Is that good for Israel in the long run?

Dunno…..if the ceasefire now in effect holds, yes, definitely. It puts the Zionist entity in a better position than before Cast Lead. If the Hamas ceasefire does not hold – Israel has lost little.

Regardless, Israel has demonstrate that if you repeatedly send your kiddies out to pull the tail of the neighbor’s pitbull, sooner or later it’s liable to turn around and bite their face off.

This has changed the ‘facts on the ground’. Hamas may reconsider upping the ante with more military grade rockets.

Is that good for Israel in the long run?

No matter how much we hate to talk about history.
Let’s face it, we did take over their country in the first place?

“Corriere della Serra Thursday quoted a doctor at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City saying that, despite Hamas and UN claims, most of those killed in Gaza were young men who were members of terror groups.

“The number of deaths was between 500-600…most were young men between 17 and 23 who were recruited into the ranks of Hamas, which sent them to be slaughtered,” he said.

” Journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi confirmed that only 600 people were killed, and not 1,300 as was widely reported, based on hospital visits and discussions with families of the victims.

“It was strange that the non-governmental organizations, including Western ones, repeated the number without checking, but the truth will come to light in the end,” said the doctor.

“It’s like what happened in Jenin in 2002,” he said. “At the beginning they spoke of 500 dead; afterwards it was clear there were only 54 dead, at least 45 of them fighters.”

“It’s possible that the death toll in Gaza was 500 or 600 at the most, mainly youths aged 17 to 23 who were enlisted by Hamas – who sent them to their deaths.”

The Gaza doctor was further quoted as saying: “Perhaps it is like Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they spoke about 1,500 dead, and at the end it turned out to be only 54 – of whom 45 were militants.”

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057874.html

Wow. Don’t fancy his chances much.

They sympathised with and applauded Hamas for years. So, yes, they did have a choice.

If the Hamas Government of Gaza is sufficiently weakened and is sufficiently hurting the Egyptian economy with (for example) counterfeit money then Egypt (which is torturing Hamas members) will have an incentive to ask the UN to allow it to “protect” Gaza in much the same way Syria “protects” Lebanon. I have every confidence that the UN will be fine with that idea.

So, the only Middle Eastern allies the Palestinians really have (if they want their own state–as opposed to two or no state) are located in Israel. So if Israel did indeed fail as many here are saying then it failed first of all the Palestinians.

Regards,

Inna

I would have so liked to ask him about the BBC news story on how few people came to the Hamas rally!

Actually David a flying rodent is a squirrel, which explains why he’s nuts.

Symbolically useless, in a way, although if he rang a Palestinian first that’s a turn up for the books.