The most recent Israeli attack on Gaza is an excellent example of the pathology of contemporary civic responsibility. The Israelis claim to be attacking Gaza in an effort to save a kidnapped IDF soldier, but the method they are employing seems rather strange for such an effort - they are bombing a very broad range of targets - none of which has any particular relationship to the missing soldier. Indeed, the most striking target bombed on the very first day was the main power plant that supports the civilian population of Gaza. This means that a population of over a million will be without power for months (one estimate was six months to restore power). Does anyone really believe that Israel bombed this power plan in order to recover one missing soldier? Subject over a million civilians to darkness, no refrigeration, no air conditioning, and - most important - no fresh water (since the water treatment plants are dependent on electricity to operate)?

This is a case of cowboys and Indians, just like the American West. The Israelis want the Palestinians gone. And they have only two methods to achieve that goal - force them all to leave or kill them - and for decades they have been doing some of both. Just as we did with the native population of this land, so the Israelis have been doing with the Palestinians. They have been herded into ghetto settlements - refugee camps and confined areas surrounded by IDF roadblocks and patrols - and periodically subjected to targeted assassinations, Ariel bombardment, sniper attacks, artillery shelling, and imprisonment without charge or judicial due process. They have been deprived of the ability to make a living, to visit family living in other parts of the county, and to participation in the civic, political, or cultural life of the country. Their land and homes have been stolen, their orchards uprooted, their livelihoods blocked. Sources of water, electrical power, food, and financial aid have been blocked or diverted. Their very mobility has been severely restricted - to the point that simply going to work or visit the hospital can present an impossibly difficult set of hurdles.

Yet in the Western press the image presented is almost constantly of the "terrorist" attacks on innocent Israeli civilians, as if suicide bombings and rocket attacks occurred only because the perpetrators were evil and in thrall to 'Islamofacism' or some such nonsense. The reality is quite different. If one looks at the number of casualties and deaths on both sides, the proportion is almost ten to one - ten dead Palestinians to one Israeli. That something is going on here that is not reported - not acknowledged in the western press - if pretty evident. The major part of the suffering is in the world of the Palestinians, not the Israelis. For example, doesn't it strike people as a bit unfair that a country with the most highly sophisticated war planes and bombs is attacking a people who not only don't have an air force or an ariel defense system - they don't even have an army! Israel is essentially attacking a civilian population with weapons designed to be used against comparable military targets. It is so far beyond shooting fish in a barrel that it should be humiliating in the extreme. And, one would think, generate a great public outcry because of the unfair and barbarous assault on the poor and weak. But it seems the world at large doesn't believe that dropping high explosives on densely populated and defenseless urban environments is anything to be ashamed of. All in a day's work for history's favorites. After all, it's the same pathological blindness that allowed America to inflict "Shock and Awe" on a country with no ability to fight back.

Both Israel and the US will some day pay a heavy price for this arrogant, bullying behavior. And I fear that day is nearer than any of us thinks.