It's incorrect to talk about the “Palestinians” and the “Israelis”. Very few, relatively speaking, have any say in this at all. On either side they're running with — or to — their children, crying in fear and grief. A handful from each side of the border will sit down at a table, as they have in the past, and commit themselves to an agreement they'll support according to their own interests. Their interests will decide when the other side has violated the agreement and war can begin.

I don't know exactly what I can do about any of this, but I keep praying for some insight into that. Sojourner Truth once said, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again.” It seems we can paraphrase this to fit all of us who want the killing — all of it — stopped.

One group that did do the necessary research was the Israeli peace movement Gush Shalom. You can read what they said about it at the time at http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/ar... . Unfortunately there are flaws in the html coding there, but it explains pretty comprehensively why the Camp David proposal could not have resulted in viable Palestinian self-determination and therefore was unacceptable.

I would also invite you to do a mental comparison between the way that Israel “responds to attacks on its citizens within its internationally recognized borders” and the way that Britain did when faced with IRA terrorism. I'm not saying that the latter was always a perfect model of restraint and prejudice-free justice – but the differences should be self-evident to anyone with a passing knowledge of both situations.

And, I guess you're just as much to blame for your car being stolen as I am for stealing it.

Trying thinking of “accountability” when you want to use the word blame.

And of course, the United States government, as the worlds leading “Christian” moral authority, supports Israel's Zionists completely.

There is good reason to think Arafat should have done more to take up what was offered and work toward a final deal. But if the proposal was good, why not make it to Abbas whom Israel's leaders describe as reasonable? There is also serious question whether Barak could have carried out these proposals.

Until the US withdraws its un-questioning support of Israel and demands the cesssation of new settlements in the West Bank land acquired by war I foresee no progress.

Many heroes have given their lives for peace, but so far a US president will not even risk his job for peace.

They also saw great signs of hope, however. There were groups of former Israeli soldiers who spoke out against the occupation and the way they were taught to hate their Palestinian neighbors. They were working alongside these neighbors for nonviolent paths to peace.

Citizens of both Israel and Palestine are realizing that there will be no lasting peace for either country until there is justice for Palestinians. But the military escalation of violence is doing such great damage to the cause of peace. It is not addressing the root cause of the problem, which is that Palestinians have been robbed of their native land, their farms, access to hospitals and good schools, their freedom and their dignity.

If we truly care about Israel, we must demand justice for Palestine and an end to this illegal and cruel use of our tax dollars on military violence against an impoverished people.

Palestinians did in fact hold the moral high ground for a long time, but the ground shifted in 2000 when Ehud Barak made a credible peace offer and the Palestinians responded not with a counter-offer, but with war. Continuing to judge Israel's actions as though they were not at war with an adversary that has sworn itself to Israel's destruction is unfair. It also invites charges of anti-Semitism, because Israel is the only nation-state so harshly judged for responding to attacks on its citizens within its internationally recognized borders.

As for the question at the top of this post, isn't truth the first casualty of war?? Of course we don't know how many Palestinians have died in Gaza, how many of those dead were children, or whether those deaths were the result of reckless military tactics. Such is the nature of war, which is evil. (War is sometimes a necessary evil, but that's a whole other discussion.)

I continue to pray for peace in the Holy Land– not just the absence of violence, but the presence of justice.