The need for detente options in the now-intensified armed conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians’ militant wing, Hamas, is all-time urgent and non-negotiable. The bloodletting is appalling. The catastrophic event, instigated by Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement) in the wee hours of October 7, 2023, seems to have been a miscalculated attempt by the friends of the Palestinians to undo Isreal. There have been different narratives adduced in the wake of this crisis, but the sore point is, who is the rightful owner of the territorial integrity of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians? I do not intend to reproduce the already covered historical profiles and antecedents of the two states now at daggers drawn, but the focus is on the imperatives of tapering off the ongoing tension.
The detection of Hamas tunnels in Israel suddenly became a priority for the Israeli army to quickly checkmate the Hamas onslaught on Israel. The tunnels were constructed clandestinely with proceeds from the Arab League nations’ support funds in solidarity with the Palestinians’ core interests above Israeli consistent claims of land ownership. The asymmetrical method that Hamas kick-started this battle with, the blitzkrieg or raid format, did not give room for any responsive conventional protocol. This preemptive offensive dashed any hope that the reprisal attacks on Gaza Strip by Israel could be preeminently controlled as presently proven. The decision to obliterate Israel from the face of the earth by their enemy nations’ combined strategies smacks of foolishness, delusion, and paranoia.
