Is there no alternative?

The unrest in the Middle East is indeed unnerving and somewhat disturbing.

A while back I had the notion that the world is now 'mature'. Mature enough to fight for peace, that diplomacy will always be the solution. That man has come so far that war would not be an option. The price to pay is too high and no one wins in the process. Obviously my thoughts were naive at best.

Amidst the bombings and conflict, what do both sides hope to achieve? Israel would like the return of their soldiers taken captive (and the destruction of the Hezbollah) while Hezbollah would like to destroy Israel. None of these objectives are going to be achieved without an escalation of the violence.

Seems to me that when 2 sides disagree, it is often 'easier' to simply throw bombs at each other, much like kids at kindergarten fighting over a toy. In this case however, the price is high and the consequences great. What will happen after this ends? Has anyone thought of the aftermath?

Terrorism in my book is 'inciting fear by the use of weapons on the innocent', both sides are doing just that.