Okay, what the fuck

[kierthos]

Here's my take on the whole Israeli/Gaza thing.

Both (all?) sides are deluding themselves.

If Israel's government thinks that this will change anything, they're... well, they're wrong. Sure, short-term, Hamas might be a little weaker in terms of what they can do, but right now, they're getting a lot of support from the Arab world. (Okay, not necessarily material support, but emotional support.) Unless Israel plans on taking back the Gaza strip permanently (which I can't see happening), when they leave, Hamas will just start building back up. They might have lost some people to the air strikes and ground assault, but you can bet that they won't have a problem recruiting after all the civilian (by which I mean non-Hamas) deaths on the Palestinian side.

Hamas, however, is deluding themselves if they think this is going to substantially change things for them. I mean, unless they're wiped out completely (and how do you do that without wiping out a lot of civilians?), they're pretty much going to tout this as a victory. As in, "The mighty IDF couldn't beat us and they attacked us for weeks." kind of thing. But they're almost certainly going to be treated like a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Israel (and other countries) in the aftermath of this, and while they might get some additional recruits and backing (from Iran, among others), unless they start acting like a real government for the Gaza strip, and you know, stop lobbing rockets at Israel, all this shit will just start up again in another six months, or a year, or two years.

The solution? Fuck if I know. I don't think there is an easy answer to this one.

Comments

[delwin.livejournal.com]

Israel isn't looking for a win - they're looking for breathing room.

No one really knows how friendly the Obama administration is going to be to Israel, but everyone knows it can't be as friendly as Bush (which I don't think is possible). So they bomb Hamas's infrastructure back 2-3 years and give themselves room to back down and give things to Obama (We'll stop the invasion if you support us).

Hamas has been sending rockets into Israel for years. There's no reason for the massive escalation other than the change of Administration.

It's the same solution that was never used in the first <i>Alien</i> movie.

[hartley.livejournal.com]

Nuke the site from orbit.


I find that liberal use of this method will solve many of the world's problems. But then again, I don't like people very much.

Re: It's the same solution that was never used in the first <i>Alien</i> movie.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, turning the entire area into a glass sheet would solve this problem, but it would create a lot of others.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

One of my co-workers pointed out that if Hamas were really interested in being the government of the Gaza strip, the smartest thing they could do is stop attacking Israel, and remove any reason Israel has to blockade them.

[delwin.livejournal.com]

Yep - except that they're not interested in the welfare of their people. They're interested in the destruction of Israel.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That's the problem.

Re: It's the same solution that was never used in the first <i>Alien</i> movie.

[hartley.livejournal.com]

No, to be entirely serious, you're right. There are no easy answers to any of the problems in the Middle East.

[hartley.livejournal.com]

And so is virtually every other country in the Middle East, to a greater or lesser extent, which is a big reason for Israel's agressiveness, they feel they cannot afford to look weak.

But by being antagonistic to the Palestinians, it only makes their relations with everyone else even worse.

And the cycle continues.

[the-corruption.livejournal.com]

How silly, OF COURSE there is a simple answer!

Israel need to realize that the world doesn't like them anyways, so there's no use in trying to make anyone else happy.

Then, you do what the Romans would have done, invade, kill everyone, destroy everything, and drive the palestinians out of the area and into another country, like Jordan or Syria.

Then you buckle everything down, go into angry turtle mode while the rest of the world goes into paroxisms, and wait until it's all cooled off and not news worthy anymore. Maybe 20-30 years.

Then, after all the hard work, you get your own country to run, without the rest of the world putting their two cents in because you're fighting a pissy, tiny little outsider group that everyone feels sorry for.

Well, at least, that's what I'd do. A good, old fashion Wargamer kind of response.