Middle East Madness

"Madness! Madness!"--Major Clipton, Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.

That's what I think of when I contemplate the latest lurid goings on in the Middle East between Israel and those of its neighbors who remain hostile. Right now it's the Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Hundreds of rockets have been fired into Israel from there over the past several weeks. In response, Israel has responded as any government with the means to do so would. Over the past two days it has launched air raids on some 210 targets, killing an estimated 280 people and injuring at least 700 more. See the latest details from the BBC here.

Much of the Gaza police and security force has been destroyed. The chief of police himself is among the slain. Every security installation has been struck, according to the Gaza authorities. Israel has moved tanks up to the border and is evidently contemplating going in on the ground. "The time has come to fight," said Israeli Defense Minister and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

The Israelis ended their occupation of the territory in 2005, forcibly removing some 2,500 Jewish settlers in the process. A shaky truce between the two sides went into effect on June 19. It had reduced the number of attacks, but not ended them. Beginning in early November the violence began to rise as attacks increased, Israel tightened its grip on border entry points and made an incursion to search for smuggled arms. Lately 80 rockets a day have been fired into Israel. No state would permit that without striking back, and Israel has struck back. Civilian casualties have been remarkably low for such a densely populated area, but nevertheless there have been some--perhaps 20. Only one Israeli has died in the rocket barrage.

This interminable cycle is indeed madness. Why can't Hamas and similar groups face the fact that Israel is here to stay? Why can't they accept the independence and recognition the world is more than ready to give them for their own state? Why can't they see that attacking Israel just gets a hundred times that number of their own people killed, or that the money, lives and effort spent in such attacks could instead be devoted to improving the lives of their children? And why can't Israel see that striking back massively never works either, other than to perpetuate the cycle?

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, admittedly a rival of the Hamas group, blames them for not extending the cease fire. None of this was necessary. None of it ever is. It is simply the normal state of affairs: madness.