When Ehud Olmert says that Israel was going to have a unilateral cease fire because "all of its objectives have been met," I must admit that I am mystified.
If I was Israel's leader, I would have thought that the major objective was to stop rocket fire so residents of Sderot could live without fear. It would not have occurred to me that the increase of the rocket radius to cover nearly a million Israelis would be one of the objectives of the operation.
If I was Israel's leader, I would have thought that getting Gilad Shalit back would be one of the objectives of such an operation. It would not have crossed my mind that he would be ignored - "unilaterally."
If I was Israel's leader, I would have thought that one of the lessons of Lebanon's war was to ignore world opinion and press on when you have the advantage, not to stop at a time that the enemy could call it a victory for themselves. I never would have thought that a good end-game would be one where Hamas is poised to regain all it has lost in a short period of time; where it still has the capacity to violently suppress Fatah (as PalPress is reporting) and where it has solidified itself as the de facto leader of Gaza that the world now gives more legitimacy to.
If I was Israel's leader, I would have thought that one major point of the operation was to restore Israel's psychological deterrence, and that Hamas firing of rockets in the immediate hours after the "cease fire" was proof positive that this did not happen as of yet.
If I was Israel's leader, I would have thought that one goal of the operation was to show the world that Israel will not rely on third-parties for its security and will step in when necessary. I would never have thought that a piece of paper could stop tunnel digging and weapons smuggling, when we know from bitter experience that even Israel had a hard time keeping the tunnels from being dug when it still controlled the Philadelphi corridor.
In my ignorance, I am not aware of a single objective that has been met.
I guess that's why it is lucky that Israel still has a prime minister who is so wise that he can understand things that are way beyond my limited mental abilities.
