It is here in the Palestinian territories that you see the worst side of Israel: Jewish settlers stealing land from Palestinians (almost one-third of settlement land is actually privately owned by Palestinians); Palestinian women giving birth at checkpoints because Israeli soldiers won't let them through (four documented cases last year); the diversion of water from Palestinians. (Israelis get almost five times as much water per capita as Palestinians.)

Yet it is also here that you see the very best side of Israel. Israeli human rights groups relentlessly stand up for Palestinians. Israeli women volunteer at checkpoints to help Palestinians through. Israeli courts periodically rule in favor of Palestinians. Israeli scholars have published research that undermines their own nation's mythologies. Many Israeli journalists have been fair-minded toward Palestinians in a way that Arab journalists have rarely reciprocated.

All told, the most persuasive indictments of Israeli actions come from Israelis themselves. This scrupulous honesty and fairness toward Israel's historic enemies is a triumph of humanity.

In short, there are many Israels. When American presidential candidates compete this year to be "pro-Israeli," let's hope that they clarify that the one they support is not the oppressor that lets settlers steal land and club women but the one that is a paragon of justice, decency, fairness -- and peace.

The boys are part of a loose-knit colony of scavengers, nearly 250 people who scramble over fetid hills of other people's trash to eke out a living for their families and themselves. Most are younger than 16; some sleep here during the week to maximize the hours they can hunt for goods to sell. Many are related, from a few large clans, and they have a kind of organization, with a 23-year-old bulldozer driver who settles disputes, and a code of conduct, so that every digger's finds are respected.

For all the agonizing about nearby Hebron -- how far Israel should go to resolve competing Jewish and Palestinian claims to the city -- this desolate spot is a symbol of the impact of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and of the dire economic state of the Palestinian territories, where about a third of adults are without work. Many of the adults working the site have been unable to get jobs in Israel since 2000 and the second intifada, when Israel instituted stronger security measures to try to prevent suicide bombings.

This dump has become a lifeline, and informal workplace, for them and for the children helping to support poor families in the southern West Bank. The scene is reminiscent of the third world, of places like Manila's notorious garbage mountain, but this desperate place is next door to a country with the highest per capita income in the Middle East: Israel.

Life got truly desperate last week when Israel, reacting to a sustained and intense barrage of rocket fire, blockaded Gaza and stopped all shipments except emergency supplies. When the border wall was breached on Wednesday, Gazans went on a buying spree in Egypt, stocking up on fuel, medicine, soap, cigarettes, cement, chickens and goats.

We are deeply concerned about the many innocent Israelis who live along the border with Gaza and must suffer through the constant bombardment. But Israel's response -- shutting off power and other essential supplies -- is a collective punishment that will only feed anger and extremism.