One Year On

"Just the facts, ma'am"

One year on:

• Israel still exists within its recognized borders and continues to occupy the West Bank, parts of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and large parts of the Gaza Strip (while trying to clear Hezbollah out from Southern Lebanon)

• Hamas has not been defeated and is still present throughout the Gaza Strip

• Hezbollah, although shorn of its senior command, has not been defeated

• US relationships in the Middle East have not been adversely affected

• Most important of all, the underlying issue of how Israelis and Palestinians are supposed to live next to one another (if at all) has not been resolved and is nowhere close to being resolved, whether in favour of one side or the other, or through compromise via a grand deal

• Lots of people have been killed, and there has been quite a lot of destruction as well

One year on and nothing of significance has changed despite all the blood that has been spilled. “Nothing has happened.”