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Gaza Crisis Reveals Israel Is Talking

Ben Caspit writes that one outcome of the Gaza conflict is that when Israel holds talks with Hamas through Egypt, it is by extension talking with Iran, which is funding Hamas and pulling its strings from afar.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the annual memorial ceremony for Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, at Sde Boker in southern Israel November 20, 2012. Israel wants to find a long-term, diplomatic solution to resolve the Gaza crisis, but will not hesitate to escalate its military campaign against Palestinian militants if needed, Netanyahu said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ENVIRONMENT)

As these lines are written, another round of hostilities between Israel and the terror organizations in Gaza is nearing its conclusion. And once again, just as it was in past conflicts, the two sides have been firing like mad at each other and many were killed or injured.

Alas, both sides are still trapped in the same hopeless impasse. Hamas keeps stockpiling rockets and building legitimacy while Israel is buying another few months of quiet until the next round. The campaign began last week with a display of Israeli victory: the picture of the crushed and burning car in which Hamas’ military chief in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari, was riding. It was expected to end Tuesday evening, Nov. 20, with the Hamas victory shot: a direct hit by a Fajr-5 rocket on an apartment house in Rishon LeZion, a big city at the heart of Israel’s Dan metropolitan area, two minutes away from Tel Aviv.

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