oneworldtalk

All the lives lost in vain. Israeli may have scored tactical and short term military gains but has lost politically big time. Violence begets more violence. This would push youths (on both sides) to seek destruction as recourse as they know no other way of settlement.

Quote :

Hamas has taken a military drubbing in Israel's massive war on Gaza, but it could rise from the rubble with substantial political gains and a new role as a regional player.

"[Hamas] will not disappear because it is a secret resistance movement. Hamas is a movement that knows how to renew and rebuild itself easily," he said.

On the international stage, it has benefited from the war's exposure of the deep rift in the Arab world between US and Iranian allies.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority (PA) immediately called for a ceasefire while their rivals Iran and Syria, backers of Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, loudly championed the struggle against the Jewish state.

On Friday Hamas received a huge political boost when its leaders for the first time attended a top-level Arab summit in Doha that was boycotted by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Abbas.

Hamas "is coming out of this war with huge political gains", said Naji Sharab, a political science professor at the al-Azhar university, traditionally close to Abbas's Fatah movement.

"It reaffirmed its position as a major actor not only in the region but in the world," he said. "On the Palestinian scene, it has succeeded in embodying the resistance during more than 20 days."

The main question yet to be answered is whether the war has dented Hamas's popularity on the Palestinian street.

- Extracts from AFP