>Israel claims to be disarming Hezbollah, but the width and breadth of the strikes makes it appear that they are punishing Lebanon for not disarming them.

I read an article in the NY Times within the past few days that seemed to also indicate this, so it could be a credible assertion. It's difficult to tell exactly what the Israeli motivations are without being on the inside, but I think that is a mistake if that's what they are doing. On one hand, Lebanon has allowed Hezbollah to openly operate in southern Lebanon. On the other, I don't think the Lebanese government can do much about it, and shouldn't be punished because of it.

>I think a proportional response by Israel would have been seen as fair by Arabs in the region and even by the Lebanese. This overwhelming response breeds hatred. People forget that Israel is the superpower of the region. They were able to fight and win war with every one of their neighbours attacking them at once. They are even more dispassionately powerful now.

They probably can win a war with all of their neighbors attacking them at once, and yet they aren't starting any wars. They are living quite peacefully with Egypt and Jordan. So far as breeding hatred, groups have been hating Israel since it was founded. That's almost 60 years now.

>Yes. Each one of Israel's neighbours has moved from waging war of extermination against them to some form of peaceful recognition of their existence. Subnational groups such as the PLO changed its charter to accept the idea of Israel. Hamas was willing to accept the Arab Peace Initiative which meant normalization of relations with Israel in exchange for the West Bank. Things are moving in the right direction.

While the PLO may have changed its charter, that didn't stop them from starting terrorist attacks again when Clinton's Camp David meeting fell apart in 2000. The PA was offered statehood. While it wasn't exactly what they wanted, they insisted on the "right of return", as well as some other conditions that they knew Israel would reject. Thus began the second Intifada and the return of suicide bombers.

I have never seen anything where Hamas said they would recognize Israel's right to exist. As discussed in this thread with Dragan, Hamas' charter specifically calls for the destruction of Israel and they refused to say whether or not they would recognize Israel even if they returned to pre-1967 borders.

If you have a source where Hamas indeed say that would accept Israel's right to exist and normalize relations with them, I would like to see it.