State of Warre

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...with a crucial difference: Whereas Hobbes' state of nature presupposed an equality of killing-power, such a parity is patently absent in the latest Israeli-Palestinian tit-for-tat.

Granted that Israel is obliged to respond to injuries visited upon it, Your Cartoonist is not sure what Olmert expects Hamas and the denizens of Gaza to do; beset as they are and unable to escape their predicament, their only recourse is to fight, wherefore they will not surrender. Needless to say, the result is a nigh-intractable bloody mess.

By the way, happy new year!