Fortunately, not all Americans are being fooled. A letter published in The New York Times on July 15 stated: "As the Middle East drama escalates, the United States must realize that it is both in its own interest as well as in the interest of regional peace to avoid backing Israel unconditionally. The universal association of Israel with America has translated 'anger with Israel' into 'anger with America,' so that in addition to its own enemies, the United States must also face opponents of Israel. In terms of peace, America's enthusiastic support removes pressure on Israel to negotiate with its neighbors; with an American crutch, Israel can act independently and inconsiderately, without fear of aftermath. Peace can be achieved only when all parties share an interest in it, and who needs peace when you have America?"

Another read: "Israeli soldiers should not be kidnapped, and Palestinians should not fire rockets into Israel. But the Israelis should also not assassinate Palestinian members of Hamas and kill civilians when they miss their targets. This cycle of violence did not start with the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier. If the Israelis have a right to defend themselves, so do the Palestinians. Let us not take sides. Let us not help one side make war but force both sides to make a just peace."

A third writer commented: "Israel's response to the kidnappings of its soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon threatens to destabilize the region, which is exactly what Iran and Syria would like. I do not condone the kidnappings in any way, but I can't help but wonder how many Arabs must die for each kidnapped Israeli: 100, 200, 300, 1,000? There must be another way."

And finally, a fourth person wrote: "For years, Americans have accepted Israel's claims to be a nation concerned with peace and justice and democracy, but unfortunately, it is now clear that that image is far removed from reality. Before our very eyes, Israel's armed forces have invaded neighboring Lebanon, as Israeli artillery blasts away at that country and as the Israeli Air Force bombs Beirut. Now the masquerade is over; Israel has made itself visible to the world as a militaristic nation that continues to impose a brutal occupation on the Palestinians and that has violently invaded Lebanon. Sadly, we must recognize and deal with Israel's behavior for what it is, not for what we would have idealistically wanted it to be."

People, especially Americans, seem to have forgotten the context of the current flare up. It all started with President Bush's much-ballyhooed prescription, widely echoed by the media cheerleaders such as Tom Friedman of The New York Times, that democracy is the panacea for all that ails the Middle East. So, with international monitors watching, fair elections were held in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Iraq. However, Israel and America did not like the outcome: Hamas's victory in the Palestinian election and Hezbollah's minority role in the Lebanese government. Someone forgot to tell the Palestinians and the Lebanese that democracy is good for them only if they vote for parties Israel and America like. What Bush people do not seem to understand is that if people with radical backgrounds are rebuffed when they embrace democracy, they will inevitably return to extremism.

Ever since Hamas's victory in last year's Palestinian elections, Israel, and at Israel's insistence America, have done everything in their power to undermine the democratically-elected Palestinian government. They have successfully cut off funds for the Palestinians and have attempted to starve the entire population. Tragicomically, thanks to the efforts of the Israel and the US, Palestinians became the first occupied population to be placed under international sanctions. Israel continued its campaign of bombing Gaza and the targeted-killing of Hamas leaders without any criticism from the Bush administration whatsoever. In May, a young Palestinian girl and her entire family were blown into smithereens as they vacationed on the Gaza beach, by an Israeli missile. None of these qualifies as provocations?

Pro-Israeli neoconservative apologists like Charles Krauthammer of Time and the Washing Post are propagandizing that since last August, Gaza is "free." In reality, with Israel controlling Gaza's air space, water supply, entrance and egress and the sea coast, to the Palestinians Gaza is a massive Israeli prison "where 79 percent of households live in poverty, and children scavenge through dumpsters. It is also an Israeli target range, where schools, bridges and electric plants have been destroyed."

A Princeton clergy elaborated in our local newspaper on July 13: "The 1.5 million residents of the Gaza strip are sealed into a prison without clean water, food or electricity; without the means to export goods, without access to international financial aid or aid from non-government organizations -- not even from the UN High Commission for Refugees -- and without personal funds from family members from other countries. Our media are not giving the crisis the attention it deserves and our government is paying no attention. Genocide is wrong in Gaza."

