Douglas Murray: Gaza must reject terror of Hamas for war to end

How do wars end?There is a modern belief that they end around a negotiating table.In fact, historically, most wars end by one side winning and the other side losing.Critical to this is that the side that has won knows that it has won, but that the side that has lost knows that it has lost.Which brings me to the Middle East.Over the past 15 months, since Hamas invaded Israel and Hezbollah attacked from the north, Israel and its enemies have been in a full-on conflict.The Revolutionary Islamic Government in Iran has been funding and organizing a multi-pronged attack to destroy the Jewish State.

And they have failed.Now, as some Israeli hostages are being returned and an uneasy pause in hostilities continues, some people think that the war might be over.But it is not — and it should not be.Not just because the hostages — including the American hostages — ALL need to be returned home.And not just because Hamas still has an active presence in Gaza.

As demonstrated by their sick publicity stunts while releasing some female hostages.No — the reason why the war shouldn’t be over is because it cannot be over until the people who started the war have lost.And are forced to realize that they have lost.That is why I was so encouraged this past week by comments from President Trump where he talked about clearing people from the Gaza strip.His comments have caused howls from around parts of the Arab world and some of the oh-so-progressive countries in Europe and elsewhere.

Some of these people have pretended that Trump’s comments are somehow “genocidal.” As though saying that a population should move is somehow “ethnic cleansing” and much more.But it is no such thing.Recommending that a population might move from where they are living is not the same thing as killing them.

That should be obvious to anyone.More important is that his comments change the possible terms of the post-war landscape.Hamas has ruled Gaza pretty much ever since Israel withdrew from...