Thoughts on resolving the Mideast Crisis

We should focus our attention on peacemaking, both immediate and sustainable. Once there is peace, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission can be set up to seek closure by delineating responsibility.

There is plenty of blame to go around -- Human Rights Watch has reported prima facie evidence of war crimes by both Hezbollah and Israel -- but blamecasting is part of the problem.  Each side waves the bloody shirt to stir people up for the next round of retaliation.

Asymmetries, contributing and aggravating factors:

Asymmetries:  There are obvious imbalances between the parties, but peace requires understanding of all perspectives.

Both sides feel like david against GOLIATH:
Arabs see Israel as a ruthless occupier and fight with simple weapons against Israeli high tech, backed by superpower US.
Israelis see themselves as a besieged island of democracy in a hostile autocratic Arab/Muslim sea, with the Arabs using the oil weapon to isolate Israel internationally, and Iran, calling for Israel's destruction, arming Hezbollah.

Israelis point to the intentional targeting of civilians by Arab terrorists, from Fatah at the Munich Olympics to Hezbollah missiles.  
Arabs point to the much greater toll of actual civilians killed just as dead by Israel's bombs and artillery. Israel claims to take care to minimize civilian casualties, but the slaughter of Lebanese has been grossly disproportionate.

Both sides reportedly use human shields, in different ways.

Contributing and aggravating factors:
Strategic location, at the junction of 2 oceans, 3 continents.  
Strategic resources: oil is globally strategic; water is regionally strategic.
Hamas and Hezbollah have a history of terrorism targeting civilians, but so did the Irgun and Stern Gang, led by future Israeli Prime Ministers Begin and Shamir.  Terrorist groups can evolve into political movements - Fatah moved from rejectionism to negotiation.
National irredentism is bad enough - as Mark Twain put it, "there isn't an acre on the face of the earth in the possession of its rightful owner." Satisfying all land claims is impossible.
Even worse is religious irredentism: God gave us this Holy Land for all time.  We have divine blessing to smite the infidel.  
A wing of the Christian Right in the US sees this conflict as leading toward Armageddon, and wants to help it along.

Such factors feed the disproportionate emotion about this war, compared to
much bloodier wars, such as Darfur, and double standards and apocalyptic rhetoric in each direction.
Conversely, settling this crisis would be very helpful in reversing the drift toward a global holy war of civilizations; failing to resolve it could lead to a catastrophic wider war.

There is virulent racism on both sides:
The extremist elements on both sides feed off each other, often initiating violence when peace threatens to break out.

IDF by its actions devalues the lives of Arabs.
A significant minority of Israelis supports ethnic cleansing of Arabs to make room for Greater Israel.
A small minority of Israelis agree with the rabbi of Rabin's assassin, who said that "the lives of a million Arabs are worth less than a Jewish fingernail."

Israelis have a well founded fear of a second Holocaust.
Arabs, occupied by Britain, supported the Axis in WWII.
Many Arabs want to "drive Israel into the sea", though Oriental Jews of
Mideastern ancestry are Israel's largest population group. Some Arab people and media even say that the problem with Hitler is that he didn't finish the job.

Iranian president Ahmadinijad, who is arming Hezbollah
A) is a Holocaust denier, ie Nazi sympathizer;
B) advocates wiping Israel off the map;
C) is developing a nuclear enrichment capability not needed for civilian nuclear power but crucial for nuclear weapons.

Cross border attacks are taken by Israelis as a sign that withdrawal from
occupied territories will just bring the Jihad against Israel's existence next door.  So those attacks directly undercut a settlement based on the 1967 borders.  That is the gravity of those attacks, not the small body count.  Likewise the devastation of Lebanese people and infrastructure by Israel hurts the prospect of future peace, especially so soon after the Cedar Revolution and Syrian withdrawal, turning opponents of Hezbollah into supporters.

"It is worse than a crime, it is a blunder" - Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe

What can be done?

Immediate ceasefire in place must be strictly observed.
Commitment by Israel and Hezbollah not to restart attacks.
No resupply of arms to any party breaking the ceasefire.

Border zone patrolled by Lebanese Army backed by an  effective international force.  Withdrawal by Israeli forces to Israel, Hezbollah fighters to north of border zone, as security patrol moves in.

Massive relief to Lebanon ASAP, funded by US, EU, Saudis.

Direct talks with Syria, to include ending missile supply to Hezbollah, US renouncing forcible regime change in Syria, Syria pledging to stay out of Lebanon, and Israel returning Golan Heights to Syria as part of a comprehensive peace.

Israel-Palestine negotiation of a full two state peace based on the 1967 borders, with a viable Palestinian state, mutual recognition, and disarmament of militias.

A nuclear weapon-free zone throughout the Middle East, with rigorous verification, and greatly reduced arms supply.

US Apollo scale energy program to end oil addiction. []