I leaned toward an actual war based on Israel's success and low casualties. I didn't think Israel would accept a ceasefire while they had the advantage and much more to do. And when Israel accepted the ceasefire, I didn't think Israel would actually withdraw their troops until they had a chance to really sift the area and shut down the smuggling tunnels, kill or capture Hamas leaders, destroy rocket depots, and destroy rocket work shops.
When Israel actually did bug out, I figured they stopped way too early:
I think Israel will regret ending the war so abruptly and pulling out. Israel should have sifted the strip to complete the destruction a little more thoroughly.
Still, deterrence and fear have been restored a good deal among Israel's enemy's after the weakening it endured after the poorly fought 2006 Hezbollah War.
Ralph Peters thinks they made an error, too:
The IDF performed superbly, redeeming its reputation after the 2006 Lebanon debacle. But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, after an encouraging start, reverted to its past spinelessness - a failure of nerve that served Israelis and Palestinians badly.
After the basic issue of whether a war is just comes the question of whether the war's results justify the costs. Had Israel continued to focus on smashing Hamas and killing its leaders, this would have qualified, readily, as a just war from start to finish.
But now we just don't know if this truncated conflict will produce desirable long-term consequences, or if a convalescent Hamas will continue ruling Gaza with the gun and eventually resume its terror-rocket campaign.
Hamas has suffered a painful setback, physically, politically and psychologically. But it may not have been hurt enough. Hardcore terrorists take a lot of killing.
And the smuggling tunnels are still in business:
The tunnels linking Gaza and Egypt are back in business, despite the hundreds of tons of bombs and missiles that Israeli troops rained down on them.
Hamas still has the rockets, work shops, terrorists and supply lines to continue attacking Israeli civilians.
Hamas was not hurt enough.
