To see so many otherwise seemingly reasonable people here at a mainstream Left site supporting what Israel is doing now, squabbling over tactics at most, is sickening.  Josh himself, has no comment other than to note, "Israeli troops enter Gaza."  Ho-hum. 

Really, folks, what do you think the solution is for those pesky Palestinians Israel long ago decided to lord over?  

A one-state solution will never fly, as that would upset the carefully constructed Jewish demographic majority and give lie to the "only democracy in the middle east" bullshit.  It would be the end of the "Jewish state" established by force many decades ago, although if Israelis ceded their dominant power gracefully they might still have a place in a truly democratic Israel (or whatever that country might be called).  At any rate, to even write such things is heresy, so the likelihood of that happening in the foreseeable future is next to nil.  

Keeping the Palestinians in the stone ages ain't doin' it, although that seems to be the preferred method, whereby Palestinian hostility, no matter how asymmetric to Israeli power, is used as justification for perpetuating Palestinian suffering and squalor.  "It's all the Palestinians fault and the Israelis are only doing what they have to," blah, blah, blah.  It's like blaming the victim for being angry about the things the clearly dominant party has unjustly done to them.  It's contrary to everything the Left, as I understand it, is supposed to believe in.  Really.  When a slave burns down the master's barnhouse, who carries the largest responsibility, the slave or the slavemaster?  When it comes to Israel, and only Israel, I think many supposed Leftists have lost their minds and their bearings.  Suddenly, in contravention of every Left value I know the oppressed are blamed for their situation.  Suddenly, we, the Left, are all Afrikaners and we blindly accept that the proper response is to try to whip the barn-burning out of the slave.  

Call me a pessimist, but I believe that most Israelis, and many if not most of its supporters here and abroad, do not really want a one-state, or even a two-state, solution, if they really look within themselves and be honest -- or they would toe a tougher line with Israel and stop acting as apologists for its offensive actions.  Maintaining the status quo of Palestinian apartheid indefinitely seems to be the preferred third way.  If it's not, then prove me wrong and clearly stand up to this gross power imbalance.  Or just keep rationalizing the situation and effectively do nothing to change it.   

Until I see so-called Leftists taking a harder stance against such asymmetric horrors, all I hear is so much yapping, and things like we are seeing now will continue for generations more.  Cynically, I would have to assume that's okay with you.