It’s interesting, but may not be 100% on the mark. There is only token opposition to Israel’s War on Hamas by the wider Arab governments so far, and a lot of support from the West. One can read from this that they, too, see the likes of Hamas and Hezbullah as problems for regional prosperity. Even the Palestinian Authority would like to see Hamas neutralized. Netanyahu was partly correct, Israel has been able to normalize relations with a lot of the Arab world without going through the Palestinians. The Palestinian cause has grown tired and these other countries aren’t going to tie their futures to a people who cannot get their own act in order. They’ve had endless chances at responsible self-rule. And their failure is partly our (Western world, UN, and Arab alike) failure for just throwing money at them without accountability. We give them money, which is syphoned, funneled, stolen, misused and never put pressure on them to progress towards coexistence.
Bottom line, none of these countries want Al-Queda, ISIS and the like around. Hamas and Hezbullah are their ideological cousins. The Palestinians did not hold up their end of the Oslo deal and voted Hamas in in Gaza largely because they grew tired of the corruption and lack of progress under the Palestinian self-rule government.
What comes after, well, that’s difficult to predict. So the article is correct, Israel cannot and could not go on forever ignoring the Palestinians. Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership in Gaza embarked on the most barbaric and heinous act in their attempt to get attention. So now, as they wanted, they’ve got Israel’s - and much of the world’s - attention. But not in a way that is productive for them, for now.
Indeed.
I hope that cooler heads are prevailing in Israeli’s government currently, because — at least publicly — neither Egypt nor Jordan nor Lebanon are willing to tolerate the displacement of more Palestinians from Gaza, not in light of everything else they’re dealing with currently.
And I sincerely do not believe that Israel has to raze or bulldoze Gaza to the ground (as some have called for) to defeat Hamas.