Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 07/2009

Israel's Policy Options in the Gaza Conflict

David Makovsky

December 2008

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Abstract

The legacy of Israel's inconclusive thirty-four-day war with Hizballah in 2006 hovers over Israel's current military operations in Gaza. Israel believes its deterrence was lost in that war, and Israel's current campaign against Hamas should be seen as an effort to regain that deterrence. Israeli military officials believe that if Hamas feared Israel, they would not be firing rockets at Israeli towns but would have instead renewed the six-month ceasefire.