The trouble with anger, especially international anger such as that between Israel and Hizbullah in Lebanon, is that everyone stops listening. In fact because of this "deafness" Lebanese men women and children are dying as we speak. Meanwhile the international community, instead of shouting louder, has sat on its hands and done nothing. In the name of fighting terrorism George Bush and Tony Blair, ignoring the difficulty of the job in Iraq and Afghanistan, appear to want Israel to get involved in yet another unwinnable guerrilla war.

The present conflict was triggered by a Hizbullah operation in which two Israeli soldiers were captured and three killed. This alone certainly doesn't justify Israel's ferocious onslaught against the very fabric of Lebanese society. There's no doubt that the rocket attacks carried out from the Lebanon were and continue to be appalling crimes against Israeli men women and children, but the level of retaliation is, to use a modern euphemism, hardly proportionate. A brief excursion back in time to 1982 shows that Hizbullah originally developed in order to fight the occupation of Lebanon by the Israelis. In the same way Hamas developed in order to fight for a Palestinian state. Both organisations have developed in similar ways in the sense that their political wings have been responsible for setting up clinics, hospitals and schools, while their military wings have continued with suicide bombings and killings of Israelis.

If Israel had been more conciliatory in the past would this have led to a more peaceful region? This is difficult to predict even with that well-known 20:20 hindsight. It is worth remembering though that Israel has always seen itself, justifiably, as an island under threat from unfriendly neighbours although there are countries in the Middle East who were happy not to challenge its existence. But it is evident from the occasional reports printed in Egremont Today from Maureen Jack in Hebron how seriously the Israeli state is failing in its duty to treat its Jewish and Arab citizens with equal respect. The building of the wall which in many places divides Palestinian dwellings from the land where they earn their living, the difficulty of accessing ordinary facilities such as hospitals or schools and military harassment at newly created borders all add up to a self evident terrorist breeding ground.
Both Hamas and Hizbullah now have massive support within their communities: within the Palestinian authority Hamas got more than 50% of the vote in the last election and a recent survey in Lebanon gave support for Hizbullah as greater than 80% from all sections of the community including Christians, Druze and Sunnis (Hizbullah is a Shia organisation). What is desperately needed now, apart from a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal, is a way of strengthening the Lebanese government so that it can guarantee and guard its own borders without Hizbullah once again launching rockets into Israeli cities.

After Hamas was elected to the Palestinian Authority there was a unique opportunity for the international community and Israel to enable them to become a natural part of a democratic government. Although Hamas's rhetoric has sounded aggressive for many many years, hardly surprising bearing in mind why they are there, given some political breathing space I am absolutely convinced that, just like the IRA in our own country, they would slowly but surely have found a way of giving up their arms and their suicide bombings. Whenever I think about the Israeli - Lebanese situation I always let a little bit of reality leak into my thinking and remember how we in the UK have moved on from IRA bombings. Despite the feelings of revulsion that many of us had about the violent activities of both Republicans and Unionists, it was only concessions and negotiations in the end that has led to the current peace in Northern Ireland.