Breaking news: trouble in the Middle East

A few days ago, Israel, as I'm sure you all know, sent troops into Gaza to rescue a kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit. As usual when armed men move into unfriendly territory -- even for the best of reasons -- a whole series of horrors have followed in their wake. Warplanes are dropping bombs, tanks are rolling into towns, naval ships are blockading ports, Hezbollah is attacking from Lebanon, and scores of people are dying on both sides. All for proximate cause of one soldier who had the bad fortune to be grabbed by Hamas militants.

I don't blame Gilad, and I regret that he will have to live with these events on his conscience for the rest of his life, at least if he is any sort of human being. I don't blame Israel for refusing to leave him rotting in some Gaza strip safehouse. And I even have a hard time blaming Hamas for fighting Israel with the only tools that they have at their disposal. In fact, I'm starting to wonder whether 'blame' or 'guilt' or 'right' are words that even apply to the Israel/Palestine question. All sides are guilty, which is just another way of saying that all sides are innocent.

As the violence escalates, I am reminded strangely of World War I. One shot in Sarajevo brought the end to millions of lives and the destruction of the political structure of the time. Seen in hindsight, there was no discernible reason for the powers of Europe to sacrifice an entire generation of their youth in the service of virtually nothing, but the actors at the time played their parts rationally. And here we are again, waiting for the logical denouement. Whatever happens, I hope Gilad suffers less for his part in this play than Sarajevo did for its part in the earlier version.