With the Arab world seething in anger, it is in the context of the strangulation of Gaza by Israel that one Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Hamas operatives and two more by Hezbollah. Hamas and Hezbollah want to exchange 9,000 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails for these soldiers. Has the world stopped to ask why there are 9,000 Palestinians and Lebanese captives languishing in Israeli jails?

Ever since the 1979 fall of Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was a staunch supporter of Israel, the Iranians have supported Israel's adversaries the Palestinians, Hamas and Hezbollah. If that sounds unreasonable, consider this: led by the US, the military and economic might of the Western world supports Israel to the hilt. All the rage in the Western world currently is how to punish Iran for its nuclear ambitions. No one wants to discuss the excesses being committed by the nuclear-armed Frankenstein created by the West, Israel! Emboldened, rogue Israel is looking for an excuse to attack Iran next! It may be recalled that the dictator Shah signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty without consulting the Iranian people. Israel has not signed it. It is now becoming clear to why the West insists on keeping the Islamic nations disarmed, militarily weak and without nuclear-capability -- so that they and their proxy states like Israel can attack Muslim countries with impunity.

If Israel is so incensed by the kidnapping of three of its soldiers, just imagine how angry Palestinians and Lebanese must feel when Israeli retaliation kills hundreds of their innocent civilians. As The New York Times editorial on July 13 correctly pointed out, use of such disproportionate force by Israel does not make the Arab civilians "angry at the terrorists who provoked the violence. It makes them angrier at Israel." And at America, Israel's prime sponsor, the Times should have added. Israel's use of overwhelming force does not intimidate the Arabs, it only infuriates them further.

Because of its overwhelming military superiority over the Arabs, Israel's knee-jerk reaction to any crisis is to shell, bomb, invade and blockade Arab lands, as it is doing in Gaza and Lebanon now. After a while, the Times adds, such operations "lose its clear territorial and counterterrorism definition," and begins "to take on a perverse momentum of its own." What about the Bush administration sacred mantra, "Democracies do not attack democracies"? Although Lebanon has not attacked Israel, Israel, presumably a democracy, has proved Bush wrong by attacking a sovereign democratic country, Lebanon. As Israel destroys Lebanon's infrastructure, airports, bridges, roads, buildings, military installations, electrical grid and fuel depot, the world looks the other way and pretends as though nothing is happening. As Israel systematically destroys Lebanon, and the militarily weak, pro-western Lebanese government begs the UN and the US to ask Israel to cease fire to no avail, where is the UN, the agency so quick to punish the Muslim nations?

Israel has to understand that the only way to achieve peace with the Palestinians and security for itself is to end its occupation of Palestinian lands, withdraw behind the pre-1967 border and stop controlling the daily lives of the Palestinians through hundreds of check points. Whether Israel has that intention is questionable. Anyone visiting the occupied territories would notice that Israel is becoming more and more entrenched in the West Bank. Noam Chomsky believes that Israel's sole intention is to make sure that no Palestinian state ever exists. With America in its pocket, Israel can do pretty much what it wants and flout international laws at will, as it is doing now. The world is being asked to accept two sets of laws; one for Israel and one for the rest of the world.

In the mainstream American media and political circles, any discussion of the long and short-term cost to America for the Israeli intransigence is taboo. Commentators are expected only to heap praise on Israel and heave scorn on Arabs and Muslims. Yet, slowly but surely, the costs are being accrued. In the Islamic world, under the Bush administration, America is being blamed for all of Israel's irrational invasions. Since Israel's incursion into Lebanon, crude oil prices have jumped almost $10 a barrel. Americans will pay much more at the pumps and for myriad of petroleum-based products in the coming months because of Israeli adventure. Yet, criticism of Israel remains tantamount to treason.

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is a columnist of The Daily Star.