Time for a reminder. Wars are fought for political objectives. Israel wants to eliminate Hamas. Hamas wants to eliminate Israel. The ultimate objectives of both sides are mutually exclusive. That means that no cease-fire agreement or hostage release deal can ever be achieved without one side or the other abandoning an ultimate aim. If Israel gives in, it means there WILL be another confrontation at some later date.
Hamas propagandists are no fools. They scrupulously avoid mentioning their final objective and concentrate on using “humanitarian” issues to distract attention from their ultimate goal. “FREE PALESTINE” doesn’t say what will become of Israel. You can probably guess if you remember that the ’negotiations’ are conducted via intermediaries because Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s existence.
I did not see any western media take note of Egypt moving hundreds of American made M1 Abrams tanks and some 40,000 Egyptian soldiers into Sinai last week. That was in open violation of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. The Egyptians said they did it to keep Palestinian Terrorist (Hamas) out of Egypt. But at least one Egyptian journalist was ready to point out that keeping the ‘Palestinian Issue’ inside Israeli controlled territory serves two Arab aims; It helps to weaken Israel, and it keeps a captive population to inhabit a future Palestinian state. If given the choice, many Gazans would happily leave and go live almost anywhere else.
Wetherhorn 