"The Next War In Gaza Is Coming" Topic

"In over five years as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, I found no issue more impervious to solutions than Gaza. We were constantly preventing, managing or responding to crises -- trying to head off terror attacks by Hamas and others, supporting Israel's right to defend itself, negotiating ceasefires and working to alleviate human suffering.

I also learned that Gaza wars follow a kind of routine. Hamas upgrades its attack capabilities, and tensions build. Both sides prefer to avoid an escalation, but some incident, perhaps unintended, leads Hamas to increase the rate of rockets fired into Israel. Eventually, Israel deems the provocations intolerable, and launches a heavier response, such as when it conducted a targeted strike on Hamas military wing chief Ahmed Jabari at the start of Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012. A full-on conflict ensues, with ceasefire negotiations competing with Hamas rocket and tunnel attacks, Israeli airstrikes, and calls from the Israeli public for a ground invasion to "finish the job."…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Many commentators have been saying this for the past few years; Israel has certainly been preparing for such an eventuality, and Hamas would have been foolish not to make similar plans. A next war will be even messier than the last one, that's for sure, and now the position of the US is a wild card. Hamas isn't as able to defend itself, judging from the last clash. Would Hezbollah respond this time, to put pressure on Israel's northern border and make common cause with the Gazans? That's another wild card.

I am of the opinion that there is no spot of land on the face of the planet (outside of the poles) that has less potential of supporting an actual national population. At best it should be a small outpost of a Palestinian nation, at worst, a border checkpoint for Egypt. There is nothing there that can support a population density of 13K per sq. mile other than misery, hate and war.

Indeed. I often wonder how even an intact Palestinian state composed of the West Bank and Gaza strip in their entirety (even booting out every Israeli settlement since 1967, which wouldn't happen) could be economically or strategically viable.

It's a real problem. If Egypt and Jordan aren't going to take back those little bits (which they seem to have no interest in doing), and Israel doesn't annex them and admit Palestinians as full citizens in a larger Israeli state (which they seem to have no interest in doing), I can't see anything except conflict and misery or population displacement (or apartheid conditions) persisting for the foreseeable future. And demographic conditions will only make matters worse in the long run for Israel, as stateless Palestinians become a larger and larger percentage of the population in this region.