A Trail of What-Ifs for Israelis and Palestinians Over Gaza

Let’s imagine for a moment a hostile attack on October 7, 2023. What if Israel had responded with a fierce but limited war in Gaza, where it gave priority to the release of the Israeli hostages, and continued to follow the peace agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which was on the table long before the Hamas attack? How did Israel had performed a performance, and how many Palestinians ’lives could save? How will the area look like today?

Instead, Israel has made a series of quick decisions that define its course, as did the other players in the region as well as US President Joe Biden. This is what sociologists call “the followers of the path” – the process in which the decisions constitute subsequent decisions. In the hair, of course, it looks more elegant. Robert Frost wrote in his classic poem, “The Road is not taken”, however, knowing the way in which the way is performed,

Let’s imagine for a moment a hostile attack on October 7, 2023. What if Israel had responded with a fierce but limited war in Gaza, where it gave priority to the release of the Israeli hostages, and continued to follow the peace agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which was on the table long before the Hamas attack? How did Israel had performed a performance, and how many Palestinians ’lives could save? How will the area look like today?

Instead, Israel has made a series of quick decisions that define its course, as did the other players in the region as well as US President Joe Biden. This is what sociologists call “the followers of the path” – the process in which the decisions constitute subsequent decisions. In the hair, of course, it looks more elegant. Robert Frost wrote in his classic poem, “The Road is not taken”, however, knowing the way in which the way is performed,

Since President Donald Trump’s plan of 20 points for the Middle East gets some traction, this is the time to look back and the question: Have it taken ways and not taken that led to the prolongation of the war in Gaza? The answer is yes, of course – the disaster that was revealed in Gaza was not inevitable. But the answer is also, because some of these methods were not necessarily available to leaders in the United States and the Middle East at the time, given the size of the October 7 attack. The resulting political repercussions, especially in Israel, are the status of Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and others on the tragic path that they now find themselves.

Of course, the accumulation of terrible things that occurred in Gaza and the Palestinians in the past two years began to invade Hamas to Israel on October 7. The attack may have appeared on the Palestinian issue globally, and undermined the normalization between the Polisinian, at the cost of the Bestinian. Defeated, massive physical destruction, historical setback, perhaps permanent, for the Palestinian cause. In the big plan for the Palestinian question, what is happening within the Spanish Ministry of Presidency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the United Kingdom, or the living room in actor Mark Rovalo, only little. More importantly, the developments in Gaza City, where the Israeli army is now working; 3400 new housing units is scheduled to be built for Jewish settlers in the E1 bloc of the West Bank; The fact that the least and less number of Israelis now face the idea of ​​a solution from the two countries, if the conclusion they reached from October 7 is that the Palestinians did not have great interest in peaceful coexistence.

Once Hamas launched the flood process, the policy immediately began to form the subsequent battlefield. It is clear that Biden-an unprecedented ancient democratic center of his support for Zionism-was implemented that morals and his legacy as a state man, and his policies will be presented in the best way if he visits Israel shortly after the attack. The Israelis and their supporters around the world were deeply moved. When the Americans expressed his solidarity with Israel – along with many others around the world – Baden’s visit appeared on October 18 as if it was a political victory and an opportunity to provide leadership to Israel accumulated and a terrifying Jewish beauty.

However, it was also the seed of misunderstanding and expansion between the United States and Israel that followed. Biden clearly believed that the bear hug would buy him an influence in the way that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) followed Hamas. Instead, Israeli leaders considered that the visit is a sign that they have a free hand in Gaza. When it became clear that Biden had misunderstood Israel and vice versa, the war was already in its fourth month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers mainly ignored the United States throughout the term of the President. Instead of generating political benefits to Biden and his administration, the visit was sowed a dispute between the Democrats, and many supporters of Israel in the Democratic Party and its usual bearer, and the distortion of the president’s legacy, who will forever and forever to enable genocide.

Therefore, the dependency of Biden’s path – his early decision, which formed his subsequent decision. For Israel, the war plan was.

In recent months, Israeli supporters have responded to the criticism of the IDF campaign in Gaza by asking: “What should Israel do?” The implicit meaning is that there was no alternative to Israel’s operations and therefore criticism is illegal.

About a year after the start of the war, former Israeli officials were transferred to me in a private conversation that Israel had actually considered a three -month devastating process targeting Hamas, which would have been compatible with 1) Israeli military doctrine, 2) what could be supported by Israeli Arab partners, and 3) to ensure the United States’s support for the Far in the Kars and the American people.

But the policy of the moment-which was put in anger, revenge, and most importantly, is the long-term political strategy of coalition partners in Netanyahu, which represents the right of Israel-to advance the military strategy of Israel. The goal of destroying Hamas was intersecting with the desire of Bezalil Sottic, Iyar bin Ghafir, and other government officials to re -employ and resettle the Gaza Strip.

Whether Netanyahu participates in the opinions of coalition partners on the far right, this is not related because the strength of his government depends on them. The result is a long and painful campaign that killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, the Israeli Defense Army extended to its borders, the torn Israeli society, and undermined Israel’s global position. Now confined to the military campaign that followed, the Israeli Defense Army is working again to attack Gaza City and risk the lives of Palestinian civilians and Israeli soldiers on unconfirmed strategic advantages. However, the coalition did not crack.

A longer list of politicians – limited or motivated by their policies – makes its choices that led to the prolonged war. However, the decisions made by Hamas, the United States and Israel stand out. It is almost an ideal representation of how the narrow interests of leaders lead to an optimal level of all. At this disturbing moment, US President Donald Trump made a 20 -point plan to bring the war in Gaza. It has a place in the Middle East, unlike any of its predecessors in modern memory. However, he faces the same problem that former presidents in the United States struggled: how to change political incentives and restrictions of Israelis and Palestinians so that they can end the current conflict and eventually live in peace. There was a lot of optimism after Trump met with Netanyahu on September 29. The Israeli leader still needs to overcome the opposition of the same people who depend on the period of his government. For this reason, when he appeared in front of the press with Trump last week, he stressed that the United States plan will achieve all the military and political targets of Israel. This is only true if Hamas has already released the remaining hostages – the only crane of the group – weakens, and its demand is forfeited as an example of resistance. In other words, he accepts defeat.

No one will ever know where other possible ways will lead to the leadership of Americans, Israelis and Palestinians. Trump may have put the region on a new path, but even if he has, his plan says a little about the Palestinian aspirations to self-determination and justice-which guarantees a long and unconfirmed run.