Startling—and stomach turning : where Palestinians are involved, memory and sense of proportion fail us.

After a six-month ceasefire, one of the two parties to the conflict (the Palestinians) is said to have broken the truce by unleashing its rockets. The victim of aggression (Israel) is acting solely in self-defense—if we are to believe the version sold to the world by Israel, and relayed by complacent and complicit Western media with the full support of the Bush administration and of many European governments. The bravest among them can barely bring themselves to point out Israel’s “disproportionate” reaction. What courage !

And, most of all, what lies !

For decades—long before Hamas came to power—the Palestinians have seen their dignity trodden underfoot, their legitimate rights denied.

The Israeli government has fenced in the population of the West Bank

subjected the population of Gaza to a siege coupled with a blockade that has brought hunger, a shortage of medical supplies and care