[DanaC]

Yeah, I know about Iron Dome. I thought it was a really useful thing and might give Israel some breathing space to engage in other methods than wholesale slaughter. With the Iron Dome system in place, Hamas is effectively almost neutralized as a threat to Israeli citizens. Three weeks and thousands of rocket attacks and only three civilian deaths - more people die from road traffic accidents.

It's one of the reasons I find their current actions so deplorable and incomprehensible. They don't have to do this to defend their people. When Hamas joined with Fatah and agreed that they could live with a two state solution that no longer called for the destruction of Israel - the time was ripe for a real solution.

Hamas is a toothless enemy. They are the knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail - on the floor with no arms or legs, shouting at their opponent to fight them and threatening to bite their ankles.

I have friends who have spent time in Gaza and the West Bank (and Israel as it happens). There is a lot of misinformation on both sides. But there is also an undeniable truth: what is happening in Gaza is a massacre. Whatever Israel's right to self defence I do not believe it extends to the slaughter of thousands of civilians, the displacement of hundreds of thousands more and the effective imprisonment of the entire Gazan population.

And @ Clod: as for the idea that anybody who stays in Gaza deserves to die: they cannot leave. That's why people have started referring to it as an open air prison. They have no choice but to stay. They are boxed in by land, air and sea.

I wasn't going to come in here again. But I saw you'd (bruce) responded and I usually find that you have a very balanced view of these things. I feel much better for having read your post. I'm probably going to stay out of here though from now. It just makes me feel like crying.