a war that will not end all wars

     Seems there's a war in Gaza.  Seems there's folks none too happy about it.  This is no way to reach an agreement, don't you know.  Israel should offer concessions, should back off, should, oh I don't know, cease to exist - then the cycle of violence will come to an end.
     It won't.  When you face enemies who desire your annihilation, there is no 'solution', no compromise that will do anything other than postpone the Big War.  Not that there aren't, among the Palestinians and Arabs, those who have normal grievances that could find resolution in negotiation and inevitable compromise.  No, they're about - powerless they are at the moment, but they're about.  
     Oh, 'tis a hard word - the desire for peace, when unaccompanied by power, yields precisely nothing.
     Now, I have no use for apocalyptic fantasias about Israel, the New Temple, and the Last Days - for one thing, a Christian has no business hoping for a New Temple.  If you want to know why, read Hebrews.  Secondly, the 'Left Behind' brand of apocalyptic is parasitic on the real thing. 
     To clarify -
     Been in them there Last Days we have since Jesus came forth a squawking infant.  We'll remain in them there Last Days until he returns.  Of course, he appears to be taking his sweet time about it because, well, he is taking his sweet time about it - that's called 'mercy'.  He'll get here when he gets here. 
     We who are, ehem, left behind, are to witness to him, work for him - but we're explicitly ordered to pay no never mind to the time of his return.  As I like to say, perhaps too often for it to matter, we live on the edge of eternity -  in other words, he's always ever the one who is, who was, and who is coming...any minute now, any minute now.  Beyond that, it's none of our business. 
     Well, that's delightful so to say.  It also serves as a warning - no wonky dispensationalistical type justifications for Israel here. 
     No, I tend to support 'em because the goyim nearly wiped 'em out in a short span early last century, and they found themselves back in Palestine because the world put 'em there.  Oh, and it pleased the Arabs to create the ‘Palestinians' as a buffer and a proxy.  So, a policy of intentional immiseration and radicalization yielded predictable results - everlasting 'intifada', another excuse for 'jihad'.  Whatever.
     So, this war is disproportionate to be sure, but a war is only good in its ending, and a proportionate war is a never-ending war.  What's more, it never occurs to the casual, kind-hearted observer that Hamas provoked this war knowing that they had embedded themselves amongst civilians who would die in massive numbers as a result.  Yes, I'll say it - Hamas started a war designed to kill the very people they claim to represent.  This serves their larger interests.  It's actually pretty smart if you think about it.
     Does that sound cynical?  Talk to Hamas - I only work here.   
     Israel - off the hook is it?  No no no, not at all dear reader - no one is.  Still, it is surrounded by implacable enemies who have engineered a radicalized, determined, nihilistic proxy movement within its borders.  What else can Israel do but fight, and fight hard?  I for one don't like it - well, I try not to like it - but so what?  In this as in most matters of worldly consequence, I have no say because I have no power. 
     That's really for the best.