I don’t condone what Hizbullah has done throughout this mess, either. I’ve never respected their tactics or their insistence on pedantic arguments to claim legitimacy.

Nor do I believe that the Lebanese government’s “stop-or-I’ll-say-stop-again” inaction toward Hizbullah is helping matters. In a coalition government, it’s always possible to utilize the power of other coalition members to keep the fringe in check.

But Israel is still taking things far to severely. There is no way to claim that a nation is peaceful while it inflicts such lopsided casualty numbers against an enemy that is incapable of overthrowing its government. What both sides are doing does nothing toward developing peace and understanding in the region. It’s insanity: it’s the same thing that’s happened again and again, and to what end? More conlfict, same ‘ol, same ‘ol.

And in response to this comment: who’s to say who the original instigator of the conflict is? It could be argued that many, many players lay the seed for the current tinder box that is the Middle East. Even in this conflict, Hizbullah is hardly the sole instigator – it cuts both ways.

So to clarify: I don’t respect either party in the conflict. As tom Friedman said on Meet The Press this past Sunday: something new has to be tried, and listening is the best way to start.