Continued Gaza Invasion Sinks Israel in a Quagmire

●      Thomas Friedman wrote.. ((Thomas Loren Friedman, the columnist in the weekly column, in The New York Times this morning 3-12-2023, an article entitled: " The continuedinvasionof GazasinksIsraelinthequagmire" ....where the American writer Thomas Friedman, who is a close friend of Israel and is also considered one of the chief architects of the "Arab Peace Initiative" in 2002, expressed his extreme caution about Israel’s continued ground invasion of Gaza, fearing that it will sink into its quagmire forever, that all the “ills” of the Strip will fall under its responsibility, and that it will be forced to manage its population of more than two million people, who are suffering under the weight of a humanitarian crisis — and the worst, from the writer’s point of view, is that this would tarnish the reputation of the Israel Defense Forces, which has sought to restore Israelis’ trust in it!

●      Friedman initially urged the Israeli political and military leadership to heed the proverb attributed to Confucius: "Beforeyouembarkonajourneyofrevenge,digtwograves,oneforyourenemyandtheotherforyourself".!!

·       Friedman noted — in the above-mentioned article — that the reason for his caution regarding the invasion — to rid Hamas forever — is "adeepconcernthatIsraelisactingoutofblindanger"inordertoachieveagoalthatcannotberealized,whichis"toeraseHamasfromthefaceoftheearth"!

·       The writer compared the military operation that Israel is carrying out now in the GazaStrip, in retaliation for Hamas’s attack on it on October 7, and the two wars the United States waged on Afghanistan and Iraq after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the cities of New York and Washington — "which we paid dearly for".!!

·       Facing the dilemma Israel encounters in moving its ground war from northern Gaza to its south, Friedman advises the Israelis to adopt an alternative or a “hardline” option under which Israel calls for a permanent ceasefire followed by the immediate withdrawal of all its military forces from Gaza providedthatHamasreturnstoit,alltheremaininghostagesitholds,bothcivilianandmilitary,andallitsdead,withoutreceivinganyPalestinianprisonersinreturn!?.

·       Friedman identified several advantages that these proposals could achieve for Israel, including that all the pressures to stop the firing to spare Gaza’s civilians further death and destruction would fall on Hamas, not on Israel. Thus the latter would ensure that Hamas does not gain “any major victory” from this war!.

·       And another reason, according to the writer, is that among the greatest strategic benefits that could result from Israel’s exit from Gaza, in exchange for a ceasefire under international supervision, isthatitcanfocusitsfullattentiononHezbollahinsouthernLebanon.!

·       Another reason for adopting this option is the claim that there is an antidote within Israel that would allow it to recover and resume its project of normalizing relations with its Arab neighbors and establishing a stable relationship with the more moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. In Friedman’s view thatitwillnotbepossibleforIsraeltoachievethatexceptafterremovingitsprimeministerBinyaminNetanyahufrompower!.

·       Another option Friedman proposes, if the first one is not adopted — whose resultwouldbethatIsraelwouldremainstuckintheGazaquagmire! — is that if al-Sinwar refuses to accept a ceasefire except by having the Israeli prisons emptied of all Palestinian prisoners, Israel should advance an alternative plan: lower the level of its war objectives and announce that its army’s goal is not to erase Hamas from the face of the earth, but rather to significantly reduce its combat capability, and that Israel will withdraw from Gaza and establish a buffer zone and forward posts, one-mile deep inside the border with the Strip, to ensure that its border settlements are not exposed to another ground attack, similar to what happened on October 7.

·       ThewriterwondersthatifIsraelattemptedtoretainGazaentirely,thenitwouldnotonlyconsumetheleaders,butpoliticianswouldalsoraisehugedoubtsinthemindsofthegeneralpublic,aboutthearmypromisingthemanunattainablegoal,accordingtohisexpression.

·       In this regard, Friedman suggests informing the Israeli leadership to "stop lying to itself and to the public," as stated in the article.

·        Thewriteraddsthatoverall,Israelneedsthistypeofinternaldialogue,andwithouttheseoptions,the"taming"ofGazainadefinitivewaywouldalwaysremain"afantasy"asFriedmanbelievesintheconclusionofhisarticle!

·       Source: The New York Times via (source Al Jazeera.)