(Washington Post) Max Boot - Though Israel could never make peace with Hamas, a movement dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state, it had learned to live with a terrorist organization in control of Gaza as a lesser evil - compared with a renewed Israeli occupation, an even more extremist group such as al-Qaeda in charge, or Libya-style chaos. As a 2017 Rand Corp. study noted: "Israel's grand strategy became 'mowing the grass' - accepting its inability to permanently solve the problem and instead repeatedly targeting leadership of Palestinian militant organizations to keep violence manageable." Most Israelis have no desire for a long-term occupation of Gaza, one that would inevitably lead to further Israeli casualties and accusations that their troops are committing war crimes. But they are running out of alternatives.
2023-10-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive