Look, it's just not as simple as Israel responding to Hamas lobbing
missiles into southern Israel for the last week. Like most things, the
burdensome details paint a slightly different, more complicated
picture. Yes, Hamas has been firing missiles into Israel since the end
of the cease fire ten days ago. No Israelis, thankfully, were hurt in
those attacks. And yes, the Israeli blockade of Gaza for the last
year, cutting off all humanitarian and commercial exchange has resulted
in turning Gaza into, at best, a third world country with crushing
unemployment and complete lack of infrastructure.
So, Israel now enters the third day of massive air assaults, and has ground troops apparently waiting to be dispatched into Gaza.
You can count the number of possible outcomes here on one hand, and have a bunch of fingers left over. Wars, after all, are resolved in only a couple ways, a negotiated settlement or the destruction and surrender of one side. Neither seem very likely, at least in the short term. So, the likelihood of having to watch Israel beat the crap out of Hamas for the next several weeks is pretty high.
Israels actions do, however, place the U.S. in a strategically tricky situation. If there's anything that galvanizes public opinion in the Middle East it's the Palestinian/Israel issue. There aren't many issues that bind elements as disparate as Iranian Shia mullahs, Saudi Sunni kings, and Turkish emirs. U.S. strategic objectives are enhanced by a conflict between the Middle East states; it's in our best interest to have Middle Eastern nations resisting Iranian influence and any issue that brings the Middle East together (i.e., Palestine/Israel) is counterproductive to U.S. interests.
There are, obviously, no good answers here. But given the amount of support the U.S. provides to Israel, either in terms of arms,foreign aid and the assurances that the U.S. will stand behind Israel (seemingly) regardless of it's actions, I sure hope they're telling U.S. officials their plans and U.S. officials are, in turn, considering the implications for our overall foreign policy.
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