Two stellar posts on the brewing conflict over at Obsidian Wings.
New blogger Andrew writes in his piece, “War Without End”:
I am left wondering just what it is Israel hopes to accomplish with these strikes. I do not mean that they are morally wrong to do so; both Hezbollah and Hamas have been in a state of war with Israel since it came into existence, so Israel has every right to wage war against them. But in this case, I’m not certain what it is Israel can possibly hope to gain.
[…]
The hard part is, I just don’t see a way around it. Israel is never going to grant the right of return. There’s no evidence the Palestians are willing make a deal that doesn’t include that right. Unstoppable force, meet immovable object, and witness a recipe for an ongoing sore. Ten people dead here, five more there, ad infinitum. It is depressing beyond measure.
Hilzoy, for her part, has a much longer but still incisive piece:
I have a very, very bad feeling about what’s happening in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon. I am less interested in assigning blame than in figuring out what’s actually happening. But to get the blame part out of the way: it’s almost never the case, in Israeli/Arab confrontations, that one side is wholly to blame, but in the case of the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, it is. This was Hezbollah’s fault, pure and simple. That said, I think that the Israeli response has been disproportionate and in some respects unwise. And that’s all I have to say about the blame game, which, in this part of the world, I find a tiresome and pointless exercise.
Also in the category of opinions I respect, Publius of Legal Fiction, who tags the Israeli Prime Minister as Lyndon Baines Olmert.
I’m sticking to my guns on the matter. Unwise is not the same as unjust. And it’s easy to find flaws in impossible situations.