It was heartwarming to wake up this morning and see that Israel and Hamas seemed to be in agreement on something.

The two headlines (from Haaretz):

1. Olmert Rejects ‘Unworkable’ UN Gaza Truce Resolution

and

2. Hamas: UN Gaza Truce Resolution “Does Not Meet Our Demands”

It seems both sides agree that the pointless death and destruction will continue. Essentially, they’ve agreed to disagree — only with the quirky addition of horrific violence thrown in.

Noted geopolitical think tank Gawker has a good little piece by Hamilton Nolan about the Gaza mess from a media perspective. He argues, essentially, that the offensive was timed perfectly vis-a-vis American news cycles.

I think he’s definitely right. But it’s very important not to be reductive when discussing the Middle East. There are always a thousand moving pieces.

The fact that we’re in this sort of no-man’s-land between presidents was probably a factor, and maybe uncertainties about the incoming administration even played into the calculus too. But if we’re going to be wholly cynical, it would be a huge mistake to discount the upcoming Israeli elections.

At the same time, let’s not forget that in December Hamas announced that it had ended its six-month ceasefire with Israel, and that it does actually constantly fire rockets at Israeli civilians.

Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher has apparently been hired as a Middle East correspondent. No good will come of this.

First Eli Valley came for The Zionists, and we remained silent.

Then Eli Valley came for The Evangelicals, and we remained silent.

Now he has come for The Turtles.

I haven’t visited the old blog for a while — not since I was just posting about Snowmen and Hitler and other funny stuff — but it’s not like anything has happened in the Middle East since I’ve been gone.

Oh.

Well, obviously I don’t have answers, but I do have 12 questions — most of which I don’t think have been answered properly.

1.) If the Israeli attack on Gaza is morally and even legally sound, does that mean it is strategically sound?

2.) Is it strategically sound?

3.) What exactly is the endgame? The political result we should be hoping for? I hear a lot of vague stuff on this, and different people in the Israeli government give different answers.

4.) Can this military operation result in that political goal?

5.) What if Hamas is totally defeated, even if that is not the stated goal? Could the result be even worse?

6.) Is it significant that Israel chose to do this before Obama becomes president?

7.) To what extent does the upcoming Israeli election affect the military decisions being made?

8.) To what extent will this adventure affect the election?

9.) Many analysts say that this is exactly what Hamas wanted. If that’s the case, why is Israel giving it to them?

10.) Will this escalate? Could it bring in Hezbollah? Iran? Do some Israeli strategists hope so?

11.) Why is Egypt smiling?

12.) Why is this protester outside an Israeli consular building so against juice?

 Discuss amongst yourselves.