Will there ever be peace in the Middle East?

Just finished my exam today so I'm feeling very relieved but also very tired. It's weird in the sense that I'm 24 and just finished half of a Masters degree. I guess there's a lot of young people out there doing extra study so I shouldn't be that suprised.

In the last couple of days when I shoulda been studying but was doing everything but that, I started reading up on the Middle East conflict. It is a shocking and frightening situation. It is just very sad that the human race has come to this - fighting with each other. It is a complex situation - this political, reglious, racial turmoil. More than two soldiers being captured by the Hezbellah. Seems that both sides have a lot of pent up rage. As soon as I started reading about it, it was just ludicrous how Israel was just bombing Lebanon's highways, airports, infrastruture. A disproportionate response.

It's obviously got a deeper storyline behind it but at the end of the day, can't we all simply get along? I guess that's a very idealistic notion because as long as I have been alive, there has never been peace in the Middle East. What's my definition of peace? Not waking up in the morning and reading about another bombing, another attack, people dying in those countries. This tit for tat reaction by both sides can only produce additional response.

I wish that in my lifetime that one day these people will know what it is to live in a time of peace. A day without worrying about suicide bombers. A day without worrying about tanks coming through the front door. A day without running for cover as soon as the bullets start firing. Maybe that is wishful thinking, but hey we gotta hope for a better day.

Will there ever be peace in the Middle East?