lmost half of the population of this country believes that Jesus will, one day, return to earth. Any thoughts as to where... in which country... Jesus would surface?

The crisis in Lebanon is far larger and about a great deal more than the recovery of two Israeli soldiers who were seized by Islamist guerillas. Maybe it always was. This is nothing new, this conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Islamist militant party, along with its Syrian and Iranian backers. Ever since Israel unilaterally withdrew troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 and last year from Gaza, radical Islamists have intensified their war on the state of Israel. The extrication from Lebanon was expected to be followed by the Lebanese army's occupation of the border region and the disarmament of Hezbollah. Instead Hezbollah has been acting as an independent state within Lebanon. In the Palestinian territories the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, expected to produce peace, was followed by victory for the Hamas group. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by the government of Iran, lead by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has frequently proclaimed that Israel will be "wiped off the map". In Israel it becomes more and more difficult to convince the Israelis that they should make a broad pull out from the West Bank.
Will political moderation become the major loser in the Middle East? Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan have long espoused the desirability of moderation in that region. Now is the time for them to lay the blame were it belongs; on Hamas, Hezbollah and their sponsoring states. They, more than the UN, the Group of 8 leaders meeting in Russia, or the United States should work together, from this moment on, to secure a cease-fire which might, one day, not only weaken the radicals, but might make it possible for there to be peace (which is more than just the absence of warfare) in that troubled region.
Syria and Iran are the backers of Hezbollah and their militancy. They are to blame for the warfare. Has Israel responded with too much force? Maybe.