Recently, stories reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz and covered extensively in The New York Times revealed the darker side of operation “Cast Lead” in Gaza. Soldiers who participated in the fighting spoke about being trigger-happy, about not sticking to the ethical code of the Israeli army when it came to sorting the Hamas terrorists from the local, uninvolved Palestinian population.
All this is about living POWs. But what about dead ones? How far should a government go in order to bring a dead soldier to burial?
Precisely when the prospect of peace between Israelis and Palestinians seemed at its most remote, I received a call from my friend, Walid Salem.
Life in Sderot has become hell, but Israel finds it very difficult to defend it, because the people who launch the Qassams are hiding among civilians. Slowly but surely, however, Israeli patience is running out. Is there a way to stop this ongoing terrorist attack on Sderot without entering Gaza with great force in an incursion that would most probably cost the lives of many Palestinians and Israelis?
Targeting journalists has long been a common practice in the Arab Middle East.
The emergence of \”Hamastan\” in Gaza sent leaders in the Middle East and elsewhere scrambling for an answer: Whose fault is it? Is it reversible? Will the same thing happen in the West Bank? What should and could be done now?
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