There were two pieces in the New York Times today on Gaza and the aftermath of the Israeli action there last month.  One is a story, In Shattered Gaza Town, Roots of Seething Split, that leaves the reader wondering if the wounds that Israel inflicted in this recent battle can ever be healed.  It is impossible not to wonder if Israel is in fact sewing the seeds of its own eventual destruction.  How can it not be? 

The second piece is a column by Thomas L. Friedman who’s obviously just visited the Middle East and gathered some first hand intelligence.  He paints a pretty hopeless picture of a path forward to Middle East peace.  He wonders if one man, designated special envoy George Mitchell, has a chance of tackling an assignment as daunting as the one he’s been handed by Secretary of State Clinton.  Here’s the closing paragraph of Friedman’s piece, entitled Don’t Try This At Home:  

Who in the world would want to try to repair this? I’d rather herd cats, or become John Thain’s image adviser, or have a colonoscopy, or become chairman of the “bad bank” that President Obama might create to hold all the toxic mortgages. Surely, any of those would be more fun. If Mitchell is still up for it, well, then God bless him.