Word: lebanonization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Israel is well aware that a ground assault is precisely what Hamas wants. There is little the militants can do against Israeli air power, but they believe they can bloody Israel's armored columns and, in what they hope will be a reprise of Hizballah's success in Lebanon in 2006, inflict sufficient damage on the Israeli forces to be able to claim a symbolic victory. For the Israeli public, an outcome that leaves Hamas rule intact in Gaza may be easier to swallow if Israel has not suffered the significant casualties that could result from a ground...
Still, many Israelis believe their "deterrent power," weakened in Lebanon two years ago, will be re-established only if ground troops go in to destroy more of Hamas' infrastructure. Right now, it's not clear whether it is political calculations or simply the weather - which restricts the ability of the Israel Defense Forces to fly ground-support missions - that keeps Israel from sending in its armored columns. Reports in the Israeli media on Tuesday that Israel may hold off on bombing for 48 hours in search of a truce were quickly denied...
...condemnation will grow with the proportions of the conflict: Israeli forces are massing tanks and 6,500 troops for a possible land assault into Gaza. In anticipation, Hamas fighters are believed to be preparing Iraq-style roadside bombs and suicide bombers. Judging by Israel's disastrous 2006 incursion into Lebanon, a ground offensive in Gaza could drag on for weeks. "It will be a war of attrition," a senior Israeli military officer predicted to TIME...
...what, exactly? The first rule of launching a military campaign is to know how to end it, and Israel lacks an obvious endgame in Gaza. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, having overreached in his attempt to stamp out Hizballah in Lebanon, has announced modest goals this time: he's not promising to eliminate Hamas or even to permanently halt the flow of rockets from Gaza. Both those options would require Israeli troops to occupy Gaza for a long time, with the potential risk of massive casualties. Instead, Olmert is hoping a large show of force will persuade Hamas to stop stockpiling...
...support is not quite universal. The Israeli strikes have revealed, once again, the stark differences between pro-Western Arab leaders like Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and more radical Arab groups like Hizballah in Lebanon. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah has slammed the Egyptian government for suggesting that Hamas brought the attack upon itself. In an angry televised speech Sunday, Nasrallah said Cairo was cooperating with Israel and was selling out not only Palestinians but all Arabs. "There are some who speak of Arab silence, but this is wrong," he said. "There is full Arab cooperation, especially by those who have signed...