Quote Originally Posted by Hooahguy View Post
Agreed. My general view is that Israel has a right to defend itself against the rocket attacks, but clearly the bombings arent helping anyone and are only causing harm. Harm for the Palestinians who are hurt by the bombings, and harm for the Israelis who come in harm's way when the Palestinians fight back. Why Israel keeps thinking that the bombings will work is beyond me.

But at this point its silly to think that there will ever be a diplomatic solution, it will only end with one side wiping out the other side, whichever side that is.
I respect the sentiments expressed in this post, but for the pessimistic prediction...I hope not, and I frankly expect not. Hamas is not capable of it. Even the situation changed dramaticly and Israel faced an existential threat, there'd be plenty of warning signs long before it - Israel has plenty of foreign goodwill to count on, in the first place the US.
Israel might consider driving out the Palestinians entirely, but I expect not. They would have to embrace the prospect of being a pariah on the world stage, and such a 'final solution' would arouse so much internal disssent that even an extremely right-wing government would hesitate.

Then again...the general sequence of things could continue for at least a decade or two, by which point settler outposts literally saturate the west bank. The rest of the world now maintains that they're all illegal and should be dismantled, but that might be an impossible option in the far future. Leaving the Palestinians even more overcrowded and concentrated than they currently are.

I seriously wonder what the underlying strategy beneath the settlement policy is - it just might be to create a fait accompli for future Israeli politicians, ensuring that there's no way going back.