By host Tom Ashbrook:

It’s hard to watch the violence in the Middle East these last two weeks — the terrified children, the blasted bridges and streets and family sedans, the destruction in Lebanon and the rockets raining on northern Israel.

Today, Israeli vice premier Shimon Peres appealed to the Lebanese people: “As soon as the war ends, you will find in us what we really are — pursuers of peace,” he said.

But even Peres spoke of what he called “the tough scenes from Lebanon, of your women and children fleeing these days on roads that lead to the unknown.” And Israelis flee, too.

Americans are watching, especially those with intimate family and friends in harm’s way.

Hear a roundtable conversation with Lebanese and Israeli-Americans on the blow-up in the Middle East.

Guests:

Andrea Stone, Correspondent for USA Today

Ronen Marmur, Israeli-American doctor in New York City

Vardit Ringvald, Israeli-American Director of Hebrew and Arabic Languages at Brandeis University

Holla Yassine, Lebanese-American Psychologist and mother

Walid Chamoun, Lebanese-American Lebanon Country Director for The Lincoln Group