Gaza

I feel a great need to say something about what's happening in Gaza, in Israel, and in the West Bank.   What I feel is despair.

When will it stop?   How can it be stopped?   Do those with power to stop it really want it to stop?   Or is each so dug in that all their impulses are to fight, to try to destroy the other side?

There is such a disproportion in the loss of lives, in the destruction of homes and schools, in the resources and the power, in the control of land.  Israel may have had a high moral purpose when this started, but it now feels, as someone said, like David and Goliath -- with Israel thinking it's the victim . . . . but acting like Goliath.

How many eyes for an eye?   How many teeth for a tooth?   How many lives for a life?

There are now reports that the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli teenage boys was done by lone terrorists, not under the control of Hamas.   As I listened to Chris Hayes and his guests discussing the issues on MSNBC tonight, I thought the most cogent thing said was this:

How is it that the formidable Israeli intelligence operatives have not been able to apprehend the killers?   They have supposedly been identified.   Why, instead of concentrating on finding them and bringing them to justice, are they killing innocent civilians in Gaza?

Saying that they warn people to evacuate the area before they destroy it may give a superficial veneer of righteousness -- but it's just one step away from telling a man locked in a jail cell that he should leave because you're going to be blowing up his cell.   He can't leave.   You have him locked in.   And even if he were out, there is no place to go.   All exits from Gaza have been blocked.

I can't help believing that Israel is destroying the high moral ground it once held.

Ralph