(Spectator-UK) Efraim Karsh - It is likely now that Israel will end its decade-long policy of containment in favor of an attempt to totally destroy Hamas' military capabilities. Hamas' latest aggression may well have driven the final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution. While most Israelis have been disabused of the idea by Yasser Arafat's war of terror and the subsequent confrontations with Hamas, its horrendous massacres may convince other international players of the mortal dangers that would follow if Israel withdraws from key West Bank areas. After all, were such an invasion to ensue from a West Bank state, hordes of terrorists would be able to roam the more populous streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in no time. What sovereign state could possibly allow a situation that would arise in which their citizens could be indiscriminately slaughtered on its streets? So long as the West Bank and Gaza continue to be governed by Hamas' (and the PLO's) rule of the jungle, no Palestinian civil society, let alone a viable state, can possibly develop there. The writer is emeritus professor of Middle East and Mediterranean studies at King's College London and former director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
2023-10-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive