In the realm of history,

On the 17th of Tammuz the besieged wall protecting the city of Jerusalem was breached – both by the Babylonians (according to many opinions) in the year 3338 (422 bce) and by the Romans in 3828 (68 ce). Three weeks later the Holy temple was set ablaze and destroyed, again both the first temple by the Babylonians, and the second temple by the Romans 490 years later on the exact same day, the day of Tisha B’Av – the saddest day in the Jewish calendar.

Sharvul wants to call this current Israel-terrorist conflict "the 17th of Tammuz War" and Robert Avrech wants to call it the War of Tammuz. But Sharvul also relates that Defense Minister Amir Peretz suggested it be called

the "Bein HaMetzarim War". The bein hametzarim days are the three weeks between the fasts of the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av . . . . As for the English name, although a strict translation would be "Between the Straits War", my suggestion would be to make it simpler and call it "The Dire Straits War".

Why "between the straits"?

This period of time is known as Bein HaM'Tzarim, "between the straits", because it says in Eicha [Lamentations](Chapter 1, verse 3): "and her pursuers overtook her between the straits", referring to the calamitous events that befell the Jewish people between Shivah Asar B'Tammuz and Tisha B'Av.

This is related to the Hebrew word for Egypt, Mitzrayim, literally "the narrow places." This is a physical description of the narrow swath of arable land hugging both banks of the Nile, a psychological description of bondage, and a poetic metaphor for the birth canal through which we pass toward freedom and wholeness.

During the Three Weeks, and especially the nine days before the 9th of Av, Israel is between the straits:

. . . . there's also a sense of subtle unease, which actually started on 17 Tamuz: the sense of "OK, this is bad-luck time for the Jewish people. Is anything going to happen??" There's sort of a constant backdrop of very faint worry, of hoping (and hopefully, praying) that the 3 Weeks won't bring anything bad this time around, that there will only be besorot tovot (good tidings) for the Jewish people and the world at large. If you've been feeling that since 17 Tamuz, it probably intensifies with 1 Av, and if you haven't been feeling it, you may start now. And at least for some of us, the sense of unease intensifies and gradually reaches a crescendo as 9 Av draws closer, because, well, that is supposed to be a really bad day. That has been a day, historically, of really not-good-stuff for the Jewish people.

If you are in the squeezing dark inside a birth canal, you don't know if you are going to make it out the other end, and sometimes you don't. But being forced in there in the first place is not necessarily a bad thing. But it's a dicey thing.

Tonight begins Tisha B'Av, when Jerusalem was destroyed (twice) and many other bad things happened as well. Who knows what is being destroyed tonight, and what will be born tomorrow?

UPDATE: Brian Blum has more on the name game.