(...)
One has to acknowledge what went wrong and that originated this all mess, and that is where the finger pointing begins. Yes, I'm aware that Israelis continue to push ground with their colonates on West Bank, and that is inexcusable, both in international law and the affect it is having on the Palestinians. No one should be thrown out of home and be deprived from their own land. I'm also aware that Israelis no longer care about Palestinian's causalities.
But one has to understand all sides's point of view. I basically divide the whole thing in three groups: The Israelis, the Hamas and the Fatah. Both Israel and the Fatah are trying to reach an understanding of the situation, stop the Palestinians extremist and allow the creation of a Palestinian state. Hamas on the other hand tried to overthrown Fatah after they won the elections, bragged about their rockets launched at Israel and refused to accept Israel in the region vowing to destroy them.
They also have a known history of shielding themselves with civilians so that they can show their corpse after that if something happens. The insinuation that they launch rockets and then go home, as if they weren't organized or didn't houses that served as meeting/organization/storage support points is ridiculous to say the least.
Did Israel did wrong when they mass bombed the Gaza strip to oblivion? On the past I used to say yes promptly. But right and wrong tend to blur as you understand each of the conflict's sides. And I've so say I hardly sense any sympathy for Hamas. If they stopped being extremists about four or five years ago, at the time Israel evacuated by force all colonates from the gaza strip and some out of the north of the west bank, this whole mess would have never happen in the first place.
Israel just had enough of this and raged on Hamas, hitting everything that reassembled, even if slightly and unconfirmed, to an Hamas target. They decided to go all in against these guys to try to cripple them once and for all and stop their madness. The result wasn't pretty, but at the end, by listening to all parts, it seemed effective.
Emotional videos of kids being killed and families scared the hell out of their minds can hardly make me rethink the whole thing because I already acknowledge that this happens EVERY SINGLE day on both sides, and the only way to stop this isn't by finger pointing alone, but by trying to reach an understanding and the creation of a Palestinian state, something that at this time, only Hamas was against.
Sorry about the long answer.
BR,
-hideway