[Chojin]

Talked with a friend of mine whose mother is first-generation Israeli about the issue. Here's what he had to say:

33:47 Chojin: what do you think about hamas winning the palestinian election
34:00 Stovakhor: Honestly, I think its great for Israel
34:06 Chojin: why's that
34:09 Stovakhor: If you'd like, I'd be happy to explain why
34:13 Chojin: sure
34:36 Stovakhor: Hamas won't recognize Israel's right to exist
35:03 Stovakhor: So Israel has a clear, undebateable case for not negotiating. Since Hamas cannot accept any peace agreement since they don't recognize Israel
35:17 Stovakhor: that makes it easy for israel to continue Unilateral withdrawl.
35:40 Chojin: withdrawl?
35:56 Stovakhor: Its a free pass to do whatever they want, so long as they withdraw from the land. The palestinians essentially have given up the ability to negotiate border arrangements
36:15 Stovakhor: Israel has been pulling out of palestian land for several months
36:51 Stovakhor: but htey've been doing it without any kind of agreement, so the PA (palestian authority) has been upset because they haven't aggreed to the terms or the border Israel has been setting up
37:25 Stovakhor: With Hamas in power, there's no more negotiating of any kind. And Israel has a great reason to work outside of any agreement, unilaterally
37:31 Chojin: so how can israel pull out in a palestinian's view if they don't exist as a nation
37:58 Stovakhor: They recognize that israel exists, but not htat they have a RIGHT to exist.
38:14 Stovakhor: They believe Israel the country is illegal, and thus should be destroyd
38:27 Chojin: well my point is, anything short of moving out of the middle east isn't going to be seen as withdrawal
38:47 Stovakhor: Its a withdrawl, but not a "complete" withdrawl
39:15 Stovakhor: plus, if hamas engages in Terrorism, Israel's position becomes really strong
39:36 Stovakhor: Since the ruling party sponsoring terrorism. It's like the Taliban in afghanistan
40:18 Stovakhor: Which means, either a) Hamas no longer overtly supports terrorism, which is good. Or b) they do, and Israel gets to really do whatever it wants
41:06 Stovakhor: The only real downside that I see is that there is absolutely no hope, really, for Israel to get a peace agreement anymore
41:23 Stovakhor: but that isn't really that bad, becuase what were the odds of that anyway?
42:08 Stovakhor: I think this is fantastic from Israel's POV. Which is completely counterintuitive, and against what all the media is saying. But really, the media was surprised Hamas won, so it shows how little they know.
43:11 Chojin: So in the case of all-out war between israel and palestine, what happens
43:46 Stovakhor: Palestine ends.
43:51 Stovakhor: Realistically speaking.
44:04 Stovakhor: It would be a VERY fast war.
44:26 Chojin: in the short term, yeah, but what about iran and treaties palestine/iran might have?
44:33 Stovakhor: Even then.
44:53 Stovakhor: Israel's army is so advanced, full war isn't that big a threat anymore
45:03 Stovakhor: China is staying out of it
45:25 Stovakhor: Although, they more or less condone Iran's actions, since htey need the oil
45:38 Stovakhor: It's unlikely they would step in on either side