THE mounting toll of innocents in Gaza is reason enough for anyone with compassion to demand a ceasefire. Since July 8th, when Israel began its campaign to clobber Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that has run the Gaza Strip since 2007, at least 700 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians and many of them children, along with at least 35 Israelis, including three civilians. After Israel undertook a ground invasion of Gaza on July 18th, the casualty rate on both sides soared. Hospitals have been hit and scores of buildings flattened, often with civilians inside. A Palestinian family of 25, said to have been hosting a Hamas fighter during a supper to break the Ramadan fast, was wiped out.Yet it would be a grievous mistake to bring about a ceasefire that achieved nothing more than to revert to the status quo. In the longer run, if a more durable peace is to be built, the Israelis must seek a sovereign state for Palestinians, who, including Hamas, must in turn reiterate their support for a government that disavows violence and recognises Israel. Unless a ceasefire is couched in such terms, the poison will in time well up all over...
from The Economist: Leaders http://ift.tt/WK4I7P
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