Please share your thoughts on the war going on between Israel and Hezbollah.

- Will this lead to a full scale war in the middle east?
- Is the US enjoying what's happening?
- Is Hezbollah = Lebanon?
- Why is the Lebanese Government not doing anything?
- Is Israel justified for bombing S. Lebanon? Is it a just war? Did Israel use excessive force?
- Do you think that Israel committed an act of agression?
- Can this problem be settled in the diplomatic arena?

the latest word is that a UN ceasefire plan is to go into effect at 1 pm today (Phil. time). as administrator of the ceasefire, the UN is preparing to deploy up to 15,000 troops in southern lebanon to create a hezbollah-free zone between israel and lebanon. in turn, israeli defense forces are to return behind their borders once the UN deployment has begun.

hopefully, if the parties will stick to the plan, there should be no resumption of hostilities, because if the fighting resumes, it could likely escalate to levels we haven't yet seen. hopefully, the lebanese government should be able to prevail upon hezbollah's reps in their legislature to respect the terms of the ceasefire plan. lebanon is not hezbollah and hezbollah is not lebanon -- that should be made clear by the non-hezbollah majority in lebanon. if they respect themselves as a sovereign country that has complete control of the goings-on within their borders, the lebanese must stop the hezbollah permanently from operating in southern lebanon, much like a self-respecting philippine government must secure its sea borders to stop jemaah islamiya and abu sayyaf from operating within the philippines.

was israel justified in starting this bombing? i would think so. after all, this is a group that has sworn to erase israel from the map. perhaps israel may have gone overboard in its response (hindi kasi calibrated pre-emptive response a la gloria ), but it's in a bind. to show a tepid response would have given its enemies all the more reason to raise the ante -- and the violence. it's a tough call, but the israelis are not wont to show that they are willing to live in an atmosphere of fear that the next bus ride they take could be their last. "enough is enough," they would probably say, and maybe add: "if you are dead set on wiping us off the face of the earth, then we are just as dead set, if not more so, on keeping you from doing it."

can't they all just live together? i think they can, but extremism on both sides will keep them from doing so. the same extremism that fuels hezbollah and the hamas faction in the palestinian authority is the same type of extremism that made jewish hardliners assassinate israeli prime minister yitzhak rabin more than 10 yers ago. if these extremists can be sidelined permanently, then a more enduring middle east peace can stand a chance.

ne'er the twain shall meet, said kipling of the east and west. the same can be said of the arabs and jews.