Our ability to designate anyone as "other" allows us to create barriers and commit unspeakable acts against them, betraying our own humanity by denying theirs. To consider one side (ours) "enlightened" and the other side (theirs) "barbaric" is an untenable failure of reasoning. The new Obama administration must use this opportunity to step in and stop the killing by pressuring Israel to abide by the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg Principles.

The blindness of nationalistic Americans to American atrocities is a mirror image of blind Israeli/likud jingoism.

Israel needs to accept the Arab peace plan and return to its pre-1967 borders. If this requires 100,000 peacekeepers for ten years, that is a better price to pay than endless war (with its risk of an insane Israeli attack on Iran, etc.). Israel is putting its own long-term stability needlessly at risk by oppressing the Palestinians in an insane effort to keep the illegal settlements in the West Bank.

While I don't think Israel should have to stand-by and let Hamas bomb them at will, even the people of Sderot, who are receiving most of thebombing think this is overkill. Taking out the soldiers of Hamas or even killing the leaders is one thing, killing and wounding women and children is murder.