Richard Haass: ‘I Worry’ What a Massive Offensive Could Do to U.S. and Israeli Relations

EXCERPT:

HAASS: “The fact is, they’re not rescuing hostages militarily. That’s not the way they’ve gotten almost all the hostages they’ve gotten. It's not through military rescue or raids. You get them through deals. The question is, what is Israel prepared to sign up to? But they've got a problem. Hamas has raised its requirements for new hostage deals. And for the Israelis to say, 'We’re going to leave, pull out completely,' that’d be a major victory for Hamas. So, yeah, the word 'dilemma' is overused. This is a dilemma. I think the best thing you can do is try to negotiate these medium, you know, these mini deals and hold off massive offensive, because again, I worry about a massive offensive because of what it’ll do to U.S. and Israeli relations and what it'll do alienating the population in Gaza and the rest of the Arab world. Again, this has been part of the Israeli problem from the get-go, these large-scale military operations cost Israel, in many ways, in addition to whatever they might accomplish."