My good friend Michael Guy, who owns one of the largest non-bank foreign exchange trading houses in the country (and one of the most intelligent persons I know), floated an intriguing proposition during a celebration for the golf victory of mutual friends Coxy Chua, Ramil Oliveiros and Atty. Raul Paras.

He (Michael) refuses to believe that there was a total "failure of intelligence" on the part of Israel regarding the surprise attack of Hamas. He argues — and rightly so — that the Mossad and Shin Bet are the greatest spy agencies in the world at present, surpassing even the CIA when it comes to its region.

With the Mossad's and Shin Bet's abundance of both human intelligence, electronic surveillance, and talented and dedicated intel personnel, no one but no one (least of all Hamas, a ragtag terrorist group) could mount an attack of such magnitude without the Israelis knowing in advance.

That was last Friday (12 October). A fascinating theory, and to be sure not the first (similar theories have been going around about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Twin Towers, among many), but of course, as far as conspiracy theories go, while very plausible, very hard to prove.

So imagine my surprise when, last Saturday and Sunday, I came across a slew of commentaries strongly suggesting just that. Some analysts were saying that Israel let it happen in order to give it a justification to implement its own version of Hitler's despicable "The Final Solution" in Gaza. A renowned geopolitical analyst, Professor Michael Chossudovsky, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa, even went so far as to say that Israel needed a pretext to annex Gaza for its natural gas reserves estimated to be worth trillions of dollars. The plot, as they say, thickens.

Whatever may be the motivations, and whether the theory be true or not, the sad fact remains that civilians are getting killed wholesale by both camps. Death does not discriminate along the lines of intent or motive. Unless somebody big steps in, the unfortunate deaths are sure to continue.

It is undoubtedly much water under the bridge, but it still cannot be gainsaid that the Western Powers are much to blame — albeit remotely — for much of the trouble in the Middle East. It boggles the mind that during the early 1900s, the top statesmen and diplomats of the leading countries in the world failed to see the lack of wisdom in creating countries by drawing artificial lines in the sand. Thus, Sykes-Picot, The Partition (of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan), etc., have wrought untold hardships in those corresponding parts of the world.

Undoubtedly, as a result of the horrors of the National Socialist regime, the Jews needed their own homeland, but carving it out of a place where Arabs had dominated for decades was not the smartest thing. It was like dropping a bunch of red ants smack in the middle of a black ant colony.

As if the fighting and the loss of life and property were not bad enough, the conflict has spread worldwide. Not in terms of a global war (thank heavens), but of groups and nations taking sides. Mass actions — for and against the protagonists — have been taking place, and sometimes they turn violent. Iran has openly said that it will rally Arab nations against Israel, while the longtime allies of the Jewish state have predictably declared themselves for it. These are interesting — nay, scary! — times.

Our country's increasing closeness to the United States has led, as a matter of course, to our stand in favor of Israel although, to be candid, being minor players on the international stage that counts for little. All that we can do is hope and pray that the conflict does not escalate into another world war.

History teaches us that mass destruction can result from even the smallest incidents.