http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/2008/05/01/335/making-the-case-for-a-ceasefire/ Odds & ends from the staff of JTA Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:59:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/2008/05/01/335/making-the-case-for-a-ceasefire/#comment-2239 R. Stivler Thu, 01 May 2008 19:45:18 +0000 http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/?p=335#comment-2239 I assume that back door diplomacy is ongoing along with sanctions and official non-recognition of Hamas etc. The problem, as it has been all along, is the PLO/Hamas policy of maintaining asymetrical warfare against Israel while professing overtures of peace and or "truce" at the same time, arguing that their "tit" is the result of Israel's "tat". Since rejection of a two state solution, ie: UN Partition Plan, is a given despite Oslo, along with internal power plays within the PLO (which includes Hamas as I understand it) it seems to me that what is going on is an exercise in futility. An ongoing state of asymetric warfare needs to be accepted by the Israeli public as well as by the Jewish diaspora with all the attendant implications which would include acceptance of large casualties on the part of Israel's enemies. There is no way, I can see, that the hearts and minds of its enemies can be "won". I daresay world "opinion" would be irrelevant after the fact of Israel's destruction. To complicate matters there is the use of Palestinian Arab and other proxies by competing Arab and non-Arab Muslim (Sunni/Shia) powers seeking regional hegemony which use Israel as their method of mobilizing opinion and establishing influence. Truces have been defacto and will continue to be so, if only to allow either side to claim what it will. I assume that back door diplomacy is ongoing along with sanctions and official non-recognition of Hamas etc. The problem, as it has been all along, is the PLO/Hamas policy of maintaining asymetrical warfare against Israel while professing overtures of peace and or “truce” at the same time, arguing that their “tit” is the result of Israel’s “tat”. Since rejection of a two state solution, ie: UN Partition Plan, is a given despite Oslo, along with internal power plays within the PLO (which includes Hamas as I understand it) it seems to me that what is going on is an exercise in futility. An ongoing state of asymetric warfare needs to be accepted by the Israeli public as well as by the Jewish diaspora with all the attendant implications which would include acceptance of large casualties on the part of Israel’s enemies. There is no way, I can see, that the hearts and minds of its enemies can be “won”. I daresay world “opinion” would be irrelevant after the fact of Israel’s destruction. To complicate matters there is the use of Palestinian Arab and other proxies by competing Arab and non-Arab Muslim (Sunni/Shia) powers seeking regional hegemony which use Israel as their method of mobilizing opinion and establishing influence. Truces have been defacto and will continue to be so, if only to allow either side to claim what it will.

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