Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Pondering the Strategic Objectives of Hamas -- A Commentary

Israeli soldiers stand near armoured military vehicles just outside the northern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)

From Information Dissemination:

With the revelations made in this Haaretz article that Israel has been planning for the current conflict for several months, the implication is that the pre-cease fire condition between Hamas and Israel was never an accepted long term condition from the perspective of Israel. The implications of the revelations made in the article are numerous, and interesting from an observers perspective.

We learn that through extended intelligence efforts, lessons learned fighting Hezbollah two years ago, and a disinformation campaign Israel has capitalized on Hamas's decision to break the cease fire agreement by inflecting serious damage through its air campaign against Hamas targets. The high death toll and large number of wounded are expected results. While there are several ways to look at the high number of civilian deaths, I tend to treat these as a trend to be expected set by the conditions these conflicts are now fought under.

Read more ....

My Comment: A well written and thoughtful analysis. A must read.

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