War crimes in Gaza? Peace on backorder

The Palestinian Authority has joined human rights organizations, some U.N. officials [1], Israeli human rights group B'Tselem [2] , and even Haaretz [3] in demanding that the Israel Defense Forces be investigated for committing war crimes during its recent campaign in Gaza. Human Rights Watch accuses both Hama and the IDF [4] of "serious violations of the rules of war." (That must be some rulebook.) See New Evidence of Gaza child deaths [5].

Meanwhile the outcome of the Israel election, an ultranationalist emerging as evident kingmaker [6], seems guaranteed to lead Israel further to the right and farther away from what's left of the road-map for peace.

Could a hard-right leadership [7] spell the end of the increasingly precarious two-state solution? Foreign Policy's Stephen Walt is pondering such an outcome [8] and wondering if anyone in the Obama Administration is doing the same.

Back in Gaza, the everyday misery persists [9], Caritas [10] begins a $2 million appeal for assistance to the strip's 1.5 million residents, and Amnesty International charges that Hamas liquidated some political rivals [11] during the Israeli incursion. Here's the BBC on conditions on the ground in Gaza [12] .