An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza must be prevented

More than a thousand rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel and no one can argue against the right of Israel to defend itself by retaliating.However the rapid escalation in strikes and counter-strikes has now reached the most dangerous moment. Israel is threatening a ground invasion to find and eliminate the Hamas Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist group who are the sworn enemies of Israel. A ground invasion and the impact on the tiny Gaza strip of packed and overcrowded buildings would be catastrophic for the civilian population however careful the Israeli defence force might be in seeking out what they view as the bad guys. Gaza is one of the most life-threatening places on earth and is so cramped into its narrow piece of territory that the arrival of tanks and armoured vehicles across the border from Israel would endanger the very existence of this Palestinian enclave. The Israeli military have always used bulldozers to knock down homes they consider are being used by the militants to attack Israel. Bulldozer destruction on top of constant airstrikes aimed at tower blocks where Hamas is thought to be located would be a combination so devastating that Israel must be persuaded to pull back from a ground invasion. The military are putting together a plan and it will be up to the scarcely in power Bibi Netanyahu government to make a decision. Netanyahu is still prime minister despite failing to put together a workable government after yet another inconclusive election in March, the fourth in two years. The Israel-Palestine horror story which successive US presidents have failed to resolve is never going to end in a peaceful agreement if another full-scale war is set in motion. Yet it seems every international organisation and foreign government are powerless to intervene and stop a new war.