Seeking a Quick Exit in Gaza

Beyond the utterly unethical and unbelievable possibility of ethnic cleansing, such a scenario would never bring Israel peace or serenity, no matter how many walls of separation it erects; only the two-state solution can help Israelis live in peace and tranquility. Even a defeated Hamas would continue to create havoc for Israelis. A militant and militarized Gaza would remain an immediate neighbor no matter what measures are taken to guarantee a cutoff. An unstable Egypt would be extremely dangerous for Israel, particularly if Iran reaps the “benefits” of Israeli heavy-handedness and succeeds in using the Gaza debacle to undermine the government in Cairo.

The flare-up in Gaza could become the most polarizing development in the Middle East and could threaten the stability of Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon and beyond. The peace-partners of Israel are in the forefront of this danger, while those who reject negotiations are most likely to benefit unless they are made to understand otherwise.

Relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran—the leader of the Hamas-Hezbollah-Syria axis—and Egypt have deteriorated noticeably recently. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has accused the Egyptian government of abandoning the Palestinians, and has called on the

Egyptian people and armed forces to defy their government and turn against it. Such rhetoric may backfire and arouse Egyptian nationalism; nevertheless, the inherent Sunni-Shiite divide and resentment could widen and unleash a further level of violence, potentially leading to multiple wars.

Lebanon remains an active Pandora’s box, its fate partially determined by Iran, which has full control over Hezbollah’s firepower, as the main supplier of its weapons.

For the moment, Hezbollah has neither received nor has given the marching orders to open up another front to fight Israel from Lebanon.

Syria has refrained from offering its borders with Israel to the volunteers for the resistance—those demonstrating on Arab streets or those being called on by the mullahs in Tehran to train in Iran.

Israel maybe banking on Syria’s long held promise of restraint and on Iran’s legendary knack for knowing when to stand down after going to the brink. But that does not solve Israel’s Palestinian problem.

Israeli leaders are fooling themselves and others in claiming that their lashing out against Hamas is in the interest and in support of Arab moderates. It is utter nonsense for Israel’s leaders to pretend to support Arab moderates when those leaders have evaded every opportunity to boost the negotiations option that the Palestinian Authority embraces.