The Israel Defence Forces have surrounded and are about to enter Gaza City. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the IDF will retain responsibility for security in Gaza indefinitely.
This looks suspiciously like the end of the two-state solution and beginning of a Greater Israel where Israel extends its de facto control of Gaza and the West Bank to de jure control.
The world accepts the right of Israel to exist as enshrined in its admittance to the UN in 1949. But Israel has over-reached itself since the brutal Hamas attack of October 7.
Israel’s actions since then have delivered what Hamas wanted – they have killed the prospect of a two-state solution (an objective pursued by both Netanyahu and Hamas) and brought the Middle East to the verge of open warfare.
Rightly Israelis perceived an existential threat when Hamas massacred its citizens but tragically its actions since then have increased the risk to Israel rather than decreasing it. Palestinians cannot be crushed and wished away, even if some of them support Hamas.
The only hope for peace is to resurrect the two-state solution, however difficult that might seem.
Quote of the day: “We Spaniards know a sickness of the heart that only gold can cure.”
Cortés
He entered the city of Tenochtitlán in Mexico on November 8, 1519