There's no end to the number of articles written demanding that Israel's response to Hezbollah is improper. Yet in all of those blogs, only one offers a solution, and, ironically that solution is one that opponents of Israel's foreign policy would even find appalling. That solution is, of course, Emp's solution of the complete extermination of all Israelis. Not surprisingly, Emp's solution is also Hezbollah's solution.
The lack of real, viable solutions for Israel is part of what is making the peace process so difficult. There are many who would demand that Israel stop doing what it is doing, ignoring the fact that if Israel stops doing what it is doing, then the extermination of Israel WILL be the end result, as the nation will find itself unable to protect itself from the missiles that strike its cities daily, under the terms of the ridiculously suggested unilateral cease fire.
While Hamas, as the politically dominant party in Palestine, has some accountability to world leaders for its actions, Hezbollah has no more accountability than, say, the Lions Club. They are accountable to themselves, and any cease fire drawn up by the UN would not be binding on this organization. Only on the nations in which the organization operates. And while the UN has some muscle (wrongly given, in my opinion) to regulate foreign policy, history has proven that the UN is weak in regulating domestic policy, even in the cases where it has attempted to do so (Darfur, anyone?). You simply cannot conduct negotiations with a political entity that does not exist.
We cannot pretend to address the problems in the middle east by simply insisting that Israel cease firing on Lebanon and Palestine. We must address them with real solutions that give Israel an answer to the attacks carried out on its own nations, if we are to do anything at all. My personal belief is that "doing anything at all" has been our first problem. While I'm hardly a hard line isolationist, I think we're too wrapped up in the political battles of other countries, and that our lack of objectivity in Middle East politics may one day cost us dearly. And not just in the price we pay for gasoline at the pump.
I believe the best solution is to contain, as best we can, the conflicts of the Middle East to the Middle East. Let them duke it out, and simply address the problems when they spread to our nation or to those of our allies. This is a battle that's about FAR more than a piece of land or a few oil wells. It is about the fundamentally held beliefs of two divergent religions, both of whom are acting like stubborn toddlers fighting over a toy. And as long as they can appeal to their "big brothers" to fight the battles for them, they are unlikely to find real, lasting solutions.