Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS – Key world powers trying to promote Mideast peace urged Israel and Hamas on Tuesday to immediately stop fighting in Gaza and southern Israel, the United Nations announced as international efforts to calm the conflict picked up pace. The Quartet of Mideast peacemakers — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — appealed "for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. The statement came four days after Israeli warplanes started bombing in Gaza, targeting Hamas-related installations and homes in an attempt to force a halt to militant rocket attacks...

Imagine it's 1939 all over again. Imagine we haven't learned the tragic lessons of appeasement. Imagine there are still people in the world – in powerful and influential positions – who believe that you can build lasting peace with evil forces upon foundations of paper. You don't have to imagine such a world. It's here. You can see it in the U.S. State Department's eagerness for a cease-fire in Lebanon. You can hear it in the cries for same from the four corners of the world. And you can read it for yourself in yesterday's editorial in the New York...