Despite heavy air and ground assaults, Israel has yet to cripple the military wing of Hamas or destroy the group’s ability to launch rockets, Israeli intelligence officials said on Tuesday, suggesting that Israel’s main goals in the conflict remain unfulfilled even after more than two weeks of war.
The comments reflected a view among some Israeli officials that any lasting solution to the conflict would require either a breakthrough diplomatic accord that heavily restricts Hamas’s military abilities or a deeper ground assault into urban areas of Gaza, known here as a possible “Phase Three” of the war.
As the conflict entered its 19th day on Wednesday, three rockets fired from south Lebanon landed outside the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, but caused no casualties, the Israeli authorities said. The Israeli military said it fired back. It was not immediately clear who fired the rockets into Israel. A similar incident last week raised concerns briefly that a second front had opened in the war. But Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group which fought a war with Israel in 2006, quickly sought to assure the Lebanese government that it was not responsible.
Hamas will never be destroyed as long as Iran subsidizes them.
Hamas will never be destroyed as long as war is the primary tool for its destruction.
[blockquote]Hamas will never be destroyed as long as war is the primary tool for its destruction. [/blockquote]
As you so enthusiastically point out at every juncture, John, the US and Israel once supported Hamas (actually, we supported the Islamic social groups that later became Hamas, not the post-1987 [i]Hamas[/i] of the unlamented Sheikh Yassin), but that didn’t prevent them from turning into a Jew-hating and -massacring band of lunatics. So it would appear that the carrot doesn’t work very well here. Israel might court alternative political actors in Gaza as possible replacements for Hamas, but given the treatment Fatah has gotten (and is apparently still getting) at the hands of Hamas, I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in that approach, either.
Jeffersonian, I’m not sure what carrots were offered. Palestinians generally voted for Hamas because Israel wouldn’t offer carrots. Carrots mean that one is negotiating with terrorists, generally.
We supported Hamas because we thought Islam was easier to handle than secularism. We thought it would help people ignore their daily suffering.
Here’s what hasn’t been tried:
End building settlements in the West Bank. Working with [url=http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa09000.html]non-violent[/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Barghouti]Palestinians[/url], rather than jailing or deporting [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mubarak_Awad] them.[/url] They have tried to make connections with Israelis but by and large they are still considered dangerous, even though most of them have also been on the opposing side of Fateh.
I think you miss the point, John. If Israel and America supported the larva-stage Hamas, then why did they turn into the jihad-crazed cutthroats of today? Didn’t we start out with the nostrum you’re peddling now, with the result being today’s Hamas?
And, in case you hadn’t noticed, the problems these days aren’t in the West Bank, but in Gaza. It’s been [i]Judenrein[/i] since 2005. You’ll need a different excuse this time.