Someone, stop Israel!

The first blog item of 2009 and I can't avoid the politics! I just can't stop thinking about the news coming from Middle East and feeling deep injustice and revolt.

In short: Palestinian Hamas militants broke the cease-fire on December 19 and launched rocket attacks on Israel. During the last 12 days of sporadic Hamas attacks, four Israelis were killed. FOUR!
In retaliatory attacks, Israel killed around 400 people. In my simple math, that means that each Israeli life is worth 100 Palestinian lives!!!

In a recent air raid, Israel killed a prominent Hamas leader. I'm quoting Reuters news article:
"Nizar Rayyan, a cleric widely regarded as one of Hamas's most hardline political leaders, had called for renewed suicide bombings inside Israel. Medical officials, confirming his death, said two of his four wives and seven of his children were killed in the bombing..."

While no reasonable person would grieve someone who supports suicide bombers, what about the women and especially the CHILDREN? Why did they need to pay with their lives for his sins?

Sitting in the warm comfort of our homes thousands of miles away, it's easy to just shrug it off. The explanation that Israel has the right to defend itself seems all too eagerly accepted, just so we wouldn't be bothered with the silent cries of the innocents! After spending years as a reporter covering the war in Balkans and Chechnya, all I learned is: no one has the right to deprive the children of their future. And no, an Israeli child is not worth more than a Palestinian one. Nor is it worth less, for that matter.

The Vietnam war taught us that guerrilla can't be defeated by military might. That fact has been confirmed by the Russian failed invasion of Afghanistan and by the ongoing failing warfares by NATO in Afghanistan and Iraq. As much as we despise them, the only way to end the war is to bring the terrorists to the negotiating table. Israeli Jews seem utterly incapable of grasping that unwelcome truth. Enraged by the Israeli's attacks and the West's support of it, my New Year's wish is that a force emerges this year, political or military, which will stop the Jews. Once Israel is reined in, it will be easy to start the definite peace process in the Middle East.