If the cease-fire holds, the second Gaza war produced two clear winners: Mohamed Morsi and Barack Obama. Together, they brought peace after just eight days of fighting, thus showing their diplomatic clout. Morsi behaved not like a Muslim Brotherhood hothead but like a statesman–in fact playing much the same role as his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, did in (somewhat) reining in Hamas and serving as a bridge between the Palestinians and Israel.
Morsi did not use this new round of fighting to break relations with Israel, as many had feared, but rather cooperated constructively with President Obama to bring peace. Obama, for his part, avoided his first-term mistake of publicly criticizing Israel; he seems to have learned that his ability to press Israel for concessions (in this case, to avoid a ground incursion into Gaza that Israeli hard-liners thought was needed to enhance their country’s long-term security) increases when he shows no daylight between himself and Israel’s leader.
And how did the actual combatants–Israel and Hamas–fare? Normally war is seen as a zero-sum game: one side loses, the other side wins. This is a relatively rare case where both sides may be said to have won. Assuming that the truce holds, Israel won at least a temporary cessation of rocket attacks on its soil. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now faces the voters having been seen to adroitly walk the tightrope between too little a response and too much of a response to Hamas’s terror–too little would have been avoiding military action altogether, too much would have been (at least in the eyes of many Israelis) ordering a ground attack into Gaza.
Significantly, Israel avoided criticism from Europe or the U.S. and Netanyahu worked well with Obama despite their earlier tensions. But Hamas won too, because it was able to keep firing rockets until the ceasefire. It will be seen by the Palestinians to have stood up to Israeli “aggression” and walked away unbowed, ready to fight another round.
In sum, the second Gaza war–just like the first one in 2008-2009–resolved nothing. Both sides will rearm and, even in the best case, are likely to resume hostilities at some point in the future. The only question is whether we will see a few days of peace or a few years. But it is hard to imagine any other outcome, unless Israel were willing to reoccupy the Gaza Strip–which it is not. A temporary ground incursion by Israel would not have altered the fundamental balance of power and would have left the Jewish State open to international disapprobation.
The bottom line is that the cease-fire did bring a respite, however temporary, for long-suffering Palestinians and Israelis from the ravages of war. Israelis will not go to bed tonight worried about rockets thudding into their house; Palestinians will not go to bed fearing Israeli bombs and missiles. That is something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.
well, we (the jewish people) have been here for over three thousand years- and the so-called palestinians, how long? three minutes? OK- let's give them forty years (since Arafat founded the PLO). Nothiwthstanding the Arabs revisionist view that we are interlopers- we are the legitimate owners of the land and will be here for eternity- so, get used to it, world- the jewish people has come back to its ancestral home- to stay!
Bottom line is that the Arab world continues to implode in a tangle of failed states who continue, hopelessly, to entertain conspiracy theories and shift blame to outside parties, even as they chop each other up, while Israel goes from strength to strength. n nIt is only the Iranian Bomb that is a true existential threat to us, and that will be dealt with. n nDespite the fact that the Arab world chose as its enemies the softest touches of all – the Jews – who absorb their hatred and respond with food, electricity, and medical care, Arab incompetence will ensure the Jews remain the victors of history for another 3,000 years.
nobody said the Jews are going away–but neither are the Arabs and folks who conflate the Jews being the victors of history with the Arabs disappearing from the neighborhood are not going to see that dream realized.
Oh, don't be such a wet blanket. The arabs as an Islamic civilization have an excellent chance of not making it 100 years, never mind another 3000. n nWhere are the the ancient Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman civilzations? n nThey are gone, and ours is still here – stronger than ever. n nI'll bet you a dollar Judaism as not just a religion, but a nation, will last 3000 years more, and Arab Islamic civilization will be no more.
the arabs have been around for 1400 years in their current model configuration in Eretz on and off. but sure conquer the world with your definitions. btw, it ain't none of us who have been around for more than 120 years–a little perspective here.
you are misunderstanding historic trends….arabs have been around for a lot longer than 1400 years- at least since our great-great-uncle Yishmael split from his brother isaac. That's at least four millenia….but forget about biblical stories,sure, arabs have been around forever. Islam, of course, is only about 1400 years old- my point was that , in spite of all the persecutions and the like, the jewish people survived and came back to its ancestral home. No amount of enemy puffery will change this.
Before anybody declares Morsi a winner, they might do well to wait a bit and see how Morsi's power grad progresses.
The real winner was Christine LaGarde, coincidentally meeting with Morsi on Nov 20, and giving a conditional approval for $4.8BIL in loans, but the actual appearance of money depends on benchmarks met before Dec. 19. n nBetter for Morsi to get kudos, while Gul tackles Erdogan. n n
Israel has achieved a phony peace. It should have continued to destroy its enemies. This would have done much more to secure the safety of Israel's citizens. Max Boot's article is another example of Commentary's switch to a more left-wing position.
I disagree. Morsi and Egypt are about to implode. Obama forced Israel into the truce. The US did not need to evacuate its US personel from Israel and it certainly did not need warships in this situation even if it thought it necessary to evacuate them. r nIran is still developing a nuclear weapon, its proxies are gaining strength (even more so now – as a result of Obama), and Abbas and the PLO are still a danger.
Matt Boot is naive to say the least. He even sounds similar to Neville Camberlain. Israel would be much safer if its troops had continued to root out the militants.