Monday, April 21, 2008

Like gang warfare

By Gideon Levy

"......This cycle of despair can never be broken by force. We will kill and be killed, and our security will suffer, and the chances for reaching a settlement will grow more distant than ever. The belief that the siege of the Gaza Strip will cause the support for Hamas to drop is crazy: Our experience has shown us that the opposite is true. Whenever the threat of increased terrorist attacks rose, Israeli public opinion moved to the right. Every attack only intensified our nationalism and hatred for Palestinians, so why should we believe that the siege and the killing will affect the other side differently? The thought that if we starve 1.5 million civilians, and we prevent them from having enough water, medical treatment and a livelihood, we shall influence their views in our favor, has already proved to be silly. Since the siege was put in place, there are no signs that Hamas has weakened......."

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