The Real Road to Peace

Hamas just again showed its true colors, rejecting Israel’s proposal for a twomonth ceasefire with release of Palestinian prisoners and freeing of the remaining Israeli hostages. Meanwhile, the IDF is taking more casualties in order to shield ordinary Gazans. On Monday, Israel suffered its deadliest day since Oct. 7 when 24 soldiers were killed in Gaza. The relatively high toll stems from Israel’s new approach: Rather than wage wide-scale aerial bombings, it’s relying on ground attacks, more narrowly targeted, to dig out for Hamas terrorists.

This limits civilian casualties: Weekly Gazan deaths have fallen by two-thirds since the war’s start, per Hamas health officials. That is: Israel is sacrificing its soldiers to protect Palestinian civilians, even as Hamas takes zero responsibility for Gazans’ safety.

Tellingly, Hamas chief Khaled Mashal just vowed that the terror group will never accept any deal that leaves Israel intact, exposing the absurdity of Biden’s calls for a twostate solution to end the war.

Fact is, polls show Palestinians oppose any two-state solution that meets Israel’s security needs. Most Israelis reject a Palestinian state any time soon, too, since it’s all too likely to become a launching pad for more attacks — Oct. 7 repeated endlessly.

Yet President Biden won’t let the idea go. His team insists a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority could run Gaza as well as the West Bank. But neither Israelis nor Palestinians think that’s possible, given the PA’s corruption, ineptitude and unpopularity. Indeed, polls suggest Hamas would handily defeat the PA’s leaders if elections were held today.

Israel has no choice but to insist on “full Israeli security control over all the territory west of the Jordan [River],” as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu puts it.

And the first, necessary step to peace is wiping Hamas from the face of the earth.