Gaza gamble

It looks likely that 22 days into the conflict, Israel’s PM will declare a unilateral truce before the day is out.

Of course I welcome the relief this will provide to Gaza’s innocent peace loving majority.

But what if it backfires?

What if Hamas continue the rocket attacks?

What if more Israeli civilians are killed by Hamas’ hate campaign?

The Israeli government may be talking tough but a durable ceasefire is the only option. A political ceasefire is not the answer to the continuing problem.

To most Israelis it will simply look like Israel blinked when eye to eye with international criticism and mortgaged the principles for which it has been fighting over the past three weeks.