How about a technical solution: counterbattery radar and weapons to destroy incoming rockets from palestinian positions (defense companies have been demonstrating this for 25 years against far more sophisticated weapons than cheap tactical rockets) along with funding constraints that put settlements last on the list for protection. I know it wouldn't satisfy anyone's desire for vengeance, but it would keep actual Israeli territory safe.

I think you might have hit it on the head! A strong demand by U.S. to Hamas! That could be the one piece that's missing and needed to end this whole conflict.

Not enough demands or demands that were not strong enough. Lack of demands is so obvious a cause of the problem that it is amazing that no one thought of it earlier.

If it doesn't work, it will merely need to be stepped up to a really strong demand.

A ten-year armistice or truce or whatever it's called isn't going to bring peace, but the contrary. It will just let the situation fester, and create a situation of constant tension. The world should get out of the way and let Israel end the war once and for all, force Hamas to surrender and recognize Israel. They are quite defeated, and out of options. That's the way wars end, all wars, and that's the only way this one can end: with a victor and a loser. Israel won, has successfully established itself, and it's time people accepted that. Allowing the Palestinians or anyone else ten years to avoid confronting this basic reality and inescapable fact of life isn't going to help anyone. It's not dealing with the situation, it's just punting it down the road ten years. And Israel shouldn't give up any land, not one square inch. That won't solve anything since the Arabs will just see that as weakness and demand even more land. And victors don't give up land, the losers do. That sounds harsh, but that's the way the world works. The Palestinians made a huge mistake 60 years ago when they declared war on Israel. Unfortunately, like everyone who makes mistakes, they have to pay for them, they just don't go away.

mikep: A ten-year armistice or truce or whatever it's called isn't going to bring peace, but the contrary. It will just let the situation fester, and create a situation of constant tension. The world should get out of the way and let Israel end the war once and for all, force Hamas to surrender and recognize Israel. They are quite defeated, and out of options.

Well, Hamas is quite defeated and out of options for at least two years. The question arises why such a powerless movement provokes such a massive massacre. Militarily, Israel won many times over and refuses to acknowledge the fact. Now Israel trembles at the thought that Hamas could do some diabolical stuff if they allowed cement to be delivered to Gaza, and G.d forbid construction materials that contain metals!

This is really "nothing to fear but the fear itself" situation. If you defeat people but you do not exterminate them, they hate you, so you need to keep them powerless and destitute, so they hate you more, so you are afraid more and have to clump down more, and they call you bad names, etc.

Israeli public seems to be to traumatized to be rational. And how traumatized Palestinian public is?

The problem with the last Israeli war is that it was too insane. Israel agreed to a truce, broke the truce (killing 6 Hamas members in a single attack), violated the conditions (blockade) prior to that, refused offers to renew the truce and THEN declare utter necessity to "defend herself". Without any provocation that was not duly provoked by more bloody prior acts.

But Hamas are bad folks, practically Nazis! Moral equivalence is a though crime! Sorry, Israeli government behaved worse than putative Nazis. But Hamas does not recognize gay rights, and is generally retrograde and backward! While Israeli military rabinate preaches Holy War. But Hamas shoots rockets with UTTER INDIFFERENCE TO INNOCENT LIVES, while IDF takes extreme care to avoid collateral casualties. Yet, Israel kills 100 times more people, so that extreme care is not worth very much.

I think 10 year truce with no blockade is a totally necessary idea, and one that hopefully will force and end of settlements. Hamas should be allowed to create prosperous and non-corrupt polity, if they are able to do so. It is a win-win: the governments of Egypt and PA will have to show that they can do better than the backward medievalists, in the case of PA, with Israel's help (or lack of the current obstructions). And if Hamas fails, not so bad either, if they fail without our aid. Now, with settlement expansion it is not possible to create decent life for West Bank Palestinians, and without that, Hamas wins.

What is the alternative? Pretty simple, actually. Maintain the siege, tigthen it, and periodically bomb. Perhaps daily. Keep the population in the state of paranoia. But can it be continued successfully forever? To paraphrase Trotsky, can you maintain paranoia in one country alone? As this insanity is increasingly at variance with reality, its receives increasingly tepid international recognition -- if any.

Recently Prime Minister of Turkey called the President of Israel a murderer of women and children, who revels in murder. Somehow, I did not find any condemnations of Erdogan, at least not of being a slanderer. He was intemperate, his conduct lacked decorum, he should remember what Turkey did to Armenians (and acknowledge that) etc. But nothing about slander. Seems that Erdogan says loudly what friends of Israel think quietly. In time, it may cause problems.

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With all the sites out there with information on them with a ton of junk it's nice to find a blog whose admin takes the time to create good material. TY for the good post.

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