Israel-Hamas at war again

It looks like President-elect Barack Obama has another major issue to deal with when he takes office in less than a month. A full out war has once again ensued between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, based in Gaza. There is no way this fighting will come to an end without a powerful nation, such as the United States, stepping in with some kind of diplomatic solutions.

The six month Egyption-brokered cease fire between Hamas and Israel ended when Hamas began to launch missiles into Israel just a few days ago. Since then Israel has fought back very aggressively, killing more than 350 Palestinians. The White House has spoken out against Hamas, saying that "Hamas has once again shown its true colors as a terrorist organization that has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist...in order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire." This did not stop Hamas from launching another 100-some missiles on Sunday and Monday.

President Bush did not condemn Israel for their attacks against Gaza, he just asked Isreael to avoid civilian casualties. There have been at least 50 civilian deaths in Gaza over the past 3 days, but the vast majority of deaths have been Hamas militants. The problem is that Hamas bases much of their strongholds near populated civilian towns, as well as near universities and mosques. In order to help the civilians that have been killed and wounded, Israel allowed more than 50 trucks carrying relief aid into Gaza on Monday, in addition to 40 on Sunday.

United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas, but also spoke out against Israel. He had this to say, "While recognizing Israel's right to defend itself, I have also condemned the excessive use of force by Israel in Gaza. The suffering caused to civilian populations as a result of the large-scale violence and destruction that have taken place over the past few days has saddened me profoundly".


To make things worse, several other anti-Israeli leaders are calling on Arabs across the middle east to "get involved". For example, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's religious leader, condemned the silence of some Arab countries.

In both Syria and Beirut protesters flocked to the streets burning Israeli and American flags while waving Hamas banners and Palestinian flags. Violent protests have also been taking place in Britain, Greece, and Turkey.

In addition, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebonese Shiite militant group "Hezbollah", expressed his support for Hamas and told his followers that he beleives Israel may wage a two-front war against them as well, something that Israel did in 2006. He also spoke out against Egypt for helping Israel by closing its borders to Gaza, telling them that “If you don’t open your borders, you are accomplices in the killing".

Things in the middle east are bound to get worse before they get any better. Obama, as if he didn't have enough on his plate already, will have some major work to do in the middle east when he takes office on January 20th, 2009. A cease fire can only last for so long, some real progress needs to be made in the war torn land. Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton will be key figures in trying to broker a solution to the middle eastern dilemna that has been going on for decades.