One would think this is the story people were tiring of; after all, it is but another violent chapter in Israel’s troubled history, a glorified religious turf war that’s been going on for decades. And it’s started much the same way most of the previous skirmishes have: Side A (it doesn’t matter who it is) attacks Side B, who responds in spades, which hardens A’s resolve, which harden’s B’s, and so on and so forth, etcetera etcetera, ad hominem ad nauseum. It never seems to end, though it should: like Mom always said, “It doesn’t matter who started it, but who finishes it.” Putting aside that who started it depends on who you ask, both sides really would love for it to end. Even the hardest of Israel’s hardliners, at the end of the day, likely just wants to be left alone. And the Arab militants would love to be done with it… as soon as they’ve driven the Israelis into the sea.

Therein lies the critical difference between the two groups. While Israel has acted unilaterally and irresponsibly in the past, it has done so based on a defensive mindset that has been rooted in the nation’s psyche since its founding in 1947. Israel’s enemies on the other hand, while in some ways operating in sympathy of those displaced by Israel’s occupation of Palestine, have also more or less been driven by an all-consuming desire to rout The Infidel from The Holy Land; bear in mind Hamas means zeal and Hezbollah means ‘Party of God.’ Earlier this year Israel withdrew from Gaza and erected a wall on the Palestinian border. Hamas, after being democratically chosen to lead Palestine in an election we endorsed, kidnapped an Israeli soldier for later ransom, which prompted some of Hezbollah’s members to cross the Israel-Lebanon and snatch a couple soldiers, killing eight, which set this whole crisis into motion.

Despite being the only Jewish state in the Middle East, Israel is always going to be the Goliath-figure in its confrontations due to its superior military capability. This puts them in the awkward position of having to tie one hand behind their back so as not to look like they’re using grossly unnecessary force, and yet retain their dignity when their opponent starts playing dirty. This is essentially a losing proposition for them. If they should accidentally kill civilians in its raids, then “Shame, shame, shame.” But now the fighting is growing fiercer, as Hezbollah’s forces are proving more difficult to tackle than was initially thought. If the Israelis decide there’s no way to legitimately win against an opponent that won’t play by the rules, then they are “weak” and Hezbollah is empowered. If they continue on their present course, public opinion there and abroad is only going to turn further against them; Hezbollah is galvanized.

There seems to be no way to win over the Lebanese citizens, which can be infuriating. I sympathize with families that have lost loved ones on both sides of the conflict, I really do; but it is quite irritating to hear a grieving parent/child/sibling cursing Israel for the death of his/her parent/child/sibling as if Hezbollah hasn’t been shooting scores of rockets into Israel by the day. Some have taken this to an almost absurd extreme, such as the Palestinian family reported by the New York Times that blamed Israel for the death of its members, who were killed by a Hezbollah rocket (!).

Civilian casualties are an important consideration, if only because of the drastically different results from vastly differently armed groups. Hezbollah, a shadowy and wide-reaching terrorist organization, by launching rockets up to 40 miles into Israel, has managed to kill about 150 people, 40 of them civilians. Israel, by contrast, has one of the best-equipped armies in the world, thanks to us; with plenty of artillery, helicopters, and precision weaponry to spare. They can attack on a much wider scale, and have, having killed 1,100+ people, over 90% of them Lebanese civilians. For Hezbollah, such collateral damage must be infuriating. It’s as if the Israelis are saying to them, “Forty people dead? Hell, we can get double that without even trying!” Hezbollah claims, of course, to be attacking military targets only, but conveniently doesn’t mention hiding out among their own people.

Since the strikes began, Israel has lost a lot of its support which, for a short while, had actually been quite strong. In the first few days they had public opinion on their side, with such Muslim states as Saudi Arabia condemning Hezbollah for provoking the Sleeping Giant of the Middle East. But as the month has dragged on with no real long-term strategy given besides dismantling the terrorist engine, and the Lebanese citizenry suffering more than anyone else during this invasion, enthusiasm has deteriorated; as Iraq has shown, killing all the bad guys just doesn’t work when the highest body count belongs to the people you’re trying to save.

The last thing Israel needs is more hate directed at them, hoever misguided it is or isn’t; it already has PR issues throughout the Middle East, and enemies in high places as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran who has expressed his doubts about the Holocaust and declared that Israel “should be wiped out from the map.” He and his state, more than anyone, have long-reaching influence in the region’s politics with forces stirring up the insurgency in Iraq, control of a good deal of the world’s oil supply, and involvement with both Hamas and Hezbollah deep enough to warrant suspicion that this was done to deflect attention from Iran’s pursuit of nuclear energy, which simple mathematics dictates will be used to wipe Israel off the map.

If the U.N.-brokered ceasefire that has just gone into effect as I write this (ironically, it actually motivated the two sides to step up their attacks before it started) does not pan out, things could become a lot uglier in the Cradle of Civilization, and eventually here in the West as well. The Jihadists of the Middle East have sympathizers the world over, as the recent foiled airliner bombing in Britain has shown, and when they’re unhappy they let us know, loud and clear. That’s not to say that we should go about trying to pacify them, but to understand the problem and maneuver its labyrinthine difficulties carefully. It will take a great deal of care, but Iraq (that microcosmic test case of America’s new foreign policy) has shown that brute force alone will not solve the problem and can make it a lot worse.

The situation may seem wearisome to us after only a month, but imagine how sick of the violence the peoples of the Middle East are. The Israel/Palestine conflict has been raging for decades, and some see it as just another part of a battle against the West that has been going on for hundreds of years. And they don’t get to change the channel.