I cannot remember or find where I read this, but someone mentioned in his comment to a news article sometime last week that the crisis in the Middle East will only end when the Arab states accept the nation-state of Israel. Since it's inception, Israel has known nothing but war and unacceptance from the Arab/Muslim world.
Let's face it. That is probably not gonna happen. The hatred and resentment of Arabs and Muslims towards Jews is rooted all the way to the birth of Ishmael. If peace is to be restored in this region through man's efforts alone, then this hatred and resentment has got to be dealt with. However, because of man's selfish and prideful nature, it's not gonna happen.
And then we have this war between Hezbollah and Israel, prompted by Hezbollah's irrational demand of Israel's release of an obvious criminal by kidnapping 2 Israeli soldiers. What were they thinking? So here we have now this full blown conflict because a sovereignty of a nation is being violated, and we see other nations and personalities taking sides without fully taking into consideration what happened.
Consider what prompted Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah to arrange
for the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers on July 12, which is what led to the
current crisis. Nasrallah says he wants Israel to release from prison Samir
Kuntar, a Lebanese citizen who was part of a Palestine Liberation Organization
(P.L.O.) cell that in 1979 arrived by boat in the northern Israeli town of
Nahariya and invaded the apartment of the Haran family. Smadar Haran hid in the
attic with her daughter Yael, 2, and was so intent on stifling the girl's crying
that she accidentally suffocated the child. Meanwhile, members of the cell took
Danny Haran and daughter Einat, 4, back to the shore where, realizing escape was
impossible, Kuntar shot Danny in the back and drowned him, then battered Einat's
head on beach rocks and smashed her skull with his rifle butt.
~ quote from an article on Time.com on "Why the Middle East Crisis Isn't Really About Terrorism"
They're demanding for the release of a ruthless murderer! And they're holding two of Israel's soldiers captive. What kind of organization do you call this? TERRORIST. And here the nations of the world are putting the blame on Israel for punishing an act of terrorism?
OK. Picture this...two of your kids are fighting with one another. You have 2 brothers, fighting because one of them has stolen a couple of his favourite action figures, Blue Power Ranger and Buzz Lightyear, and using them to blackmail the brother for the return of another action figure, Spiderman, that belonged to him. Now, he has forgotten that he had lost Spiderman to his brother in the first place because he didn't do his chores. Now the rules of the house (which you had set prior to their little conflict) says that if someone does not accomplish his chores for the week, he forfeits his favourite toy. The brother, knowing and acting on the rules that have been set, legitimately takes that Spiderman and plays with it by putting it in 'prison'. Now as a result, Blue Ranger and Buzz are toy-napped, and so he ransacks his brother's room to find them. The bed is overturned, closets emptied out, dirty laundry all over the floor. All other toys are thrown out of the box, but still no sign of Ranger or Buzz.
You, as parent, have to exercise justice over this matter. The toy-napped brother is justified in his ransacking. And you have to understand that he probably wont stop until he finds Blue Ranger and Buzz. The other brother was wrong to ignore his chores, and was definitely wrong to toy-nap his brother's toys. So obviously, you're sided. And whatever action you're gonna take, the consequences for the brother who ignored his chores must be greater if you wanna exercise justice.
Likewise, the world cannot simply demand an unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. And likewise, it is not right to side with Hezbollah. True, the people of Lebanon are suffering, innocent lives are being lost, beds are overturned, and everything is in a mess. Yet Hezbollah is not stopping. They're still firing missiles. They're still targeting Israel. And we expect Israel to stop? Come on. Lets be realistic. If the brother of the ransacked room fights back, of course the other will retaliate. This is human nature. On our own, we have the incapacity of showing mercy when our rights and values are being violated.
The only way this war can stop, is for Hezbollah to stop. Hezbollah must ceasefire, surrender, and return the kidnapped soldiers. Then the Lebanese people have a greater chance of survival. The only way this continuing crisis in the Middle East can stop, is for Israel to be accepted as a sovereign nation with all the rights and freedoms a sovereign nation is entitled to have. Then peace can come upon the land. This is as simple as it gets. Until then, we can expect the war and conflict to wage on.