Watching the crisis unfold from afar

It has been a bitter sweet week. I've been full of excitement about the birth of our daughter, but full of anxiety about the situation in Israel.

As it happens, the Bar Mitzvah of my nephew is due to take place this week in Haifa. We were unable to fly out for it because of the birth of our daughter, so are watching the events unfold from afar. Most of the news coverage here has been about the bombing of Beirut and the evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon. If you're watching the BBC, you'd be under the impression that Israel's attack on Lebanon was completely unprovoked. The Times on the other hand has been more balanced, and there was an excellent article in yesterday's edition by David Aaronovitch. The article asked: A heavily armed militia attacks your territory. what are you meant to do? Well according to the the BBC, the Guardian and the Independent, you have to negotiate with them.

Watching the whole sorry situation from 2000 miles away, we feel pretty helpless.