Israelis & Palestinians: There has to be a better way.

NY Times.com: Soldiers' Accounts of Gaza Killings Raise Furor in Israel

The article above provides some needed perspective to the killings in Gaza. The details coming as they do from a number of Israeli soldiers have to be significantly meaningful to any objective observer. I very strongly recommend that anyone with even cursory interest in the Middle East read the article.

While it is not at all surprising, it does aggravate my sense of hopelessness regarding the possibility of mutually beneficial outcomes from any type of engagement between Israelis and Palestinians. It is clearly true that the more we repeat a behavior, good or bad, the less inhibited we become in subsequent repetitions of such behavior. Unfortunately, it appears that the Israeli army is exemplary in this respect. It is regrettably true, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, that if we keep taking an eye for an eye eventually we all become blind.

Is there anyone in leadership in Israel who believes that there is the remotest possibility of some kind of peaceful co-existence with Palestinians? The indecisive outcome of recent elections in Israel clearly demonstrates a general sense of confusion among the general population. It certainly is indicative of a disturbing weakness in leadership among politicians. Weak leadership inevitably leads to despair given the existing circumstances in the region. This in turn makes fear the basis on which decisions regarding responsive behavior are made. Decisions made on this basis are almost always committed only to short term outcomes. This will not, in fact cannot, work in Gaza.