I can’t imagine that Iran, the only country that could possibly do that, would ever do that. Hamas is a loose cannon. Iran is not. The retaliation for supplying WMD or nuclear weapons would be wholly destructive of Iran.
I do believe that the very notion that the Palestinians would ever be given such means of destruction verges on, if it is not actual paranoia.
Palestine is not WWII Germany.
Yes, their odd pre-millenial eschatology.
Which is not focused on Israel, but on every country in the world.
The Israelis are more than capable of preventing their own destruction by rag-tag religious fanatics.
Save that both would want to succeed in converting the world.
Yes, Israel is probably more than capable of handling Hamas, the problem is that in order to do that, most likely it will have to use methods that are going to make it look bad and will further destabilize the region.
Unfortunately with Iran developing the nuclear bomb, it is going to shake up the power in
the region. Granted one could probably make assumptions that MAD will hold, but with upset populations, and a rise of nationalism all bets may be off. Also huge problems could occur even if not nuclear bombs are dropped.
As the cold war gets further and further away with the US and USSR being able to keep a lot of the regional wars in check, we may be looking at situations that mirror pre-World War tensions. Economies right now are in flux. People in emerging powers may want expect more power than others are willing to give. If regional wars start to crop up it can cause ripples in the economy that will further destabilize other regions, setting of chain reactions. For the most part, the US and USSR could keep a lot of this in check before, but that may not be the case right now.
As for Israel it certainly does have power to hold its own, but its weakness will be constantly attacked: its small size, small population, and low world wide public opinion. The danger lies in that it has a lot of power, and when backed into a corner it will try to survive.
If you ask me, the key now, is to cut down on the righteous rhetoric. It might be righteous on the outside, but I fear it may be corrupt inside even if the intentions are good. Everyone on all sides can give their justification, but at the same time over-extend on it and end up doing things that provoke the other side. I can see both the Palestinians and Israelis trying to resist and survive, but then there are people externally getting involved only making the situaiton worse. Time needs to allow things to cool down, but unfortuantly with current ideologies I don’t think that is likely.
