ISRAEL is not done with Gaza after its air force carried out carpet bombing that has killed civilians besides the Hamas operatives targeted. The Hamas command structure is believed to have suffered damage. This has included the network of tunnels running under the Gaza-Egypt border, critical for daily commerce and the supply of food and arms as land access is blocked by Israel. Reports indicate the Israel Defence Forces could next go for ground assaults to finish off Hamas, which has been shooting rockets into Israeli villages after a ceasefire expired on Dec 19. The operational outcome of Israel's proclaimed right to defend itself could not be in doubt. Hamas' arsenal does not come close to that of Hizbollah in Lebanon, whose stand against Israel's 2006 invasion famously exposed limitations in Israel's military arts.

But Hamas will be defanged. Gaza will be subdued. Rocket attacks then cease. Quiet settles again on Israeli towns. Mission accomplished. One hopes the Israeli people, numbed by the resort to arms by their generals and politicians, are smarter than to think this. The violence and the hate will endure for another hundred years, in a manner of speaking. Israelis must know that each time a 'disproportionate' retaliation against Palestinian attacks leaves homes destroyed and old people and children killed or maimed, as unintended victims, more recruits and more moral acuity are added to the militants' cause. This will be manifested in terror attacks and civil disruptions in vulnerable parts of the world, Israel included. In response to the Gaza attack, Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to defend themselves against Israel. Suicide bombers surely are already being briefed on their missions.

Cascading vengeance that is implicit in Israeli punishments and Muslims contending against what they consider to be heinous bullying lie at the heart of the terrorism scourge of modern times. Israelis can help to counter the cycle of feuds by choosing in the February election leaders whose first instinct is to exhaust the paths to peace and not wage war, when protecting the Jewish state. Palestine's Arab allies must continue to convert recalcitrants to the truism that accepting Israel's existence will bring fulfilment to their dream of a home for Palestinians. As crucial, America's incoming president, Mr Barack Obama, should not feel tied down by the 'special relationship' his country has with Israel. He should bring outlier thinking to bear on the issues of Palestinian statehood and Israeli security. 'Change' that has been his winning credo is never more desperately needed to alter the dynamic of an interminable dispute.

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