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ONLY an unreasonably optimistic worldview could persuade anyone to view last week’s announcements about the Gaza Strip as a ‘breakthrough’. Hamas might have agreed to put away its weapons, but that’s contingent on Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territory. Its armed forces control more than 70 per cent of the Strip, and says it won’t budge until Hamas ‘completely’ disarms. At best, this is a recipe merely for prolonging the status quo that followed last year’s so-called ceasefire, which has been violated more or less daily by the Israel Defence Forces, with nary an objection from Donald Trump’s ridiculous Board of Peace (BoP). One can just about imagine a scenario in which the graduated disarmament of not just Hamas but also Israeli-sponsored factions in the territory is accompanied by a reciprocal IDF pullout.
But anyone cognisant of realities would find it hard to imagine any meaningful concessions from the Israeli state ahead of the October elections — even afterwards, regardless of whether Benjamin Netanyahu retains the prime ministerial post he has held far too frequently. There has lately been exaggerated commentary about the US president’s capacity to restrain Netanyahu’s worst impulses. This variety of nonsense is belied by recent history. All of the White House incumbent’s predecessors this century resisted Netanyahu’s unrelenting efforts to spark a military confrontation with Iran. It took a stupendous ignoramus to plunge in with haste and to regret it at leisure — amid his various other pastimes, from golf to architectural glitter.
