I call it a war, in keeping with everyone else’s description, but really it was a tantrum, plain and simple. And who can blame Israel? Hamas are like gnats at a picnic that constantly pester you until you finally have enough and have to do something about it. And who can blame Hamas for their part? Israel acts as a feudal lord trying to keep his subjects under his thumb by sparingly allotting food, supplies and territory to them.
Will they now peaceably co-exist as neighbors?
Do they now have Hamas assurances that they will not call for Israel’s total destruction?
Did they win over Palestinian ‘respect’ through their display of overwhelming military might?
Only time will reveal the answers to these questions.
Any ‘benefits’ that may have been ‘won’ from this war will, at best, be felt only temporarily. While Hamas crawls back into their mosques to lick their wounds and bury their dead, their collective ego and pride will not mend so easily.
Bullying may get immediate results but it tends to have the nasty side effect of creating more enemies. And let’s understand first and foremost that whatever animosity these two held towards each other before this conflict began, this war did nothing but create even more. The Israelis cannot force acceptance from Hamas just because the Israeli militarily outclasses them.
Both sides are to blame for the continuation of hostilities towards each other. Neither wants to give up an inch of territory. Neither wants to give one bit of concession to the other. Neither wants the other to live in peace.
Did Israel ‘win’ peace for their efforts?
Aristotle once said “We make war that we may live in peace.” If that was true, our problems would have stopped millennia ago.
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