Israel to launch a ground operation; it hopes this would let it inflict such heavy losses on Israeli tanks and infantry that Israel would flee with its tail between its legs.

Hamas just wants a repeat of the failed war Israel waged against Lebanon a few years ago. Israel can either give the Hamas what it wants (since it is obvious that Hamas has no regard for the value of Palestinian life), or Israel can take the high road and stop bombing Gaza.

Most people want to pick sides in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. But, as a blogger on DailyKos said, this isn't an issue with one right side and one wrong side. It's an issue with two wrong sides with the added ingredient of lots of bloodshed.

Here's to an end to the violence in 2009.