Israeli's & Palestinians At It Again...

Israeli forces bombed a Hamas training camp yesterday after knocking out electricity and water supplies to most of the Palestinian residents of the Gaza strip. The attacks came in an effort to increase pressure for the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier currently being held by Palestinian militants. The state of Israel has had very little time to rest in its 58 year history. Attacked immediately upon it's creation by every Arab country on its border, Israel has fought off every attack. From their War for Independence to the Six Day War to the Yom Kippur War to now, Israeli has been constantly fighting for its survival. In those 58 years the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) has racked up an impressive string of victories that have increased the size of Israel 50% over the UN mandate that created the state in 1948. Yet, the military victories have not made Israel any more secure, in many ways they have hurt more than they have helped. When the British left Palestine in 1948, leaving the newly created Jewish state of Israel in control of the area, the Arab (Muslim) nations on their borders attacked immediately. While the methods of attack have changed greatly since those fateful days in 1948, the situation is much the same, only now, the enmity has grown deeper in each successive generation. Instead of invasions and all out war we now have suicide bombings, retaliatory air strikes and terrorism on a massive scale. The real question that needs to be asked, which no one seems to be asking, is where has all this strife gotten any of them? Absolutely nowhere. At this point the only thing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has brought is death, thousands and thousands of deaths not to mention property destruction on a massive scale. Even more disturbing is the trend towards the death of the civilian populations of both sides of the conflict. This war is not being fought on battlefields, but in hotels, on buses and at nightclubs. Palestinian suicide bombers martyr themselves for the advancement of the Palestinian homeland by blowing up Israeli discos, then Israeli warplanes retaliate and kill dozens of Palestinian citizens. Tit for tat, the majority of the deaths in this conflict are the ordinary citizens whose lives the authorities of these two governments are supposed to be protecting. What's worse is that the powerful nations of the world, the United States included, have been facilitating this conflict almost since day one. While there have been many failed attempts at initiating a plan for peace (The Camp David Accords, Wye River Plantation Talks, the Oslo Accords or most recently the "Roadmap for Peace"), the world's major powers have refused to become involved militarily. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it is rarely a good idea to become embroiled in what amounts to a civil war, but at some point a line needs to be drawn. So what's next for Israel and Palestine? With the Hamas victory in the Palestinian Legislative Elections earlier this year it certainly does not appear that things are going to get better anytime soon, especially given that one of Hamas' founding principles is the eradication of Israel. Their power surge also seems somewhat counter-productive for the Palestinian people, especially after the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank last August. There is certainly no way to know whether or not this conflict has a peaceful resolution in sight, but the longer it drags on in this manner, as the death toll mounts, the level of hatred can only grow exponentially. Personally I think the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority need to simply ask themselves a very important question, how long do we want the children of Palestine and Israel fighting? What can they do to ensure that their grandchildren's grandchildren will be able to live side by side in peace? And most importantly, what are they willing to sacrifice to see that happen?