This endless shitstorm continues because it fuels power and wealth in leaders of both sides. The worst was Arafat who had a great deal handed to him, and at the last moment tossed it because it would have meant the end of his power/personality cult. So you get the Palestinian permanent self-pity culture, which keeps the threat to Israel simmering, which feeds the right-wing pricks like Netanyahu. It's all symbiotic.

I'd be jubilant if this was as bad as pictures from Syria got. We mustn't treat justice like a buffet, and care about victims based on who made them, but that's exactly the scheme of Israel's critics. It's very hard for Syrians to see Gaza get huge attention while the gruesome fates of Syrians, larger than this by a factor of thousands, don't elicit the same visibility, outrage, or even, I don't know, action.

@3,

Don't you think the fact that Israel is a democracy that might actually listen to its critics has something to do with it? I mean, how do you get a monster like Assad to back down without military force?

@3 I think it's good to remember that this is the early stage of a conflict which could lead to loss of life greater than Syria if this thing really blows up. But I share your dismay. The horrors of Syria seem to know no limits. It really is devastating that it has gone on this long. And we continue to do nothing.