'Rarely, in more than a decade of war reporting from Bosnia, Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, have I seen such deliberate destruction, such disrespect for human life.

[...]

'The dead are everywhere. Kamal Anis, a labourer, leads us to an area called Harat al-Hawashim, a mound of rubble the size of four football pitches where 200 houses once stood. He says the Israelis levelled the place; he saw them pile bodies into a mass grave, dump earth on top, then ran over it to flatten it.' [Times].

Hakam Kanafani, general manager of Jawwal, the Palestinian mobile phone company, writes a letter to Israel:

'I believe in your right to exist in peace and security.

[...]

'All Israeli terrorists are mere lunatics, all the civilians you kill are by mistake, all the houses you demolish are owned by sub-humans, all the people tortured in your detention camps are terrorists, all the land you confiscate is biblical.

[...]

'your army does exactly the same thing you always deplore; your army kills civilians almost daily.

[...]

'For 35 years, you've enslaved us. You never stopped building settlements. You've created generations of Palestinian nothingness that can lead only to desperation and violence. How did you expect us to react?

[...]

'No leader (not even Arafat) can restrain a man who saw his son beaten by a teenage, gun-happy soldier. You've planted the seeds, you are now reaping the harvest.' [Independent].

Uri Avnery, Israeli war hero and co-founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Coalition), sees too clearly what lies ahead:

'No good for Israel will come out of this adventure, as no good came out of any of Sharon's previous adventures. The concept was stupid, the implementation cruel, the results will be disastrous. It will not bring peace and security, solve no problem, but it will isolate Israel and endanger the Jews throughout the world.