I see I should never post in a discussion that I do not intend to monitor minute-by-minute....but...Carol

"...it is, in the last analysis, about whether or not Israel should continue to expand its borders and keep millions of people under a brutal and totalitarian military occupation, and to continue to commit acts of aggression against its neighbors..... "

first...Israel was gradually reducing its borders the last 10 years, as I understood it. They withdrew from Lebanon, from Gaza, destroyed settlements (with great complaints from settlers)...What am I missing here?

second...that sentence sounds like a propaganda message written by a Palestinian. I have heard ministers for Syria and Quatar say stuff like that today. "brutal and totalitarian" are value judgements...are you really qualified to pass this judgment? "acts of agression"?? What IS the difference between that and "responses to provocation"? Weren't the suicide bus bombings in Israel 'acts of agression'?

Before you treat me like an apologist for Israel, I hasten to say that I still decry Israel's degree and manner of many of their responses.

Finally, I see the growing suspicion that Hezbollah, funded and encouraged by Iran, is pushing and escalating much of this, with Israel taking the opportunity to execute long-planned incursions to neutralize Hezbollah.....in other words, as I said before, BOTH groups are hoping to play these kidnappings and responses into a larger plan...and woe be to innocent bystanders!

....and the suppliers of all the munitions that make all this possible are licking their chops!