Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East Editor, writes in his diary on the conflict between Hamas and Israel, some words of wisdom for Israel and it's suppporters
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7826849.stm
Many Israelis feel that they are fighting for their existence, because they see Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, as spearheads of a much bigger threat, from Iran and Israel's other enemies in the Middle East.
That is why Israelis believe that their plight is unique, and their actions justified.
I don't know of one that has the same capacity to enrage people all over the world, even if they have never been to this small patch of the planet.
There is no doubt about the extreme suffering that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza to protect, in its view, its own citizens. It is deepening the hatred for Israel that many people in Gaza felt anyway.
Israel has used what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert calls the iron fist many times before. And its citizens still feel insecure.
Will they feel any different when this latest episode is over?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7826849.stm
Many Israelis feel that they are fighting for their existence, because they see Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, as spearheads of a much bigger threat, from Iran and Israel's other enemies in the Middle East.
That is why Israelis believe that their plight is unique, and their actions justified.
I don't know of one that has the same capacity to enrage people all over the world, even if they have never been to this small patch of the planet.
There is no doubt about the extreme suffering that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza to protect, in its view, its own citizens. It is deepening the hatred for Israel that many people in Gaza felt anyway.
Israel has used what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert calls the iron fist many times before. And its citizens still feel insecure.
Will they feel any different when this latest episode is over?