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[freeradica1]

In the movie, "Saving Private Ryan", a band of soldiers, headed by Tom Hanks, ventures into war-ravaged lands in order to save, well, Private Ryan. Now, I'm not going to give away the ending, but some of Tom Hanks's own soldiers die in this "rescue mission". Apparently, this is Steven Spielberg's subtle way of asking the question: "was it worth

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[freeradica1]

I'm more concerned about Israel's methods than anything else. Even if Israel was justified in invading Lebanon, their methods in both Lebanon and Gaza have targetted civilians rather than militants. In the case of Gaza, its first actions were to destroy Gaza's main power plant and roads leading into and out of Gaza. In the case of Lebanon, Israel started off by bombing the Beirut airports, hezbollah offices, and roads. In both cases, Israel has tried to exert pressure on governments by making life miserable for the populace. In both locations, this strategy has done little more than increase hostility towards Israel.
In addition, in attacking Hezbollah, Israel has been reluctant to send in ground troups, and has been hitting lebanese civilians as a result. These airstrike have the stated intention of destroying Hezbollah's rockets and other arms, but have appeared ineffective at best. As a result, the situation in Lebannon has done more to strengthen Hezbollah and anti-Israeli extremists in the middle east than just about anything Israel could have done. Even if Israel deserves to be able to defend themselves, they've certainly gone about it the wrong way.
Also, Hezbollah may not recognize Israel's right to exist, but Hamas had just reached an agreement with Fatah on the issue...a few days before Israel invaded Gaza. Here is a BBC article from June 27. In retrospect, it's a little ironic that it mentions "heightened tension with Israel following the capture of an Israeli soldier".