The world's gone crazy with Israel's attacks on Gaza, and the rockets that are being fired into Southern Israel. "Operation Pillar of Defense", though, is going to be a disaster. I've put six points together -- reactions on how the war was declared, via Twitter, and in English; how the IDF is liveblogging the war; how the assassination of Ahmed al-Jabari was a strategic error; a few suggestions on other ways to end rocket fire; and, what we'd feel if the shoe was on the other foot.

B'tselem: "The barrier’s location within the territory of the West Bank and the imposition of a rigid permit regime infringe on a long list of Palestinians’ human rights... Given that construction of the Separation Barrier along its present route violates human rights of Palestinians, the government of Israel must dismantle all the sections built inside the territory of the West Bank and stop further construction there."

The laws are different for settlers and for those protesting against the occupation and the immoral eviction of Susya's residents and the destruction of its structures. Hass also documents cases of harassment of local Palestinians by settlers, as well as destruction of olive groves. This is the moral effect of the occupation rearing its ugly head in the actions of Israeli citizens. Unacceptable.

The Levy Committee report won't be the end of Israel tomorrow. But its support from government ministers, its radical overturning of the 2005 Sasson Report commissioned by Ariel Sharon, and an increasingly entrenched status quo don't look good for Israel. If the Jewish-democratic state is to continue to thrive long into the future then this is not the right way to go.

Hagai El-Ad: "Woe upon us if our consciousness becomes so clouded that we overlook the greatest philosophical-scientific achievement of our times: the principle that it is forbidden to return that which we have stolen, because then we might be forced to stop stealing ... We must therefore keep doing what we should never have done in the first place, in order that we may continue doing it into perpetuity."

Israel shouldn’t be in the business of stopping Palestinian development just because it can. It should be ushering in as much pre-state development as it can to help ready the Palestinian Authority for eventual statehood. Advocates for the two-state solution should be in favour of this, not against it.

His questions -- from asking how the dissolution of the State of Israel would take place, to the merging of educational systems, to questions of the military -- all are incredibly complex and difficult. On the other hand, the Geneva Initiative, and some measure of confederacy, offer a more tangible solution. The two-state solution is the only practical means of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel's report isn't great - it documents some concerning incidents and trends. But it's got nothing on the abuses perpetrated by Israel, the PA and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza. Makes for depressing reading. In Israel, because of the freedom of speech and wide net of NGOs there is a lot more hope. In the territories, great upheaval is necessary.

This has the opportunity to empower peacemaking. Some will say having both East and West Jerusalem mapped legitimises Israel's control over parts of the West Bank. To them I say this: Knowledge breeds peace. Being able to see Arab suburbs of East Jerusalem will help understand even just a little more the people who live there, and increase knowledge about their disaffection and the inequality they suffer. The more you know, the more likely you will be part of a solution, and the more likely one will come.

Good to see Peter Beinart getting out and about and having a laugh with Stephen Colbert. Very funny.