Quote Originally Posted by Culpeper View Post
I sort of got the feeling that Israel would look at the recent downfall of Fatah on the Strip as a blessing in disguise.
How in Gods name is the loss of Gaza to HAMAS a good thing for Israel? I will say this again (now that I am stateside and have a goooooddd coffee) Israel screwed up with Arafat - Isolating him and removing his tools for stabilizing the Palestnians gave the entire kitandkaboodle to the Islamic Extremists ... when faced with moderates who were terrorists to suicidal exremists for whom all future generations are enourgaed to become terrorists, you choose the moderates.

This things is a disaster for Israel, the USA and the ME region as a whole. We have let the extremists set the agenda and do it democratically through legitimate elections!

All we can do now is hope someone in Israel has the guts to make thr tough call ... assist FATAH in the West Bank establish, rapidly and with UN assistance a new independent Palestine including a right to return for Palestinians in Lebanon and overseas, the rich, smart ones - to the west bank. That way, HAMAS will end as an entitiy, people moving back to the WB can isolate Gaza and it becomes a pan-Arab/international problem.

Israel won't invade again.

Will the Israelis take this historic chance to stop a radicalized, Iranian inspired terrorist group from doing same to 9 million Palestinians? Doubtful but its an option to be explored.