\n\n“In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip \u2014 a policy called \u201cdisengagement\u201d that was designed, in theory, to remove Israel from direct management of the Palestinian-populated territory. But in 2007, following tensions with the official Palestinian leadership, the militant faction Hamas took control of the strip by force. Since then, things have been worse for Israelis and (especially) Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel imposed a strict blockade on Gaza, tightly restricting the flow of goods and people in and out of the territory, entrenching the military occupation. Hamas tunneled under the border wall to launch cross-border raids and fired rockets into Israeli territory. Israel would periodically hit Gaza with airstrikes, often targeting operatives from Hamas and other militant groups \u2014 but inevitably hitting civilians in the crowded Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The perennially tense situation escalated to outright war at least four times since disengagement prior to the current conflict. These previous conflicts were horrific for civilians (and, again, especially Palestinians), but never saw any kind of fighting on the scale of today on Israeli soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As combustible as this setup has been, Israeli leadership saw it as essentially the best arrangement available to them. They believed that they could reduce rocket fire to an acceptable level, relying on the Iron Dome missile defense system. Israeli troops and border security measures could prevent major cross-border raids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Targeted killings and shows of force could deter Hamas itself from escalating too much, as they\u2019d always bear the brunt of the suffering in a true war. These periodic strikes have been euphemistically termed \u201cmowing the grass<\/a>,\u201d a reference to the idea that the terrorist threat couldn\u2019t be eliminated but could be reduced to a tolerable level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2019s events showed that these assumptions were badly mistaken.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Israel is currently in the midst of a US-brokered negotiation to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia<\/a>, a major follow-up to the Abraham Accord agreements<\/a> struck with several Arab countries during the Trump administration<\/a>. Normalization is widely seen among Palestinians as the Arab world giving up on them, agreeing to treat Israel like a normal country even as the occupation deepens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamas could well be trying to torpedo the Saudi deal and even try undo the existing Abraham Accords. Indeed, a Hamas spokesperson said that the attack was \u201ca message<\/a>\u201d to Arab countries, calling on them to cut on ties with Israel.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n