Richard Haass: You Cannot Destroy Hamas Just Militarily, There Has To Be a Political Dimension

EXCERPT:

HAASS: "So I think there will be military action, continuing, open-ended military action, including Rafah, but it’ll be of a scale that will be less. This way, the Israelis can say they took on board the American point of view. I think it’ll reduce the number of civilian casualties. I don’t think it’ll change the fundamentals, but it’ll calm things down a little bit between the United States and Israel. But it doesn’t change the fundamentals. It doesn’t change the question of getting in enough humanitarian aid. It doesn’t change the question of the occupation. Above all, what Bibi Netanyahu is saying is he wants to destroy Hamas. You cannot destroy Hamas militarily alone. There has to be a political dimension. You have to marginalize Hamas politically, as well as defeat them militarily. Bibi Netanyahu’s government refuses to introduce a political dimension of policy. That’s why this cannot succeed as it's currently constructed."