Mideast On My Mind

All of this has been said many times and by more eloquent writers, but I have to get this out of my system.

I was really hopeful that this time around the coverage of the conflict would be more positive towards Israel. I have to concede that Egypt and Jordan are not right out supporting Hezbollah and the G8 summit agreement is heartening. Also watching Fox News makes me three times happier than MSNBC. But it's hard to see people completely miss such essential details as who started the conflict - spouting nonsense as "cycle of violence" and conspiracy theories about Israel getting ready for war before the first rockets fell. Never mind the gross mismanagement of the border by UNIFEL and Hezbollah's cowardly and lawless actions of hiding among the civilian population and using hospitals and Mosques as launching pads for their deadly rockets.
One thing that struck me about Islamic fundamentalists leaders is how much they love calling others to martyrdom, praising death as the ultimate sacrifice, yet when it comes to their "martyrdom" most seem reluctant. Countless times, I've seen images of some top Hamas guy in his tighty whities and arms behind his head walking out of a partially destroyed building. Total hypocrites - death good for all but them. The sad truth, as Mark Steyn notes, that a two state solution means completely different things depending on who you look at. If it's Hezbollah or Hamas - two state solution is a step towards one state solution. I believe in a two state solution, I actually I would prefer that Gaza would be absorbed by Egypt and West Bank by Jordan, where "Palestine" and Israel exist side by side with no threat to Jews being killed by Ketusha rockets or blown up by freedom fighter suicide bomber. (Side note, remember the overly praised "Paradise Now" - seems the director thinks that suicide bombing is "very human reaction to an extreme situation." Yes, I hear suicide bombings are quite popular with Tibetans and Hindus....I guess it depends on your definition of "human.")

Also, if you have a little bit of time check out From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine
I've mentioned this book before but it's really an excellent read about the current history of the "refugee problem" - it's unbiased (written by a gentile liberal author.)

Update: Awesome - UN is rebuilding roads for Hezbollah - how neutral of them.