Sparks: Israel & Hezbollah trade fire a day after historic talks in Washington

The farmer in southern Lebanon, who yesterday sold his olives for a fair price, today watches his grove burn and learns that political economy is written in fire as well as coin.

Any treaty that fails to design incentives stronger than the profit from continued conflict is merely parchment, not peace.

The handshake in Washington was merely the will to power pausing to change its gloves.

A man in a fine suit speaks of peace while another man, smelling of cordite, loads another shell.

War is peace's father, and peace is war's child; each defines the other by its opposite tension.

These fine words about peace mean nothing to the mother who cannot find her child in the rubble.

A most modest and rational proposal: that we should continue talks on Monday and artillery exchanges on Tuesday, thus satisfying both our diplomatic and military appetites.

'A productive exchange of views' is the phrase used to describe both the meeting and the artillery duel that followed it.