I've seen so much written about the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. And most of the arguments, on both sides, frankly, make me sick.

First and foremost, while my interpretation of Revelations runs nearer to those who would defend Israel, I am no fool. I know that God's timing is God's timing, and that our actions can neither hasten nor hinder God's actions. And that to even attempt to do so would be futile. But Israel's right to self defense has nothing to do with end times prophecy.

Now, we can, of course, get into a historical interpretation of who owned the land first, and who had rights to it, but we could get into the same argument about every single chunk of rock on the planet. Unless you live on a volcanic island that popped into existence within your lifespan, it's fairly certain that SOMEONE inhabited that chunk of land before you did. And that at some point in history, it was seized by force by someone else.

The nation of Israel is pretty much the ultimate example of eminent domain abuse, I'll grant you that. But it's an abuse that happened nearly 60 years ago, before most of the current combatants were even alive, much less old enough to lay claim to the land. And it is also an abuse that took place with the blessing of the United Nations. Oddly enough, most people arguing for the rights of the Palestinians are not arguing for the abolition of the UN. Go figure.

But, more to the point, the terrorists within Hezbollah are not Palestinian; they are for the most part Lebanese. And the Israeli response to Hezbollah has attempted to hit the terrorists where they live. While there has been some collateral damage, it is no different than the collateral damage inflicted in any armed conflict: tragic and horrifying, yes, but ultimately a casualty of war.

As we evaluate whether Israel's response to Hezbollah is just and proper, we must ask ourselves, what exactly, Hezbollah WANTS. If it is for Israel to recognize the nation of Palestine, then why did they STEP UP attacks against Israel as Israel began to disengage from the Gaza Strip? And why does Hezbollah continue to proudly support the legacy of those Hezbollah activists who bombed a community center in Buenos Aires in 1994? What do Argentinian Jews have to do with the occupation of Palestine?

The answer to those questions should be pretty clear: Hezbollah's aim is the extermination of ALL Jews, whether they be Zionist or not, based on their radical (and faulty, many imams would insist) interpretation of the Qu'ran. The continued existence of those of Jewish faith is intolerable to these radical extremists, and they will continue to sacrifice their lives in working to that end. It's pretty hard to make peace with those whose only "peace" will come when you cease to exist.

The biggest flaw in American foreign policy regarding Israel is our failure to remain neutral. Israel's foreign policy is Israel's foreign policy, and Palestine's is Palestine's. Ultimately our best answer to both sides would be the neutrality of ALL disinterested nations in their conflict. But most nations have too much invested in the arms buildups of these Third World nations to make any pretense to neutrality a practical reality at this point. We are simply playing out our larger conflicts on these middle eastern stages where the stakes are lower and where less of the final casualties will be our own.

There are no easy solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East. But a good first step would be true neutrality towards the participants, who need to learn, basically, to fight their own battles.