Can The Middle East Ever Get Along

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How many more suicide bomber attacks will be launched against innocent Israeli civilians?

How many more times will Israel's military destroy another block of homes in the occupied West Bank or kill another Palestinian child caught in the crossfire?


When will the carnage in the Middle East come to an end? Some historians who chart the the ongoing blood bath say the centuries-old conflict between Jews and Arabs will never cease, that inhumanity toward humankind is so entrenched that it has become a way of life in the turbulent Middle East.


That viewpoint was enforced last Sunday when Israel launched an airstrike in Syria,claiming its planes targeted an Islamic jihad training base deep inside Syrian territory.


The Syrians denounced the attack as being typical of Israel's "aggression toward its people," and called on the United Nations to force Israel to cease its random attacks against Syria that they say were executed based on false intelligence.


Israel said it hit the jihad base in retaliation for a suicide bombing attack in a market place in Haifa that killed 19 Israeli citizens.


As expected, the Arab League meeting in Egypt denounced the raid in Syria. Syrian President Bashar Assad said the airstrike was Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "government of war."


Sharon said his nation will pursue militants wherever they are, and it accused Syria of harboring and funding the Islamic Jihad.


But after the smoke had cleared from the bombed-out area, it was apparent the base's former occupants had long ago abandoned the training camp.


The senseless killing of innocent people on both sides must stop.


The only clear solution is embodied in President Bush's "road map to peace," but only the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians can put an end to the bloodshed.


The centuries-old hatred between Jews and Arabs must cease for peace to succeed in the blood-soaked sands of the Holy Land.

Just a thought.

Bob