Israel Is Wrong

In the United States it is highly unpopular to criticize Israel. It is only on blogs and the fringes that any real criticsm of Israel is heard.

For the last few years I have thought Israeli and U.S. policy towards Gaza and Hamas was wrong, that it would only lead to one conclusion, and here we are. The policy of the U.S. and Israel to attack, starve, and boycott Hamas and Gaza was badly conceived and even more poorly handled. Condoleezza Rice and George W. Bush have so messed up in Gaza

My main problem is that the Israeli attack offers no real remedy to the situation. The Israelis cannot destroy Hamas, and I doubt they will even weaken it all that much. And if they do weaken Hamas enough to be toppled, the likelyhood that a more moderate group will appear is pure fantasy. The Israeli attack is not a solution, rather it is a symptom and cause of the open-ended Israeli-Palestinian conflict and it is seriously harming a civilian population already enduring great hardship.

Israel has tried this before and they have failed, and there is little reason to believe this time will be different. Every attempt to crush Hamas and other Palestinian groups before has led to the strengthening of those groups and since Israel has no clear plan for ending the current conflict with Hamas nor for ending its occupation of the Palestinian territories, what is the purpose of this invasion? Israel has all the advantages, yet it cannot impose its will by force and one day it will need to talk to the people it is currently punishing through bombardment and blockade.