Tragedy: Avoidable or Not (10 cents)

A building collapses in Qana and over 50 are killed. A bomb explodes on a beach in Gaza and a family on a picnic are killed. Four U.N. employees in Southern Lebanon die.

These are tragedies, but are they avoidable, or simply what happens in war?

If the Israelis called an immediate unilateral ceasefire, what would happen?

If things went back to status quo ante, what would happen?

No one knows the answer to these questions.

But nothing could be worse for Israel's image, not only in the Arab and Muslim countries, but everywhere.

So, how does a country weigh all of this when, for the past 60 years, its neighbors have been targeting it for destruction? Will this incursion/invasion/war make a difference? For better, or for worse?

Should Israel worry about public opinion? Or should it ignore opinion, and not let it influence what it believes it must do? How quickly does public opinion change?

And what about the victims and the infrastructure destruction? Should Israel be involved in repairs or reparations?

And how do you square all of this with the every day Israel, of strong moral position, strong family loyalties, tremendous spiritual, scientific and cultural gifts to the world, who only want to live in peace?

This is very difficult to figure out.