How to End the Gaza War

by Emile Nakhleh

As the killing and destruction rages on in Gaza, and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Hamas leadership exchange recriminations and threats, key regional and world players must accept a central truism: No peace can be achieved between Israel and the Palestinians without including Hamas. The quicker they internalize this fact, the faster the cycle of violence can be broken.





Poverty, unemployment, poor health and hygiene, and a lack of power and clean water have generated anger and hopelessness, which have often resulted in the frequent firing of rockets toward Israel. While mostly ineffective, these rockets have terrorized Israeli residents in the southern part of the country. This too must stop.




Such a step would be severely criticized by partisans from, and on behalf of, both sides, including many in the US Congress. Therefore, courage, perseverance, and new thinking are needed to empower stakeholders to push the process forward.

Hamas and Israel



The asymmetry between Israel’s military might and Hamas’ weaponry, which includes homemade and home-upgraded rockets, cannot possibly allow Hamas to pose a credible mortal threat to Israel. The terrorizing of civilians along the Gaza-Israel border is abhorrent and must not be tolerated, but it is also not an existential threat to Israel, nor does it justify Israel’s massive bombardment of residential neighborhoods, hospitals, and schools in Gaza City and across the strip. Israel could easily destroy the tunnels on both sides of the border without destroying thousands of homes and reducing Gaza to rubble.


Precursor to Hamas’ Tunnels

The Bush administration and the Israeli government supported holding elections in Gaza in January 2006, which Hamas won fairly and convincingly. Both Washington and Tel Aviv were stunned by the results and proceeded to delegitimize the election results and torpedo the new Hamas administration.



That argument, which according to media reports at the time, was favored by President Bush, lasted for one day. The counter argument favoring an immediate isolation of Hamas, which was strongly advocated by neoconservatives in the United States and in Israel, carried the day.



The Way Forward

In a recent article on this blog I argued the two-state solution was dead and called for new thinking. The same applies to the current conflict.






Photo Credit: Iyad al Baba/Oxfam

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Emile Nakhleh




  1. Here is a novel idea. Why not stop the flow of illegal rockets and weapons to Hamas from Iran? That would be a sure fire way to stop the slaughter.

  2. A well researched and well argued article. the suggestions are logical and sound, hwever and most unfortunately rather impractical. It would have been a Road Map to follow but only if NeoCons then and NeoCons now did not have a deciding say in the Israel and the US. Fortunately NeoCons are not in complete control and sometimes there are cracks that logic and common sense may seep through; they failed to convince President GW Bush to attack Iran and failed to convince President Obama not to negotiate with the same country despite the NeoCon efforts to the contrary. Let’s hope and pray that even here they do not prevail.
    The present conditions in Gaza are historically an equivalent of siege of Stalingrad by the armies of Hitler. The inhabitants resisted despite being driven to cannibalism but finally were able to conquer over the tyranny and turn the course of history. May be we are witnessing a similar historical events now. It is true that sometimes “Blood May Win over the Sword”

  3. This is a good article, good points too. A novel way to stop the slaughter? How about a non-emotional way, like not shooting fish in a barrel, which is what’s going on today? As this continues, more is brought to light, as far as the Netanyahoo element goes. The more that does become exposed, the more one has to ask why the humanitarian people who call for human rights, don’t seem to be heard except on the blogs, then only to those who seek them out? The history books will tell the tale, until even that is revised by the apologists.

  4. Let’s see, Hamas uses civilians as human shields and Israel bombs them anyway. I don’t see any winners on either side.

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