(Dan Tri) – Experts explain why tough military measures will not be able to completely resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas force.
Rocket flies from Gaza into the area controlled by Israel (Photo: Reuters).
Israel declared a state of war and said it would eliminate Hamas after this force launched a surprise attack on areas controlled by the Jewish State on October 7.
Israel has now signaled sending troops into the Gaza Strip by land to attack Hamas.
Alon Burstein, an expert at the University of California, Irvine (USA) commented that it will be very difficult for Israel to completely eliminate Hamas forces with drastic military measures.
Hamas is an Islamic force that controls the Gaza Strip, a narrow strip of land with more than 2 million people that has been blockaded by Israel for the past 17 years.
`Tit for tat` attacks by Hamas and Israel in the past 7 days have killed thousands of people and injured thousands more.
Shibley Telhami, professor at the University of Maryland (USA), said that the conflict has had psychological, humanitarian and strategic consequences.
`Israel’s thinking that it can contain Hamas and live with rocket attacks will never be repeated,` he predicted.
However, expert Kenneth Gray, a former FBI agent, said that achieving the above goal will not be an easy task.
Eliminating Hamas means that Israel must face fierce battles in urban areas, fighting in every house and every street.
However, even if Israel achieves the above goal, it still cannot resolve tensions between this country and the Palestinians, Mr. Telhami said.
Essentially, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is related to religion, so no matter how tough military measures are, they cannot completely end this conflict.
`There will be no military solution to this conflict. You eliminate Hamas and then what? Other forces will appear and replace them with angry, hurt feelings,` Mr. Telhami said.
Mr. Burstein said that force will never be an effective way to deal with forces like Hamas.
`If Hamas is eliminated, it could still rise again or a group with an even more drastic approach will emerge,` he warned.
According to him, there needs to be a combination of additional military and diplomatic measures to calm the situation.
For example, according to Mr. Burstein, in a scenario where Israel eliminates Hamas, they could ask the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, to take over Gaza.
Experts are also concerned that if Israel sends troops into Gaza by land, the conflict could expand to neighboring areas, drawing groups in Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East into the war.
