https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/618788
The Swords of Iron war has extracted a terrible price in Israelis dead and wounded,mostly on the day of Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel. But it accomplished what was not possible in any other way.
Until Hamas’s declaration of war, most people, including many Israelis, believed that PLO and Hamas terrorists could be bought off with economic, diplomatic, and territorial incentives, concessions and rewards. The world poured $billions into their coffers, no questions asked, despite constant terrorist attacks. Except for Arab and Muslim countries which support them (e.g. Iran, Qatar, Malaysia, Pakistan, etc), that delusional thinking has not stopped, but the world understands what Hamas is.
Until the war, many people believed that Palestinian Arabs were entitled to a state by international humanitarian laws, such as the right of self-determination, and promoted as “the two-state solution” (2SS). This was the basis of the Oslo Accords, the creation of the Palestinian Authority, and it became enshrined as a moral principle, regardless of the leadership and purpose of such a state.
Then-Israeli PM Ehud Barak used it to offer Yasser Arafat a state; then-PM Ariel Sharon used it to justify the expulsion of Jews from the Gaza Strip (the “Disengagement”); and then-PM Ehud Olmert used it to make even more generous offers to Mahmoud Abbas. They were rejected, as usual, since it required accepting Israel’s right to exist. Nevertheless, until the war, the 2SS was supported by the international community, the media, and many Israeli leaders.
That is no longer the case. No one who cares about Israel is talking about the 2SS.