The editorial in Financial Times January 4 summarized the Israeli-Gaza conflict objectively:

"Gaza to be sure, was already a cauldron.  But it has got that way in no small part because of flawed western policies: first through allowing the Israeli Palestinian conflict to stew, and then attempting to isolate Hamas -- which was democratically elected three years ago -- and doing nothing to lift the Israeli siege that has turned Gaza into a prison for the 1.5 million inhabitants.

"None of these conflicts is at all easy, but rarely are they responsive to brute military force.  The record suggests force breeds extremism and, in extremis failed states.

"Israel's regular attempts to enhance its security and break the regional logistics by force well illustrate this.  The occupation of Palestinian territory after the 1967 Six Day War has locked it in a deadly embrace with its Palestinian neighbors that only the creation of an independent Palestinian state can break.