Joe Lauria

Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Author

A former commander-in-chief of Israel's Navy said Israel was hesitant to launch a ground war in Gaza after learning a painful lesson four years ago about the diplomatic consequences of killing Palestinian civilians.

Jesse Aizenstat

Author, "Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation"

Unfortunately, Operation Pillar of Defense, as the Israelis call it, will be remembered as exactly the contrary: another round of needless violence.

Amb. Marc Ginsberg

Fmr. U.S. Ambassador to Morocco & White House Middle East Adviser

Whatever one calls the truce, ceasefire or "quiet for quiet" agreement that (temporarily) ends the latest round of conflict between Israel and Hamas, the accord comes not a moment too soon

David W. Peters

Episcopal priest and Army Reserve Chaplain

Whatever U.S. veterans feel after they come home from Iraq or Afghanistan, you can be sure that Israeli soldiers feel it even more intensely. We get to leave the problems of Iraq on the other side of the world. They don't.

Ahmed Charai

Publisher of the weekly Moroccan magazine 'L'Observateur'

All concerned should pull back the lens -- from Israel and Palestine, where so much attention is focused, to the vast region around that tiny place, where changes are afoot with profound implications for Palestinians and Israelis.

H.A. Hellyer

Nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution

Despite his Islamist credentials -- and his party's historic rejection of the accord -- Egyptian President Morsi has made it clear that the peace treaty between Israel and Palestine is here to stay, and, over the last few days, it has been maintained.

Ed Koch

Former Mayor, New York City

What is Israel to do under these circumstances? It can only do what every other country would do -- exercise its right of self-defense.

Alon Ben-Meir

Senior Fellow, NYU's Center for Global Affairs

Listening to Israeli and Hamas officials talk about the nature of their conflict and what precipitated the current conflagration, one comes to a definite conclusion: they are both right. At close scrutiny, however, one finds that while both may indeed be "right" they also are dead wrong. Both sides have successfully managed over the years to foster public perceptions that support both their respective narratives and the notion that the other has wronged them. It is this conviction and the lack of unbiased and credible voices to the contrary from within and outside the region that allows this violent and self-consuming conflict to fester.

Jehad Saftawi

Freelance videographer living in northern Gaza Strip

I write in bursts, between the blasts. The bombs fall, on average, every four to five minutes, round the clock. We brace ourselves. The rule, we know, is this: If you hear it, you're still alive.

Roger Friedland

Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology, UC Santa Barbara

Israel has the right to defend its citizens against a continuous rain of missiles. But there is no purely military solution to this conflict. There is only a political one, which will require a strong, prosperous, democratic Palestinian state in the West Bank as a counter to the Gaza of Hamas.

Anav Silverman

International Correspondent in Jerusalem

For six-and-half-year-old Dvir in southern Israel, the rockets spawn one main terror. According to his mom, Dvir recently told her that he fears he will never grow old.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin

Emmy-Nominated Producer/Host, @HuffPostLive

To ignore the role of Israel's occupation of Gaza is to ignore the fundamental fact needed to frame the latest escalation in reality rather than rhetoric and propaganda. To do otherwise, flagrantly falsifies the very premise of the conflict.

David Harris

Executive Director, AJC; Senior Associate, St. Antony's College, Oxford (2009-11)

Since the escalation of Hamas missile strikes against Israel began on November 14, there have been three basic kinds of reactions -- moral clarity, mo...

Howard Barbanel

Writer, editor, GOP political consultant, winemaker

For Hamas it is "my way or the cemetery," like their Iranian sponsors, they envision an apocalyptic world where anyone not hewing to their faith will either be forcibly converted or forcibly eliminated.

Davide Mastracci

Journalist, Student

The rhetoric put across by average civilians in social media and the press alike have been extremely disturbing. Yet the most troubling comments have come from elected officials and prominent civilians.

Imam Abdullah Antepli

Muslim Chaplain, Duke University

I believe that those who desire peace for all Israelis and all Palestinians are in the majority--but they have to speak up. They can no longer remain a silent and ineffective majority and continue to let their crazies dominate the conversation and run the show.