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This is true but a useless statistic. Israelis do kill many more Palestinians than vice versa, but Hamas could end the violence at any time, and Israel can't. If Hamas would simply hold all fire, and publicly announce it, Israel would be forced to stop, both by internal and external pressure. If you mistakenly believe otherwise, you really don't know much about Israelis. [Edit: This is only true of the violence, not about the political dispute. But you don't really need to kill people to have a political dispute.]


Hamas can only end 'the violence' [against Israel] by (a) violently suppressing competing militias[1] in Gaza (one wonders how many different ways that could play out), or (b) pointing to progress in peace talks to convince Gazans to hold the truce. Only Israel can end the occupation though.

So, far from being a 'useless statistic', the relative hardships and pressures faced by each side have a direct bearing on the longevity of the conflict.

BTW, it's not necessary to speculate about how little I know. Let's stick to the facts.

[1] http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2012/1114/Is-Ham... [as-responsible-for-Gaza-rocket-fire-Not-exactly]


I don't think much of your comment makes sense, unless you think that it's worth the violence to end the Israeli occupation. I think it's clear that the violence is hurting that goal anyway plus killing Palestinians, so the only reasonable thing to do is to try to end the violence first, then worry about everything else. If the price is (a), well, policemen get shot everywhere. That's one (heavy) price Hamas has to pay to be a government.


It is Israel that breaks the ceasefires and starts the violence. Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/reigniting-vio...



>by (a) violently suppressing competing militias[1] in Gaza

In other words, behaving like a government, which they supposedly are?




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