The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Israel’s military response will not simply be mowing the grass. It will mean uprooting Gaza’s violent extremists and reseeding the lawn.
"In the new Gaza War, it is vital to remember that Gaza is not the problem; terrorism is.
"Israel’s war strategy must be focused on removing the root cause of the conflict. According to Palestinian radicals, American progressives, and other Zionophobes, the root cause is “occupation,” which can only be solved through “decolonization.” This is their standard talking point and all they want to talk about. But it’s hard to explain how decolonization includes butchering hundreds of unarmed young revelers at a love and peace music festival or any of the other atrocities perpetrated over the weekend.
"Plus, their rationale is factually and legally flawed. The Gaza border was established as part of the 1949 Egypt-Israel Armistice Agreement. The border is the same type of “green line” that defines other Palestinian territorial claims. The only way to argue that Israeli cities outside Gaza are “occupied territory” is if you believe that Israel has no right to exist at all. Conveniently, this is also the Hamas platform.
"Gaza was previously ruled by the Ottomans, the British, the Egyptians, and from 1967 to 2005 by Israel. It became a self-governing territory under the logic of land for peace. In 2005, Israel dismantled its settlements and withdrew from Gaza, leaving it to the Palestinians to order their own affairs. Optimistic peace proponents envisioned two countries side by side, self-governing and stable. Gaza was supposed to be the model of what was possible in a future two-state solution.
"However, land for peace became land for war in the hands of Gaza’s terrorist overlords. Hamas seized control in Gaza in 2006 after an electoral victory over the rival Fatah faction and turned the strip into a launching pad for Iranian-made rockets and other nefarious activity." . . .