THE WAR WORKED....no more rockets, Hamas heavily weakened.

"An estimated 800 died under Assad during the same eight days of what Israel called Operation Pillar of Defence. But, for some reason, the loss of those lives failed to touch the activists who so rapidly organised the demos and student sit-ins against Israel. "

It is iniquitous that a group of fanatically religious Jewish people should be allowed to walk in and take over the country of Palestine merely because Hitler killed 6 million of them - and because of a claim that they were there over 2,000 years ago. They have rebuilt a fictional David's city which never ever existed in the first place - nor did the fictional David. The United States have been the willing co-murderers in this disgraceful venture

The Israelis are engaged in a strategy quite analogous to the one the western powers used so effectively against the USSR during the cold war. A "containment strategy". An outright war of annihilation and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians would be immoral and the Jews have no stomach for such brutality. Hence they are obliged to play for time and wait for the Arabs to defeat themselves. As with the defeat of communism, this outcome is inevitable because, quite frankly, the Arabs are in their final decadence and they have not contributed anything of value for generations and they are not really able to deal with modern realities. Islamic movements like the Muslim brothers, Hamas and Hezbollah seem impressive but they are certainly not the answer and will vanish in due course. As for the more moderate Palestinian factions, they will someday evolve into something important but presently they are rejected by a majority of their own people and are thus too weak to conclude an meaningful peace treaty or to administer a state. Hence no short term solution is available and containment is the only viable and moral option. As was the case with the cold war, the containment approach leads to a long protracted struggle. There will be flair-ups of violence and setbacks and at times progress will be difficult to discern. Through all this the Jews must keep their eyes on the long term and stay resolute as they have already done for 2000 years. They have already won possession of their beloved homeland and of their eternal capital. The main battle is already concluded after untold sacrifice and now certainly is not the time for defeatism or to lose strategic patience. The current Gaza episode is a small victory because it forces the Arabs to confront their own internal problems and contradictions. Yet it is also minor in the larger scheme of things. The Arabs cannot forever subsist on a diet of hatred and vengeance and death. In the end they will need to get on with the business of life and they will come to terms both with the Jews and with the Jewish state.

The latest truce, after eight days of fighting and more than a hundred lives lost, appears fragile and superficial. The leaders may agree to stop the bloodshed temporary under coercion, but grass-root supporters may not. It only needs one rocket to fly over the border to rekindle the fire. (vzc1943, ttm1943)

Two factors seem to preclude a solution; 1) the Israeli´s want palestinian land and especially it´s water and 2) the Israeli wish that Israel be a jewish state. Given a democratic one person one vote solution, the Israeli´s would have access to both land and water but could not have an exclusively jewish state. To have an exclusively Jewish state, the Israeli´s must drive out the Palestinians to get the land and water. This latter seems to be the Israeli policy and strategy.

Everybody is so sanctimonious in here; the fact is that Jews & Palestinian Arabs have converted a war for land into a war for God/Allah.
There is no way out when people fight for the supremacy of their gods. Hamas is defending the empire which was bestowed upon them by Umar, the second Caliphate. The settlers since 1967 are reconquering the land of Abraham.
Where is the room for compromise? Unless both parties utterly exhausted themselves with the killing; war will be part of the process for a very long time yet.

@Jankaas
Are you truly serious? What on earth makes you think Britain has the ability to "sort this out for them?" Unfortunately this has been the hypocritical attitude of the British government for a long time. Did they sort Iraq out? Did they sort Afghanistan out? Did they sort N. Ireland out? Of course not. They consistently worsen the situation with their self-righteous interventions, murdering many innocent people (none of which is reported in the British media) along the way.

Dear NS Editorial writer,

You views on what Israel should or should not do would have carried more weight if at the top of the page you would have carried a photo of an Israeli victim too. Would that be too much to ask?

So why didn't you do so? What was the thought process that led you to be so one-sided and provocative? Is there something in your DNA that prevents you from really seeing the 'mercifully few' Israeli victims as human beings? If you want to win hearts of minds and want your audience to listen to you, then stop being so contemptuous of the Israeli civilians who have suffered in this war. A picture is more important than all the words you write.

That said, much of your editorial was spot on.

How true.