Throughout the world, Israel’s extrajudicial killing of Hamas leader Saleh Shehadeh, which “accidentally” resulted in the deaths of 15 others, many of them children, has elicited official expressions of shock and outrage. Even Israel’s bankrollers and diplomatic guardians in Washington, DC had to admit that this act was wrong and “heavy-handed,” in the words of President Bush. A visitor from another planet, watching the downward spiral of politics in Israel and Palestine over the last two years, might imagine that this event will galvanize the world, mark a turning point, and shock all parties into the overdue realization that violence is not the answer. Our extraterrestrial guest would, alas, be wrong. Read more about Getting away with murder: Israeli impunity triumphs again 

The images of torn and shattered bodies, the piles of human remains of Israelis and Palestinians look exactly the same to the naked eye. The screams of the injured and the cries of the bereaved issue neither in Hebrew nor in Arabic, but in the universal language of human anguish and the incalculable pain that accompanies the death of babies, young children, women, old men, and other innocents. Read more about The politics of murder