How unsettling is the news from the Mideast these days.

Over the years in the news business I have watched the news from the Mideast ebb and flow.

There have been any number of "peace deals" brokered over the years, most notable, one by Jimmy Carter in the late '70s.

But regardless, the Mideast always seems to regenerate into violence.

The Mideast has a pretty violent past.

For a highly informative, fairly brief overview of the history of Israel, go here:

www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm

Frankly, David conquered Jerusalem around 1000 B.C. and there has been some sort of conflict going on there ever since.

According to jewishvirtuallibrary.org, there were 14.5 million Jews in the world in 2005. That's 0.22 percent of the world's 6.4 billion people.

Mideastweb.org says Israel and Palestine is a small, (10,000 square miles at present) land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.

(For comparison purposes, Massachusetts is 10,555 square miles.)

The present state of Israel occupies all the land from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean ocean, bounded by Egypt in the south, Lebanon in the north and Jordan in the East.

The recognized borders of Israel constitute about 78 percent of the land. The remainder is divided between land occupied by Israel since the 1967 6-Day War and the autonomous regions under the control of the Palestinians.

The Gaza strip occupies an additional 141 square miles south of Israel, and is under the control of the Palestinian authority.

(For comparison purposes, Kosciusko County is 541 square miles.)

It has always amazed me that there has been so much war, strife and ill-will wrought over a tiny fraction of the earth's real estate and population.

Certainly other geographic regions have had their share of violence in their past. Heck, we had a civil war right here in the good ol' USA.

But it seems to me that the Jews and Arabs have been fighting in the Middle East for 3,000 years and it doesn't look like they're going to stop any time soon.

I supposed the best we can hope for is a managed type of violence that doesn't escalate into a wider military conflict.

The latest hostilities arose after Hezbollah guys from Lebanon crossed into Israel and captured a couple of Israeli soldiers.

In retaliation, Israel is bombing Lebanon.

At the same time, the Hezbollah guys in Lebanon keep lobbing rockets into Israel, apparently hoping to kill as many innocent Jews as possible.

It's crazy.

Now I don't pretend to be an expert on Israel, and without looking back and assessing the entire history, I have to give the nod to Israel in this latest conflict - with a caveat.

Seems to me Israel has a right to defend itself against kidnappings, killings and rocket attacks.

Lebanon didn't do much to contain the Hezbollah guys. I really have a tough time buying into the argument that Lebanon has no control over those guys.

Hezbollah does, after all, hold some spots on Lebanon's cabinet and parliament.

That's like saying you can't control your mischievous fifth-grade son. It might be a bit of a challenge, but you can control him.

I'm pretty sure the Lebanese government could have disarmed Hezbollah if it really wanted to. I'm also pretty sure the Lebanese government looked the other way when all those rockets came into Lebanon from places like Iran and Syria.

Of course, we all know what Iran thinks of Israel. That Ahmadinejad guy who runs the show in Iran has called for the annihilation of Israel. He's the one who wants, nukes, too, by the way.

Syria is no friend of Israel, either.

I suppose Israel, by blasting away at Lebanon, is sending a message to places like Iran and Syria to leave it alone. If those place don't get the message, the conflict could widen.

But I think Israel's response is a bit overcooked. Certainly Israel has the right to defend itself and should relentlessly go after Hezbollah strongholds and rocket sites.

But when you look at some of the targets in Lebanon - bridges, roads, airports - and the number of civilian casualties, it seems as if Israel is punishing Lebanon along with defending itself.

I think that strategy could backfire because it has the potential to motivate more young disaffected Arabs to join organizations like Hezbollah.

I think the vast majority of Arab people want to live in peace. It's the radical fundamentalists that blow things up. Problem is, I see the bombardment of Lebanon as helping to cultivate a whole new crop of radicals.

Something that tilts me in Israel's favor, however, is that it voluntarily withdrew from the Gaza Strip last year. It also withdrew voluntarily from Lebanon in 2000.

I really think Israel would like to live in peace, but that's kind of tough when you're surrounded by a bunch of people bent on destroying you.

But the craziest thing of all is that all of the violence and bloodshed in the region is based on religion.

Wikipedia, the online reference site, defines Hezbollah as a "Lebanese Shia Islamic group and political party, with a military arm and a civilian arm, founded in 1982 ...

"... Hezbollah is the main political party and military organization representing the Shia community, Lebanon's largest religious bloc. Founded with the aid of Iran and funded by it, Hezbollah follows the distinct Shia Islamic ideology developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran."

In Arabic, Hezbollah means Party of God.

How's that for irony?

This is why I hold out little hope for peace in the Mideast.

Honestly, if you think you are doing God's work by lobbing rockets, kidnapping and killing, what are the chances you are willing to peacefully negotiate? [[In-content Ad]]