Today marks the fifth day of Israel’s military action against Hamas.  Although both sides have been actively participating in fire exchange, the amount of destruction thus far has mainly been one sided.

The Israeli government, today, anounced their approval to allow the military to call up 2,500 reserve soldiers.  This action is the first active sign that Israel is considering a first strike ground campaign.

For the first time, since the beginning of hostilities, the Israeli government opened up its border into Gaza for humanitarian relief efforts.  Shipments of food and health supplies began crossing the border late this morning.

Now here is the crux of the situation.  Israel is completely in the wrong.

This morning on NPR, Sallai Meridor, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, confirmed that Israel broke the peace and carried out systematic strikes against individuals it believed to have acted in past transgressions against Israel.  This is the first public admission buy an Israeli official of Israel’s first strike option.

This comes three days after a U.S. official announced that Hamas broke the cease-fire agreement that had expired just a week before.

At the beginning of hostilities Israel implemented a two mile quarantine zone between Israel and Gaza which prevented members of the press from entering into Gaza.  Yesterday, Reporters Without Borders filed a lawsuit against the Israeli government on the grounds of free speech.  Today, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that a limited amount of reporters must be allowed in.  This morning the Israeli government announced that it will allow a selected amount of reporters to cross into the region, but only during humanitarian relief shipments.

With the amassing of troops along the border, the call-up of 2,500 reservists, and a quarantined zone, one must ask themself if a full blown war is not far off.

Tonight the United Nations is in emergancy session to hopefully prevent such a situation from taking place.  However, there is a caveat, the United States is standing by to prevent any “harsh language” from being used against Israel.

People are dying, and the Bush administration is worried about “harsh language”.  Even in his final days, one must ask about George W. Bush’s priorities.  With over 300 dead, 60 of which have been confirmed as civillians, it’s quite obvious that it is not innocent human life.

Randall Thomas