Pursuing peace... Israeli style.

When I heard Israel's building plans for East Jerusalem, I thought "What a gamble. Betting it all..."

If you win, you win big. But when you bet like that and lose, you suffer tremendous losses. The sad thing is, until you pay the price for those consequences, take responsibility for the actions which led to it, you still see yourself as a victim crying out for support from others. The exact opposite of independence.

It's like the CEO's who run the company into the ground, but are insulated by golden parachutes from their actions. Or people who choose to live in volatile areas, then suffer property losses they want shared by all via catastrophic insurance coverage. There's no true assumption of risk, if somebody else is always there to pull your nads out of the fire.


History tends to repeat itself, and the wise learn from mistakes. Poor Israel, again setting herself up for sacrifice. I still think that is the main difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, in their religious tales: Abraham put his son up, but ultimately G-d intervened and the boy was saved. Mary too knew what was coming, and her son was sacrificed. Perhaps that detail has made all the difference...

Will America hue more to the Christian or to the Judeo traditions? I'm thinking Christianity is the more dominant of the two -- a more secure, long-lasting and community-building faith. The Jewish tradition is a fine one, but clearly a minority religion; it only works for a few, not for all. Hence the New Testament, with Jesus overthowing the hypocrisy of money changing in the temple, his Father's house, and opening the doors to all who would believe, not just those genetically qualified as Chosen.

Clearly, Israel faces trouble ahead. In a region where her people's ways are outnumbered, and in a tradition that places more emphasis on suspicion toward neighbors rather than loving them, I suspect no fence, not even a sterile dome, will provide security. In the meantime though, it must feel powerful to beat up on olive farmers, thinking this is a sign of military might.

Remember, when you gamble big, even with special protections and victim status, sometimes you still lose ... big. And even with the goodwill of other stronger traditions, whose beliefs lead them to help the weak, there're a lot of awful good reasons for looking to the past to reconsider the current costs of grabbing for more than you're due.

I just hope the Israelis love their children too. And remember than though Isaac was saved, his father honestly believed his son's life was at stake. It's sadder when people offer up sacrifice, but ultimately don't understand what they're risking or that their sacrifice will be accepted. Look at what longstanding values ("thou shalt not murder") of their own already have been discarded merely for the land value. What does a man or religion really "win" if he or it ultimately loses his soul, and the reason for the traditions?

Israel regularly carries out brief ground incursions and airstrikes in Gaza in a bid to stop Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israeli towns.

Tuesday's operation, in which tanks and bulldozers pushed 2.5 miles into southern Gaza, was the broadest push since the Hamas takeover. Early Wednesday, the troops had withdrawn to a buffer zone along the Israeli border.

The Israeli forces left behind heavy damage to al Fukhari, a farming community near the southern town of Khan Younis.

About 75 acres of olive trees and orange groves were uprooted, greenhouses and the outer walls of homes were damaged, and homes were left without power, said Ouda Alomar, mayor of the community. Repair crews were trying to restore electricity and reopen roads that were closed with dirt mounds put up by the troops, he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened his security Cabinet, a group of top political and defense officials, to discuss the Gaza situation. One Cabinet member said Israel was leaning toward continued incursions into Gaza, but would not launch a broad invasion of the area.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said officials are concerned that an invasion would cause heavy casualties to Israeli troops and damage the prospects for peace talks.