I have always had the feeling that Armageddon - the real one, not one concocted by some Hollywood film producer, would unroll before us as we stare, paralysed like rabbits in headlights, aware of what is happening but powerless to alter the inevitability of it all.

We may be seeing the preliminary stages over the last few days in the Middle East and wider afield. Israel, reacting in Gaza and Lebanon to the capture of one of its soldiers by Hamas and two by Hezbollah, led by a new, un-military Prime Minister, and goaded beyond caring by the stupidity of terrorists intent on provoking it to further violence to justify their own existence in the eyes of their paymasters in Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia, is about to close down Lebanon and probably raise the whole of Gaza to a pile of rubble.

Hamas, elected to government in Gaza, but denied the massive flow of European and USA money which they probably see as their right, probably thought, like many before them, that Israel would settle for a prisoner exchange. Hezbollah, funded by Iran and led from Syria, itself resentful of being kicked out of Lebanon, probably saw an easy opportunity to likewise coerce what it perceives as a politically weakend Israel. Besides it helps their paymasters in Iran take some pressure off while they get stuck into their uranium enrichment programme.

The ordinary people, in Gaza, in Lebanon and in Israel are unlikely to have been asked whether they wanted Katusha rockets fired from or at their villages, or Israeli bombers strafing their airports or blowing up their bridges, houses and the usual quota of innocent men, women and children.

Unfortunately for them, and for us, it could all prove to be a massive miscalculation. The West, especially America, is not likely to hurry to the assistance of a Palestinian regime led by anything that vaguely looks like a terrorist organisation, and Hamas certainly is not vague about either its intentions or methods. The Europeans, under increasing pressure in Afghanistan by a resurgent Taliban, equally fed up with what they see as Iranian duplicity and support for terrorism, will not come hurrying to assist either the Palestinians, the Lebanese, and especially not Syria, although of course one cannot totally rely on France, but one never could.

And so, from this unholy combination of the cynical use of violence on both sides, there comes the seeds of a real Armageddon. Israel, which posseses nuclear weapons, will not hesitate to use them if if comes to feel that doing so is the the only means to prevent Iran, or any other Arab country bent on Israel's destruction, achieving nuclear strike capability, as it showed with Iraq. All very regretable of course, and with the predictable consequences on oil supply etc, but it has the air of inevitability about it like flies on a dead dog.

None of the above is of course new. We have have seen the opening moves on the board for some time. What is new is perhaps the feeling that perhaps Israel this time around may go for broke. After all, if all your neigbours hate you, all the big walls in the world won't protect you as effectively as being thoroughly feared. Not just a question of speaking quietly and carrying a big stick, but making sure that they know they can't play games. And since the Palestinians managed to elect a terrorist government, well, perhaps they should suffer the consequences, not the rest of us? These things are often less about rights and wrongs, justices and injustices, old or new atrocities, more about who has the bombers, the tanks, the helicopters, the missiles, and most importantly the will.

Israel knows its neigbours would gladly see it swept into the sea; that however far it withdraws from Gaza, the West Bank and the Lebanon, is ultimately unimportant and will never satisfy the terrorists that are determined to see it destroyed. And so, with that particular Jewish logic that we have all come to love down the ages, why not take the opportunity, once and for all, to let the Arabs destroy themselves. Sunni versus Shia, tribe versus tribe, brother versus brother and damn the consequences?

We in the West, or really we anywhere that isn't terribly keen on finishing up as a pile of glowing dust, need to do something to prevent this conflict, and unless we really want to kick off the War of Arab Eradication, I suggest we do it pretty damn soon.