Essay | When Israel’s Nice Nemesis Accepted Peace

With Israeli and Palestinian forces prone to resume hostilities after the four-day pause beginning Thursday, the prospects for a extra lasting peace within the Center East stay dim. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to totally defeat Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the coastal enclave and shocked the world with its killing spree on Oct. 7. For his or her half, Hamas officers have stated they may conduct comparable assaults once more, as many occasions as is critical to realize the whole destruction of Israel.

It’s tempting to conclude that, after this, Israelis and Palestinians merely won’t ever be capable to agree on a political settlement able to bringing an finish to greater than a century of battle. But historical past is replete with examples of apparently implacable enemies tiring, finally, of struggle and coming to the desk—together with within the Arab-Israeli context.