A Dull Resolve
According to Webster's Dictionary, Israel and Hamas are, by definition, experiencing a period of peace. As absurd as that may sound (at least to me), Hamas agreeing not to launch any missiles and Israel agreeing not to fire rockets back in self-defense, is in fact the creation of a peaceful state of coexistence. This seems to be the best the Israelis feel they can achieve at the moment... an Islamic 'hudna' that always brings with it the anticipation of future terror attacks and the continued hatred of the Jewish State and its people.
Today there is no joyous celebration in the ceasefire. There is only a 'dull resolve' in the knowledge that this agreement just puts off what most Israelis know is an inevitable confrontation. They reluctantly accept the fact that they must again wait until Hamas deems it in their own best interest to strike Israel. This is just one more time that Israel has bent to global pressure and ceased its operations before ground forces could finish the job.
One more time that Hamas claims victory; that Israel's response is 'unbalanced' in their 'retaliation;' that Israel's future remains uncertain and there will be another confrontation as Iran is already getting ready to ship more Fajr-5 rockets and Shahab-3 ballistic missiles to Hamas... and Netanyahu is advising his pilots to stay ready and continue with preparations for the next offensive.
The Iranians and their terrorist proxy Hamas are painting themselves as victors. The new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are seen by many as the biggest winners, while President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO are diminished, and Israel is the big loser. Driving home the point even more that this is only a stop-gap agreement are the claims from Hamas that this ceasefire does not mean that they will not continue to amass more weapons... and some of those weapons have been seen by Israeli satellite as they are being loaded onto Iranian ships as I write this.
Can this vicious deadly cycle of hatred ever end or is this the best the Israelis can expect -- this quiet moment of dull resolve in-between defending their right to exist?
Israeli forces may temporarily destroy some of Hamas' leadership and much of its weaponry, but this will only postpone things for a short time. There still remains more than 1400 years of Jewish hatred that is passed on to every Muslim generation and continues to be used as a rallying cry that unites the various factions of Islam ideology against Jews, not just against Israel.
This will undoubtedly be a short-term truce. A dull resolve has taken over Israel.