May I offer this quote from Jim Wallis' book 'The Soul of Politics';

"Peacemaking can resolve conflicts. However, it cannot establish empires, maintain hegemony, gain unfair control of land and resources, seek advantage over others, and sustain unjust systems of economic production and distrubution. War does those things best. Indeed they require war, and that's why it has been so popular with the world's superpowers. To overcome war, therefore, we must attack the unjust systems that are dependent on military force and lead to aggression. Peacemaking is much more than resolving conflicts; it is the commitment to overcome the injustice that creates conflicts."

It does not take much imagination to see what needs to be done by Israel if it wants any chance of living in peace.

Chris Shaw

could you answer me a simple question ?

Who....is the GOOD GUY in all this ? You are claiming the Americans are the enemies of our grandchildren.....then who... are their friends ? Care to humor us with a few names ?

Do you just mean the same country with different leadership ? or.... please elaborate.

You make out like the planning of an attack scenario on Hezbollah is a 'bad' thing .... do you really believe that ?

They have shown (Like Hamas) they wish to 'remove the zionist entity'
Not just from South Lebanon but FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
Am I correct or not ?

So, I'm at a bit of a loss to know where you are coming from ? x 100

Just 'who' is the good guy, our political messiah, our savior, and when you provide the name (for the ideology or identity) please then support it with illustrations from history where said Ideology has worked.

How about that ?

Perhaps I can make it easier.

USA under Republicans GOOD/BAD
USA under Democrats GOOD/BAD
ISRAEL under ANYone GOOD/BAD
HAMAS GOOD/BAD
HEZBOLLAH GOOD/BAD
IRAN GOOD/BAD
SYRIA GOOD/BAD
PLO GOOD/BAD

Csteele,

You say "It does not take much imagination to see what needs to be done by Israel if it wants any chance of living in peace."

Whilst Hamas and Hizbullah maintain the destruction of Israel as their explicit objective, a precondition of peace for Israel is the destruction of these organisations.

It was with hope and a sense of relief that I read Katharina's article yesterday, it is with resignation when I read the insults flung at her for the temerity of suggesting a better way than constant war.

Those who claim that compassion does not put food in their bellies really need to rethink farming.

Those who snipe at an author's sex as being relevant to their argument clearly have personal problems.

Those who see everything in terms of black and white or good and bad are probably best treated kindly and given a cup of hot milk before being tucked into bed.

Those who believe that Israel is justified forget that there are those who believe exactly the same applies to Hezbollah. It takes at least two to make a war.

As the vitriol expressed by those who justify constant war reveals - it takes a lot of courage to speak out in favour of peace, compassion and working towards harmony. It also takes intelligence. Any moron can pull a trigger, it takes skill to aim for peace.

I commend all who took the time to seriously reflect upon Katharina's thoughts and hope that those who believe war creates peace will eventually realise just how wrong they are.

For Israel, 50 years of war has only created more enemies.
For terrorists more terror will only create more horror for themselves.
For the USA and its allies, greed continues to corrupt.

For the rest of us - we need to speak out in favour of peace at every opportunity, starting with this forum and taking it with us into our everyday lives.

Good for you Scout - a voice for sanity and a voice of reason among a mob of shouters. It takes no courage at all to rant and rave; but a quiet plea for a better way than war is a voice of wisdom.

Scout,

I admire your persistence and the voice of reason and sanity on these forums.

All the best,

FH