Was the Latest Gaza War worth it for Both the parties?

ahmedsid

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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Both Sides Mull Costs of Israel-Gaza War - TIME

Israelis and Palestinians Ask if the Latest Fight Was Worth It


A bloody war is followed by a public-relations fight

The sign of victory as people gather in the streets to celebrate after a deal had been reached between Hamas and Israel over a long-term end to seven weeks of fighting in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 26, 2014 in Gaza City.

Israel and Palestinians Reach Open-Ended Cease-Fire Deal
Israeli and Palestinian leaders set out Wednesday to sell their constituents on what was achieved during the latest fighting between the two sides, a day into a cease-fire that ended 50 days of war.


In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced severe criticism from both ends of the political spectrum — from left-wingers who think the war could have been avoided had he not squandered a recent round of peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and from right-wingers who say he didn't go far enough in the latest Gaza war. Netanyahu resisted hawkish calls to have the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attempt an overthrow of Hamas and a reoccupation of the Gaza, and he shelved his insistence on the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, which he had been promoting last month as a solution to the conflict.

Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu's own Foreign Minister and among the most prominent critics in his cabinet, slammed the cease-fire deal.

"We object to the cease-fire which offers Hamas the ability to continue to grow strong and fight future battles with Israel whenever it feels like," Lieberman wrote on Facebook.

Unlike other key national decisions, Netanyahu did not bring the cease-fire deal to his cabinet for a discussion or a vote. After coming under fire for not addressing the nation Tuesday evening when the cease-fire deal was signed, Netanyahu held a news conference Wednesday alongside his Defense Minister and the IDF Chief of Staff, aimed at touting what he said was a mission accomplished, one that will provide "a lasting quiet" for Israel.

"Hamas did not get one of its demands to end Operation Protective Edge," Netanyahu said, using the name of the Israeli military operation. "It demanded a seaport, it didn't get it. It demanded an airport, it didn't get it. It wanted mediation from Qatar and Turkey, it didn't get it."

He listed other Palestinian demands — the release of prisoners, the opening of Hamas offices in the West Bank that Israel closed, money — and boasted that Israel refused all of these. Rather, he said, what Israel essentially agreed to was the rehabilitation of Gaza by allowing humanitarian goods to enter.

"A thousand Hamas terrorists were killed, many of them commanders," he said. "Thousands of rocket arsenals, launch sites and weapons caches were destroyed along with hundreds of command centers."

Those figures highlight the disparity in Palestinian and Israeli casualties and even how each side measures them: while Palestinians say that at least 70% of the approximately 2,100 Palestinians killed were civilians, Israel says about 50% were Hamas fighters. Seventy Israelis were killed, 64 of them soldiers.

While Israelis debated the war's outcome and whether it was worth it — more than half say there was no winner, according to a new poll — the mood was more jubilant and less analytical in Gaza City. Palestinians went out to shop, to the bank, to the beach, and in many cases, to see if their homes were still standing. "People are happy that they survived more than anything else," said Gazan journalist Abeer Ayyoub. "I'm just glad to be alive and that my house wasn't demolished."

Hamas rallied its supporters Wednesday afternoon, and many top officials not seen during the past seven weeks of war emerged to speak. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the blood spilled in the war was "the fuel of this victory." Wearing a black-and-white kaffiyeh-patterned scarf over his business suit, he counted Hamas' gains. "This battle is a war that lacks a precedent in the history of conflict with the enemy," he said, adding that the group was preparing for the "ultimate battle" for Palestinian liberation.

"The war began with fire on Haifa and ended with fire on Haifa," Haniyeh said, referring to the longer-range rockets Hamas used to target one of the main cities along Israel's northern coast.

Mkhaimar Abusada, a political analyst at al-Azhar University in Gaza, said many Palestinians view Hamas as victorious simply because of its resilience and its survival.

"If you look at the numbers, we had about 30 times the number of Palestinians killed as in Israel "¦ From this point of view, we didn't win," Abusada tells TIME. "But the Palestinians look at it from a different perspective. With limited capability, the Palestinian resistance was able to withstand the Israeli aggression and continue to fight to the last minute. Let's face it, Israel didn't reach its goals, because Israel could not stop the launching of missiles, and I'm not really sure they succeeded in deterring the Palestinians."
 

ahmedsid

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It would have been so much better if both Israel and Hamas could finally keep aside their egos and talk. It is wishful thinking I know, but Israel should understand Hamas is a player in the crisis, its the bloody big elephant in the room and you cant strut about saying we will not acknowledge the elephant come what may!

When the war started out and the news of the humanitarian disaster started pouring out, I thought Israel will stop after a week, but they didnt, thats when I thought this might be the end game, the game where they go in and fight building by building until the rocket launch/mortar firing capability of Hamas is taken out. I was wrong in thinking so because this was not Israels fight for survival like in those previous wars it fought with the Arabs, where they couldnt stop, and if they stopped, the seas was where the Jews would end up. In this battle, they alwaus had the option to stop if their Military casualties started climbing up the ladder and it did. I was surprised when a fairly big number of Israeli soldiers started getting hit the first hour after the ground invasion was launched and thats when I saw the fact that, Israel cant sacrifice its soldiers against Hamas, just like it didnt against Hezbollah. The days of an all out war for Israel is over, until they face the kind of enemies they did in the past.

Its time Israel sits down and talks, High time. And its high time Hamas Listens, because it cant go on building tunnels forever. God Speed
 
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What I never understood is how are Israelis separating Hamas from civilians?
Going door to door is a nightmare for any military.
 

SajeevJino

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What I never understood is how are Israelis separating Hamas from civilians?
Going door to door is a nightmare for any military.
Yes they did it.. not all houses Some Houses in Rafah And Mostly Khan Younis

What about the deal demilitarised Gaza. This happens soon



Right Now Israel has another front

ISIS near the Golan Heights as well as Heavy Shelling Reported in Golan Area
 

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