"Ultimately, the moral claims the Israeli government uses to support its actions during this war are empty. They actually reveal Israel's unwillingness to confront the original source of the current violence; which is not Hamas, but rather the occupation of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem. "

This seems the crux of the problem. There is no real willingness to deal with the taking of the land in the first place. And not only the areas she mentions; there is the issue of the take over in 1948, for which there is no real redress. There will never be settlement of the problem until that happens. Andrew Prior http://churchrewired.org

Thank you, Neve Gordon.

Finally, not everyone buys the idea of "ethical warfare, particularly when the Geneva Convention is ignored. Read the whole speech that I have selectively abridged below.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090115/debtext/90115-0013.htm

"Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab): I was brought up as an orthodox Jew and a Zionist. On a shelf in our kitchen, there was a tin box for the Jewish National Fund, into which we put coins to help the pioneers building a Jewish presence in Palestine."

(snip)

"My parents came to Britain as refugees from Poland. Most of their families were subsequently murdered by the Nazis in the holocaust. My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed.

My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The current Israeli Government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt among gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians. The implication is that Jewish lives are precious, but the lives of Palestinians do not count."

(snip)

"The time will come, not so long from now, when [Palestinians] will outnumber the Jewish population in Israel.

It is time for our [UK]Government to make clear to the Israeli Government that their conduct and policies are unacceptable, and to impose a total arms ban on Israel. It is time for peace, but real peace, not the solution by conquest which is the Israelis’ real goal but which it is impossible for them to achieve. They are not simply war criminals; they are fools."

So Israel exercises restraint and teaser bombs...

IT is a pity Hamas does not deploy "teaser" rockets", the ones which do not blow up in Israeli schools.

To be honest my only criticism would be

if one is forced into a war of any sort, the only way to fight it is absolutely, with all the conventional weaponry at ones disposal with the intention of devastating the enemy so they can no longer attack you.

Anything short of that absolute commitment to success and destruction of the enemy is merely an exercise in extending a painful process.

But all I see is the Palistinian POV on telly... it's bias but not to Israel.

Andrew,
The ‘crux’ of the problem, prior to 1948, was the failure of most countries (western and eastern) to recognise the plight of the refugee - the Jewish population was the perfect symbol of such an entity. Instead of the nations offering a place in their own homes for this generally despised people, the guilt of the holocaust led to a second (and second rate) alternative - a Jewish homeland and territory.

Nation states characteristically are expansive (this may or may not be a good thing). This makes your second paragraph naïve, as with the following (albeit well-meaning and perhaps soulful) from your quoted website, "…Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, but the legitimate, democratically elected government of the Palestinian Authority. We may not like what it stands for, but that is no reason for sidelining it…" (Sara Dowse). Yasssin (a main founder of Hamas) has always been noted (until his assassination) for his opposition to the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis. His mantra was, Israel "must disappear from the map". Yassin's declaration that "We chose this road, and will end with martyrdom or victory" alludes to the little gem, “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword”.

It has been hoped by some, the political legitimacy and the accountability that accompanies it might wean Hamas away from violence. But to date, the group has refused to eschew violence and remains adamant about reversing the decision by its rival faction, the more secular Fatah movement, to recognize Israel's right to exist. Hamas combines Palestinian nationalism with Islamic fundamentalism (perhaps a deeper shade of the American 'right').

It is a sad indictment on many western commentators who can only do a body-count without understanding the perverse ideology whose pedigree dominates an entire culture. The Gaza ‘solution’ leaves most Israelis under no illusion - they have not won a lasting peace, merely a chance to get on with their lives for a few more years before they have to fight another war. They know that on the horizon looms the ultimate threat - a nuclear Iran.

I appreciate the thrust of the article, but the use of "protesting" as a transitive verb and the cringe-worthy "towing the line" degrades the importance of the message.