Its depressing to see that war once again looms in the Middle East and difficult to see how it will ever end as a new cycle seems to have started. The withdrawal from Southern Lebanon a few years ago and the more recent withdrawal from the Gaza strip have given me much stronger support for the Israeli point of view. It seemed things were heading in the right direction and Israel had taken the necessary first steps that it had refused to initiate previously.
The election of Hamas was always going to end up badly, despite some people thinking it would civilise Hamas. The choice between the deeply corrupt Fatah and Hamas was never a good one. The Lebanese government also is clearly not strong enough to rein in Hezbollah not to mention that they retain strong support in parts of Lebanon. Despite the optimism over the Syrian withdrawal it was difficult to see that with so many Hezbollah elected anything was going to get much better.
I can’t see that the latest round of fighting, or anything else is going to solve the issue. Eventually it will wind down into Israel tiring of the endless conflict and what’s left of Hezbollah going off to lick its wounds and start organising to begin the whole process again. Sadly I’m sure that most people on all sides of the conflict probably just want to get on with living their lives quietly. How either Palestine or Lebanon can end up with a government strong enough to control its crazies, without actually being extremists themselves seems inconceivable to me at the moment.
Criticality 