Source:  www.zionist.org

By Aaron David Miller, Jul. 23, 2014, Philly.com

In her book A History of God, Karen Armstrong posits that people believe in God because God "works for them." That is, the idea of a divine being serves a useful purpose in people's lives. That utilitarian argument may be masked beneath a deep layer of spiritual devotion, but it's a pragmatic decision all the same.

The same logic explains, to a large degree, the motives and interests of Israel and Hamas toward one another. As the current Gaza conflict proves once again, these two actors, in a perverse way, need each other.

That's not to deny the enmity that marks the ties between Hamas and Israel, or the existential rhetoric that drives the tone of their public accusations. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that if Israeli and Hamas leaders had one wish, it would be to destroy the other. But in the practical world of Israeli-Palestinian politics, getting rid of one another is neither achievable nor perhaps even desirable. Indeed, because it's not an option, Israel and Hamas have not only made do with each other's existence; they have tried to derive the maximum benefit from one another.

The Israeli-Hamas bond goes back to the very inception of the Palestinian Islamist organization. Israel didn't create Hamas in 1987, but in an effort to counter the more secular Fatah and Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1970s, it gave a variety of Islamist groups political space and leeway. It even granted an operating license for an organization created by Hamas' founder, Ahmed Yassin. Paradoxically, Hamas' very reason for being depended on the existence of Israel - even though its main aim was to destroy it.

Read the full story: www.philly.com