Hawks and Doves and Ostrich heads in the sand

As this is being written, an Israeli air strike and raid is and has been launched in Gaza... so far there are reports that dozens are dead and injured in Gaza.

Since the expiration of the Tehadiya (literaly the "calm"), that is the truce between Hamas and the IDF (despite the fact that Islamic Jihad continues to fire rockets throughout this period of time), the amount of rockets fired from Gaza has been on average of 50-70 a day, killing and injuring Israelis, and Palestinians (through "friendly" fire).

Practically every single media outlet, local and global, heralded reports that the Israeli government sanctioned a military operation that will put an end to the rockets being fired upon Israeli towns and kibbutzim surrounding Gaza (some of which can get as far as major south-coastal towns like Ashkelon).

I think one thing that seems to be omitted in the international media is that Israel hadn't made any moves to ease the siege over Gaza or renegotiate the release of Gilad Shalit, which really, it can be done.
Oh but Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, surely after that show of magnanimity Hamas should release Shalit.

I guess it all depends on your idea of what being magnanimous is, then. Personally, I think that fact that the released Palestinians were all sent to the West Bank (where the IDF and border police have more "hands on" authority) and none of them to Gaza - once again separating families, colleagues, allies etc. I dunno how much appreciation is going around.

The asymmetry of the attack, which officially has been on "Hamas Facilities", but has actually destroyed civilian infrastructure, is disturbing.

I've always felt and said, that the way the government treats Sderot and the other civilian "hot-spots" in the line of Qassam and morter fire has been to use them as a mask for National Strength and keep them victimised so that the Palestinians remain the eternal villains of this narrative.

The suffering of the people of Sderot and the other places is to be acknowledged whole heartedly.

However, the majority of people killed in the conflict between Hamas and Israel have been Palestinian civilians, mainly from the seige, which will not end any time soon.

Hamas reports 120 dead And the Ministry of Defece reports that the operations are over for now, but they are just the beginning: Report from Reuters via Ynet.

(un)Holy War(?)

Let's get a few things straight shall we.

Arrogance?
Israel, check.
Hamas, check.

Disregarding civilians life?
Hamas, check.
Israel, check.

Using said civilian life in order to push forward an aggressive militant agenda?
Israel, check.
Hamas, check.

Hawkish propaganda?
Hamas, check.
Israel, check.

I could go on, but really to what end?
The really big, huge, flippin' enormous difference between Hamas and Israel?
Israel has way, waaaaay bigger guns and are using them with impunity and immunity.
Hamas is calling for suicide bombing because those are the weapons they have.

I think Hamas are arrogant, fanatical abusers.
Then again, I think much the same about the Israeli government.

Thing is, you can twist this around all you want, and try to create a symmetrical situation. It's not.
There is, however, a deeper more ethical issue.
Israel controls all the borders (bar the one with Egypt, which *thmbs up* to you Egypt, glad to see you making a stand), seas and air of Gaza. Israel controls everything that goes in and out of Gaza... as terrible as it is, Gaza depends on Israel and Israel softly began killing the Gazans during the seige which began because the government didn't approve of Hamas being elected by the silly deluded Palestinians who simply do not understand anything other than force and violence of course.
Never mind that Hamas was Israel's equivalent to the PLO after the first Intifada and that everything is jump biting Israel back in the ass.

*sigh*
I hope this doesn't last long, for everyone's sake.
I don't know how much anyone can take of this shit.

Have I mentioned how much I hate this (un)Holy Land?