By Hanan Cidor, KESHER Shaliach
First published in It's an Israel Thing
Although I'm currently in Israel, it seems as if there was no escape this week from the leading story in the world media about the military operation currently undergoing in the Hamas controlled Gaza strip.

Truth be told, and maybe that's very fitting to an Israeli, I've changed my mind about this operation more than once ever since it started Saturday morning. The basic excuse to start this whole thing is justified in my eyes. For the past seven years, the last three being after Israel has disengaged from its settlements in Gaza and left it for the Palestinians to rule, there have been constant firing of rockets towards Israeli towns and villages across the border. Let's just stop for a moment and think about that sentence. Seven years of rockets on your house, not knowing where and when the next one is going to hit.

I'm an Israeli who lived in Jerusalem in the worst years of the Intifada and even I can't begin to imagine the meaning of that kind of reality. I can't think of one normal state anywhere else in the world that would have let those attacks go unanswered. A government first and most important duty is to protect the people from various threats and attacks such as those inflicted to Israelis by Hamas in the past few years. I know that there are a lot of people out there, Jews and gentiles, Israelis and others, who feel that Israel has its share of responsibility for the desperate situation in which the Palestinians, and with them the entire peace process, has found themselves in the last years. That point is completely valid in my eyes, and in more than one way I will probably agree with some of those claims. That said, still, I see no other option at this point and time than to act against Hamas in an attempt to make them cease their fire. I believe almost no Israeli actually thinks that this operation will fundamentally solve the problem, even the Israeli government, after learning the harsh lessons of the war in Lebanon two years ago, has set the relatively modest goal of creating an atmosphere that will allow us to provide better peace and quiet to the people of the south. After so many years of war and death I think we have all understood that this conflict will never be solved in a military way, it could only be "handled" that way, with each round becoming more violent and desperate. That's exactly why there was no joy whatsoever in me when we started the bombings. Besides my usual disgust of violence of any kind, justified or not, it is clear that the hate towards Israel in Gaza will only grow larger after this kind of operation.

And here exactly lies the unavoidable tragic truth of the Middle East and maybe of every other conflict in the world. With everyone being buried on each side today, even when there is no other choice than protecting yourself violently against threatening enemies, the hatred becomes more inherent in people's souls making it even harder for both sides to reach the agreement and hopefully peace I believe we all fundamentally want. One can only hope that when it does happen and both sides will wake up to understand how ridiculous and worthless it all was, it won't be too late. Maybe it's my optimistic nature, or maybe I'm just naïve, but I truly believe we should never let go of that dream, especially in times like these because otherwise we will condemn ourselves to a life of hatred and death, making this miracle called Israel completely miss the goal of its creation.

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