Right now, we see the leaders in the Middle East playing politics with the lives of their people. We have to see beyond the loves and avoid getting caught up in the emotions they inspire. We have to see truly, honestly and fairly. This is the path of justice, the path of decency, which leads to quite a different destination to the ruinous path of vengeance.
As humans, words, sincere ones, are part of our scope for action. If the peoples of the Middle-East would only resolve their differences through talking to each other, we would all be in a much better position.
One has to be even-handed and understand the situation. Israeli politicians are seeking to establish themselves as the 'best protector' of their community- a strong attack, even risking the terrible human tragedy in Gaza is being cynically used at this time. There is also a desire to weaken the Iranian-linked Hamas regime just before Obama is sworn in, with his promise to listen more to the Arab side of the equation making action after this implausible. Right now, Israel is able to protect itself on the whole from the weapons being smuggled there, but not without life becoming very hard for their citizens in bombarded towns. From their point of view, why should they just wait and hope for the best, when the world around them appears to be actively helping their enemies? A regime like Hamas, that executes their own opponents is unlikely to show any mercy to Israel if their power does grow.
It is worth remembering that whilst both sides have built underground networks with their extensive aid budgets, Israel has civilian bomb shelters, whereas Hamas invested in a tunnel network for it's fighters and actually seems to hope it's civilians become victims. This is, of course, par for the course with insurgent movement and movements that see themselves as 'anti-colonial' (still an attractive, if somewhat fanatical epithet in the post-colonial, developing world).
All of this means that Israel is once again blundering into a costly experience of warfare. I cannot for the life of me excuse some of their excesses here. Frustration at an inability to hit sneaky, shadowy forces is no excuse for attacking civilian areas. The fact others do worse has no bearing on this- state terrorism deserves just as much approbation as 'underground' movements. There is no room for hypocrisy. The danger of disproportionate use of force is that it ends up being counter-productive. As such, no true friend of Israel would recommend it and the world as a whole won't accept it. A decent leadership in the US is needed to reign in a fanaticism on the part of the State. Love is curbing excess, not just understanding it. Hopefully, God willing, Obama will be just the right person to do this.
What is ultimately needed is a real United Nations. Not just the present one, one that promotes the likes of authoritarian Syria to their human-rights council, but one that is deeply committed to human rights for everyone. One that can see deeply below the surface and beyond media trends. In short, we need something that we don't have, and the nearest we have is the USA, hopefully back with us after the disastrous Bush years. Also imperfect, the US is at least able to be fair-handed, partly due to the mixture of multi-ethnicity and a culture valuing personal freedom for as many as possibly can receive it- hence the Camp David accords, the best chance yet for the conflict, or the Daytown ones in the case of the Balkans. The US is the peacemaker, she just needs an effective UN to go with this.
With all that said, progress is apparently being made. Wars are more limited and the weapons used comparatively accurate- a new concern similar to the ones for appliances being more energy-efficient. Things are actually getting better, despite appearances to the contrary and the tendency of the media to spread bad news. People care more and once the sense of sharing a common humanity spreads further, their bias will be a bias for everyone, not just their own chosen preferences. This undercurrent, to my mind, makes a hugely destructive World War III close to an impossibility. Progress in it's many forms will continue, though it will remain a moral roller-coaster in terms of what is right or wrong at each juncture.
It all comes down to love. Love is deeds, love is words, love is prayer, whatever makes the most sense. To my mind it is prayer that helps the most, the contacting of the highest part of us to send a message to eternity, inviting the purest of responses. The lack of love in that region, creating a void in which hatred manifests itself seems to be the biggest problem. It does concern me that so many think that stigmatising the (imperfectly) democratic and pluralist Israel is going to bring any sort of real peace. Making them more secure would be the best way to help- they certainly have the institutions in place to be a real benefit to the region.
In the longer term, a more enlightened perspective in which everyone feels secure is what that region needs. Violence is a symptom of a deeper problem- the same one Europe once, quite recently in the grand scale of things, suffered from.
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