gaza

At least 20 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed in the bloodiest fighting ever since an Israeli soldier, Captain Gilad Shalit, was captured by militants in a daring cross-border attack on an Israeli military outpost. That the Palestinian militants have acquired superior fire-power is evident from their ability to target Israeli population centres. This infuriated the Israelis prompting them to again take over three abandoned Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip to create a temporary buffer zone.



The Israeli armed forces have moved into densely populated Palestinian areas with tanks and armoured bulldozers while their Apache helicopters are providing covering fire to the ground forces. The militants , on the other hand, are hitting out at the Israelis with rocked-propelled grenades and AK-47s.



The ruling Hamas party Interior Minister has issued a call to his countrymen to take up arms to fight the cowardly Zionist designs. But his word carries little weight with the security forces because most of them owe allegiance to the moderate rival Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abass.



Ever since Adolf Hitler massacred Jews the latter have known no peace. Now they have been fighting the Arabs, particularly the Palestinians, over control of their country for years. But no amount of mediation by successive American presidents has seen a lasting end to the acrimony and mistrust between the two parties. When innocent people on both sides of the border will be able to live in peace and without fear remains a question to which nobody can even hazard a guess. Certainly a compromise by both is not only urgently required but is the only way out of this impasse.



Via: Msnbc