5 members of Israeli West Bank Family have their throats slit - World shrugs

By now, I know enough to say, with conviction, that I will never know enough to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are perhaps, only a handful of other deep-reaching, long-lasting, controversial agreements which permeate every aspect of life, from diplomatic disagreement through full-blown cultural antagonism. Reports grounded in objective fact are nonexistent - too much passion exists on both sides. We hear that Palestinians murder Israelis in cold blood. We hear that Israelis fire missiles indiscriminately into Palestinian territory. We hear that neither side's claim to sovereignty is legal or should be recognized internationally. We hear Israelis are evil colonial imperialists, strong-arming their neighbors into submission with their nuclear arsenal and superior military. We hear that Palestinians unanimously support, harbor, and sympathize with Hamas. What we never hear, however, are serious and realistic intentions to forge a peace.

On the heels of Saturday's news piece, that 5 members of an Israeli family living in the West Bank had their throats slit as they slept, by suspected Palestinian militants, the international community is in a furor. A link to the original story is below, and it also follows up with Israel's planned response to add several hundred settlements in the West Bank - an obvious backtrack from their pledge to halt any further settlement until a mutually agreed upon plan had been reached - in order to secure the area.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/israel-expand-settlements-family-killing

All I can really say is - murdering a family in cold blood, in the middle of the night, to make any type of statement about politics, religion, government, or anything at all - is not the right way to do things. I get that both sides of this schism feel equally passionate about the core issues....but how can society purport to label itself "civilized" if this is how we handle things? So many people on comment boards, on other blogs, etc., seem to target one side or the other. Some say that Israelis deserve this due to their past treatment of Palestinians. Others say that Palestinians deserve retaliation for this. I say: stop disrespecting your neighbor. What is so important? What is the end goal? What does this accomplish? Maybe nobody should be allowed to reside in the West Bank - nary an iota of good news has ever come out of that region.