>>I am a firm believer that a cease fire needs to happen NOW whether or not it is sustainable. The long-term goal of course would be a sustainable ceasefire, but even if we know a short term one would not be, that would at least allow civilians to take flight and evacuate. There is no question of negotiating with Hezbollah I'm afraid. That will accomplish nothing as history has proven their long term goals and they even have advertised them to the world. I think only an international force in Lebanon while Lebanon struggles to become a strong democracy will provice any type of security. Even then, there is no guarantee Hezbollah will not attack the international force. Negotiations have been attempted over the years and they have never worked. It is not a question of 'starting off with that attitude' because this all did not just start recently. It only escalated recently. As to comparisons to the IRA and the ETA, I don't think either was provided logistical support and weapons
>>by Syria and Iran and neither did they launch 60 bombs in one day alone on their civilian targets as Hezbollah did.
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>Tracy;
>
>I agree with you 100%. Stop the bombing immediately and get a UN Peace Force at the scene now! There are no guarantees that the belligerents will not attack the UN Peace Force. Hezbollah, Al Qaeda (the news last night said they were in Southern Lebanon), Syria, Iran, as well as Israel could attack the Peace Keepers. This gets worse by the minute.
>

Indeed it does. My hopes for a ceasefire any time soon are dim, though, for the simple reason that neither of the direct combatants nor the principal interested parties (U.S., Iran, Syria) want one. Hezbollah and its state sponsors feel bold enough to take on Israel, while Israel feels it has been handed a golden opportunity to blast the bejesus out of Hezbollah.

I will breathe a sigh of relief if this doesn't turn into a full-blown regional war. Or worse.