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Some in Israel think that if the rest of the world would stop interfering, and perhaps even ignore, the Middle East crises, that the various sides then would need to find a solution. Without funding and media attention, the argument goes, both sides would not be able to continue in conflict and would have to find a path toward an economically sustainable peace. Provocative as this argument is (and I admit that I've likely over-simplified it here), I'm not sure that I agree.

Every day, Qassam rockets fall in southern Israel, fired from Gaza. Suicide bombs are less frequent now, but one recently went off in the Negev area. Other forms of attach, including rifle fire at farm workers, happen frequently, and recent news reports indicate that rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at cars have increased on the West Bank. Nearly every day, the Israel Defense Forces arrest, kill, or destroy homes of suspected terrorists. They attack rocket launching sites in Gaza and perform other operations, many of which are secret. Israeli Border Police arrest suspected rock throwers. The government has closed the Gaza border and cut electricity to Gaza. Would all of this stop if outside influences, such as governments and the media, suddenly stopped participating? Probably not.

The conflicts here in Israel-Palestine pre-date the formation of the State of Israel. They are historical, cultural, religious, political and economic conflicts that one can read about in the Five Books of Moses, and the Histories, of the Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures. Likely, such conflicts pre-date those writings, as well. The Syrian-African Rift, where the Asian and African continental plates meet in tension, moving at centimeters a year, and forming the incredible landscapes of Israel, Jordan, and Syria, serve as appropriate metaphors. The underlying conflict may well be geological, for all I know.

Today, however, the question is how to save lives, provide humanitarian aid, and allow all of the people who live in this region to live freely, with dignity, and with the economic means to clothe, feed, and shelter themselves. In short, how to stop the ongoing crises of bloodshed and violence.

While I'm not sure the U.S. or its allies should attempt, on their own, anything in the region, it does make some sense to form an international force comprised of UN, NATO, and Arab League countries, among others, and led by some sort of shared command. The role of the force would be to stop both sides from the escalating mutual

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