Shlomo Brom, a retired general at the Institute for National Security Studies, says that none of the military options is especially attractive. To stop rockets, as the army learned in Lebanon, Israel must occupy the launching zones.
But the range of the rockets is improving.
"That means, for all practical purposes, occupying most of the Gaza Strip," he said, "and no one in Israel other than the fringe right has the appetite to reoccupy the Gaza Strip." Hamas has weapons and built fortifications, "and there are thousands of terrorists willing to fight you." The Israeli forces would win easily, Brom said, "but it takes a long time, and for what? To regain rule over 1.5 million Palestinians? What's the exit strategy?"
