Deja vu… all over again…

And so Israel prepares to invade the Gaza Strip (again)… this time to rescue a kidnapped soldier (Corporal Gilad Shalit) that Palestinian idiots militants kidnapped after tunnelling under the border with Israel and attacking a border post, kililing two other Israeli soldiers in the process. The kidnapped soldier’s fate is a big deal to Israel, which will put up with almost anything directed against its civilians, but goes absolutely mad when anyone attacks its soldiers. (Such is the nature of truly universal conscription, at least in Israel. There is also another missing Israeli, believed to be in the hands of Palestinian militants as well, though there are also reports that a body was found near Ramallah in the West Bank; other reports indicate that militants have threatened to kill that Israeli unless the Gaza incursion is called off.)
Ironically, this comes the same day as an apparent breakthrough deal among Palestinians between Fatah and the ruling Hamas, to effectively recognize Israel and work toward a two-state solution, though with enough loopholes to drive an Israeli armored division through it. So far, Israeli forces have blown up some bridges and attacked the power station in Gaza, cutting off its electricity.
It is unclear where the rescue mission stands (one report shows “minimal resistance“), and what the other consequences of it will be. The only thing certain in the Israeli-Palestinian situation is that it will probably be a long, long time from now before the two sides can get along with each other. And while some Palestinians were proposing reconciliation, others were kidnapping Israeli soldiers, as the late Abba Eban quipped, never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity.