Reply #10: You conflate two different things. [View All]

It is one thing to point out that the existing policies
fail, and another thing to presume to offer a solution.
If you see someone hitting themselves in the head with a
hammer, you are not required to suggest future medical
treatment in order to tell them to put down the hammer.

With regard to Hamas in particular, it seems that the
effect of the current policies of political anathema
and collective punishment has been only to strengthen
their hand, so it is easy to suggest an end to collective
punishment and the rapid incorporation of Hamas in the
political process. Since that appears to me to be the
inevitable end of current trends, one might seize some
political advantage from giving freely what will eventually
be taken.

I don't have any simple answer for how to obtain a lasting
peace, that is an issue that has confounded the best thinkers
since antiquity.