The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has been an ongoing dispute for a long time now. However, as regards the present crisis, who do we have to blame really? The coverage of the war that has been going on in the Western media has been critical of the Israelis - perhaps rightly so. After all, the number of civilians killed has been far too many, the latest I hear is above 600 Palestinians killed. Some tough questions certainly needs to be asked of the Israeli leaders and military planners.

However, the Palestinians (specifically Hamas) have been the chief instigators of this conflict. It would seem downright stupid to fire rockets at Israel and expect the Israelis to keep quiet forever. Especially in hindsight, it seems that foolish move on Hamas' part has cost the approximately 600 Palestinians to lose their lives. How idiotic was that.

Militarily, I do not know whether things could have been done different. But, the Israelis could have avoided (one feels) the large number of civilian deaths and especially the bombing of the UN hospital. That was really inexcusable. One can't help but feeling that more often than not Israel ends up using disproportionate force to solve its problems.