sartresue wrote:
This is not naivite. But first there must be trust--and a CEASEFIRE.
There was a ceasefire and they both let it expire by two days, knowing full well what was going to happen (and they do a good job of fanning surprise). A negotiator, and former British intelligence man was saying how these ceasefires aren’t worth the paper they are written on. A deal is struck it is only good for a couple days at most and then it deteriorates from then on, because there is no progress plan at all. They are merely to appease each other’s electorate and make themselves look good.
Israel is complacent, no doubt about it. It has tried the strategy of trying to weaken its enemies by forcing them to compromise themselves for decades. It doesn't work, there are new groups forming all the time. Likewise if you are going to use a cornering strategy, finish the job (obviously I’m not being serious). If you control all the recourses coming in and out of an area, bar some secret tunnels, expect the situation inside to boil over.
They used to have a problem with PLA/Arafat but now they have Hamas to contend with and they take some of the responsibility for that turn of events. Israel can show the world that it is not the bad guy when it removes settlers from land they are not supposed to be on in the first place.