Israel's Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
deliver joint statements in Jerusalem. The United States signaled that a
Gaza truce could take days to achieve after Hamas backed away from an
assurance that it and Israel would stop exchanging fire within hours.
Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters
Everything about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict follows the
same pattern over and over, including the reaction of Americans. In the
first couple of days after a new round of violence breaks out, there is
intense interest and passion, which is quickly replaced by weariness,
irritation, and even anger that one has to be bothered by this
never-ending, always-ugly and seemingly irresolvable conflict. These
sentiments then morph into an attempt to separate oneself from the
entire matter by declaring both sides to be equally horrendous and thus
washing one's hands from any responsibility for thinking further about
it ("I'm sick of both sides"), followed by recriminations against anyone
who actually has an opinion that is more supportive of one side than
the other. Read more>> The 'both-sides-are-awful' dismissal of Gaza ignores the key role of the US government
