Ironic that hundreds of missiles were launched, resulting in only a single casualty, until the "bereaved" sent their forces in resulting in a much larger casualty rate for their own. Interesting strategy.
Now, if they did as many Western nations have done in the past, in supporting the rebuilding of the conquered territory, (e.g. Japan, Germany), then there may be a quite different outcome in all of this...perhaps, perhaps not, but obviously Israel's current strategy is a complete ongoing running failure.
QUOTE]
Just for the record:
Since the establishment of limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the mid-1990s, the U.S. government has committed approximately $5 billion in bilateral assistance to the Palestinians, who are among the world’s largest per capita recipients of international foreign aid. Successive Administrations have requested aid for the Palestinians in apparent support of at least three major U.S. policy priorities of interest to Congress:
• Preventing terrorism against Israel from Hamas and other militant organizations.
• Fostering stability, prosperity, and self-governance in the West Bank that inclines
Palestinians toward peaceful coexistence with Israel and a “two-state solution.”
• Meeting humanitarian needs.
From FY2008 to the present, annual Economic Support Fund (ESF) assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip has averaged around $400 million, with that amount divided between U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-administered project assistance (through grants to contracting organizations) and direct budgetary assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Annual International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) nonlethal assistance for
PA security forces and the criminal justice sector in the West Bank has averaged around $100million. In line with Obama Administration requests, funding levels declined slightly in FY2013, with a new baseline of overall annual ESF assistance of $370 million, and a new baseline of annual INCLE assistance of $70 million.
As far as the Israel strategy being a failure, the missiles for now seemed to have stopped and being an old army vet, I've never been one to take much stock in measuring success in body counts...