A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, March 12, 2012

The Gaza Fighting

Gideon Levy in Haaretz reminds us that what really started the latest bloody round of rockets-into-southern-Israel/Israeli bombings of Gaza was an Israeli targeted killing inside Gaza. That sort of provocation tends to get lost in the shuffle as the whole thing is presented as retaliation for the rocket fire against Israel, but it's a reminder that these quid-pro-quo exchanges of fire ultimately become a self-sustaining cycle. Not that there's an easy way to defuse the cycle, but neither Israelis in southern Israel nor Gazans in Gaza want to live under constant threat. The latest round started with a targeted killing, as Levy notes, but it's hard to find that in most American newspapers. (And, yes, most Arab media fail to mention the rockets into Israel.)

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/way-to-go-idf-1.417750

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