Gaza Conflict

I'm hard pressed to summon up the deep moral indignation for or against Israel or Hamas that many seem able to muster, so this isn't an attempt to spread propaganda or convert anyone to my side, but I think there are a couple of really good articles or links to articles on Salon:

First, Glenn Greenwald points to a transcript of a very good, mostly civil discussion between two people, Greenwald and Hugh Hewitt, holding opposing views on Israel's recent actions.

Secondly, there's an article by Gary Kamiya that uses a comparison that I think is close to the right one, i.e., consider a conflict between native Americans and the U.S. government. To be clear, I don't think it follows from this that Hamas is justified in and/or should be allowed to continue firing rockets into Israel, but it really does baffle and trouble me that so many seem willing to pretend that this conflict exists in a complete historical vacuum, i.e., that suddenly, just to be evil and malicious, Hamas started firing rockets, and that therefore Israel is justified in taking whatever force is necessary to ensure that that stops happening.