Today was declared to be an international day of rage by the Popular Committees of Palestine, and protests were organized in many cities, primarily in Europe. The protests were against the Israeli actions in Gaza, and most of the protests were peaceful. Unfortunately, in Paris the protest took a very ugly turn as some of the protesters besieged a synagogue. A former student was in Paris and sent me a photo (below) of the protest there. Such actions should be condemned in the strongest terms possible. The conflict we are all witnessing is about land and power–it is not about religion. There are, in fact, some Jews who oppose the existence of the state of Israel; some of Israel’s strongest supporters are Christians.
The conflict, however, can be strongly opposed on the issue of land and power: as such, the targets of the protest should be either the current government of the state of Israel that is conducting the actions or the ruling party of Hamas that is responsible for the rockets being launched from Gaza. My own opposition to the conflict is that it is a brutal exercise of power that will accomplish nothing of value and will kill many innocent lives in the process. Since 1967, there have been similar conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian people:
1978-2000 Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which included a lengthy occupation of the southern part of Lebanon by Israel
1987–91: First Intifada
2000–2005: Second Intifada
December 2008, Operation Cast Lead
After 22 days of fighting, Israel and Hamas each declared separate unilateral ceasefires. Casualties of the Gaza War are disputed. According to Hamas, they included as many as 1,417 Palestinians including as many as 926 civilians. According to the Israeli Defense Forces, 1,166 Palestinians were killed, and 295 were non-combatants.
November 2012, Operation Pillar of Defense
Gaza officials said 133 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict of whom 79 were militants, 53 civilians and 1 was a policeman and estimated that 840 Palestinians were wounded. Hamas fired over 1,456 rockets at southern Israel, killing 6, including a pregnant woman, and injuring hundreds.
Despite all this violence, the two sides are no closer to an agreement and are in many respects much further apart. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the current violence will have a different outcome from these previous wars. At some point, a different strategy must be attempted. This war cannot be justified by any feasible policy objective.
World Politics News 
I heartily agree with the statement, above that “Despite all this violence, the two sides are no closer to an agreement and are in many respects much further apart. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the current violence will have a different outcome from these previous wars. At some point, a different strategy must be attempted. This war cannot be justified by any feasible policy objective.”
It seems to me that this statement applies to a number of ongoing conflicts all over the world, and that, in general, even conflicts that correlate with religious affiliations (Muslim and Jew, Buddist and Muslim, Sunni and Shiite) are political and economic at their core.
In those few cases where some meaningful resolution is obtained, it is despite the violence, rather than because of it.
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