ontinuous conflict in the Middle-East has become routine so much that when a lull is observed it becomes an aberration. The current cycle is between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon with the world being treated to spectacular fire-power and determinism by the Jewish State to bury anti-Semitic thoughts of annihilating the state of Israel. Lebanon in this process is caught in the middle of the exchanges resulting in the massive destruction of infrastructure, residential houses and massacre of human lives: all a collective punitive measure for the crime of a few!

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Writing this was preceded by thoughts of Israel's side-stepping of the normal modes of diplomatic niceties in situations of kidnappings, demands and ultimatums before resort to inflicting maximum damage. Has Israel exploited available channels to pressurize the Hamas and Hezbollah to hand over soldiers kidnapped? Was a report lodged at the United Nations about this provocation by the Hezbollah militias? Was the Lebanese government given adequate time to use own internal security and diplomatic machinery to secure the release of these kidnapped soldiers? Or, are there unknown factors to the observer world that are goading the Olmert government in Israel to pursue a maniacal plan to sow bitterness in the hearts of Lebanese (current and future) and other Arabs? One wonders about what happened to the wise admonition to be at peace with one's neighbors.

True, the convoluted developments in the Middle-East cannot be solely placed at the door steps of either Arabs or Israelis. They are historical, offshoots of colonialism and psychological and moral burden of World War II. The world helped in creating the problem and it is the world that must come to grips with the solution. None of the belligerent parties can win the peace except mutual trust cum adequate dosage of respect prevails in that region. As it is, these are lacking.

Definitely the semblance of peace enjoyed in the Middle-East has been shattered in the current conflict. Any subsequent ceasefire cannot erase the memory of the latest high-handed attack by Israel in Lebanon. The polarization of nation states into 'strong' and 'weak' ones has become more evident. And the implication of the latter for world peace is better imagined, especially when viewed against the background that Syria was expelled from Lebanon by a middle-class demonstration after the assassination of Rafik Hariri. This paved way for a democratic government that is barely one-year old and which is still struggling to walk the talk. Could it therefore mean that Syria was manipulated to leave Lebanon for a future Israeli occupation? Your answer is as good as mine.

A precedent is being laid. It is a signal that 'might is right', and this beckons to other nation states to massively invest in weapons of self-defense for deterrent purposes. No wonder the Korean government and other strong-willed leaders of the world are not paying attention to big brother's ranting of non-nuclear proliferation. Current flattening of Lebanese houses, knocking off bridges, massacres of innocent civilians and bombing of roads are good ammunitions in the hands of hawks in governments all over the world. Consequently, the United Nations might soon become a fire brigade outfit rather than an organization for preventing the type of diabolical recklessness observed in the current Israeli/Hezbollah conflict.

The US and British governments who hitherto enjoyed some trust in the region are apparently taking it 'cool.' This is not surprising considering the deception in which these governments took their countries to war with Iraq. Governments with moral turpitude are surely not assets to mediate in such a crisis. This was manifested at the G-8 meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, early this week, when Bush and Blair adopted a casual disposition to the latest offensive in Lebanon by unwittingly declaring that the UN is a pawn in their geo-political chess game. The world awaits the next diplomatic shuttle by the UN Secretary-General and wish Lebanon and Israel well.

Finally, no party will gain from the outcome of this latest offensive by Israel as any success will, at best, be a pyrrhic one. The moral mathematics of the bombardments just does not add up. Peaceful co-existence in line with "do unto your neighbor as you will do unto yourself" is the answer, and not sowing seeds of hatred.