Gaza

I could weigh in my own opinion about Israel's stupid response to the kidnapping of one soldier by yet-to-be-identified militants (it isn't even clear if they are affiliated with Hamas or if they are just trying to derail the whole negotiation process that was occuring between Hamas and Fatah), but I think this article by the UK's Guardian Unlimited does a great job. Also, the more conservative Financial Times makes a similiar argument, though without as much detail - I think that is pretty telling. And President Bush only advises that the Palestinians just hand the soldier over, and the situation will calm down! In my opinion, that shows that Bush is either extremely out of touch with the situation, or he is not wanting to get involved at all. Bush is dense but some of his advisors are relatively savvy (if not misguided) and I think the "not getting involved" motive is the more likely case. Anyways, I think both articles give a good analysis of the situation. I am yet to find anything that even remotely explains the Israeli standpoint on this thing...

(I hyperlinked the two articles, so you should be able to just click on the words and it will take you to the pieces I'm talking about.)