It looks like all the major players are putting out propaganda statements for their various audiences. The US is trying to please everybody (a strategy that usually fails) by promising Israel “iron-clad security guarantees” while denying them the opportunity to create their own guarantees. The US is asking Israel to protect Palestinian civilians (something the Israelis are now claiming they can do by moving them to new safe areas)and providing them with food, water, and housing (with nothing yet said about who will pay for this). The US two-state solution calls for a Palestinian state with a special Saudi supplied input, Hamas will be recreated as a political movement without a military wing, and given a place at the table of the new Palestinian government. The current PA government has already resigned in order to prepare for this. The US deserves a high grade for creative thinking, but fails the test of reality.
The propaganda mills in Israel keep pointing out how many people are dissatisfied with Hamas rule (without looking for an alternative) and Hamas keeps quoting people saying the fight must go on until Israel is destroyed (and those quotes are the ones getting on the media). It reminds me of the blind men trying to describe an elephant. Each one sees something else, and no one sees the total picture.
Final note: Egypt is allowing Gazans to buy an access permit to go from Gaza to Egypt. It’s a good source of revenue, but hardly a replacement for lost Suez canal transit fees. Hamas leaders are reported to have already sent all their children to Gaza this way.
Wetherhorn 