Editorial
While this editorial was being written, the focus of events shifted
from the Palestinian Territories to Lebanon, where an open war
between Israel and Hezbollah (an Islamist Shi'a militant
organization) was taking place on a very large scale comprising
attacks from the sky, land and sea.
Two similar, successive events had proceded the massive flareup
sparking fears of a regional war. The first was an attack by
Palestinian militants (Hamas) on an Israeli military post. Two
Israeli soldiers were killed and a third was wounded and abducted
to Gaza where Hamas demanded a prisoner exchange for his release.
Israel refused to negotiate and demanded an immediate unconditional
release of the kidnapped soldier. The Israeli army deployed tanks
and artillery around the Gaza Strip and military operations have
since been underway. The violence spread to the West Bank. Israel
targeted infrastructure as well as the population. Additionally,
Israel detained 64 Hamas political leaders including 38
p
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