Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: New Israeli search method at West Bank checkpoint worries Palestinians [View all]Shaktimaan
(5,397 posts)Israel strengthened the PLO in comparison to Hamas. They brought the PLO back to life by dealing with Arafat re: Oslo, allowing him back into the country, etc. If not for Israel's help the PLO would have disintegrated long ago. And then it was the PLO itself that lost Gaza to Hamas. It was because of the PA's rampant corruption that Palestinians decided to favor Hamas. Not because of anything that Israel did.
If you think that disrespecting Arafat led to his losing respect among Palestinians then the best thing for Israel to do now would be to do the same, even more so to Hamas. In other words, their actions re: Gaza are the best course of action to hurt them politically.
You say that Hezbollah and Hamas are much worse than the PLO ever was? What makes you say that? I would say that they are about the same. But fear of the next terrorist organization is a poor reason to refrain from protecting oneself against current terror groups. Should Israel stop defending itself against Hamas because Islamic Jihad might be even worse themselves? No, of course not.
Why should Israel take actions that have thus far been shown to increase terrorism?