To the editor:
Re the November 14 editorial, "Another Israel-Gaza War?," if there's a better option The Times should make a serious effort to come up with one; the suggestions in the editorial don't even come close.
The editorial says Hamas has mostly adhered to an informal cease-fire since 2009, but thousands of rockets and mortars have been launched at Israeli civilians during that period. For Hamas, a more permanent cease-fire of the type you advocate would simply mean Israel ceases to defend its people while Hamas and its cohorts continue to fire.
One can only laugh at the suggestion that "it would be easier to win support for retaliatory action if Israel was engaged in serious negotiations with Hamas’s rival, the Palestinian Authority, and working toward a durable peace agreement." Israel would like nothing better, but the supposedly "moderate" leader of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas, has assiduously avoided negotiations while blatantly violating previous agreements. It takes two to tango, but Israel continues alone in its quest to dance the dance of peace.
Sincerely,
Alan Stein