ISRAEL’s new defence minister Ehud Barak is planning an attack on Gaza within weeks to crush the Hamas militants who have seized power there. According to senior Israeli military sources, the plan calls for 20,000 troops to destroy much of Hamas’s military capability in days. The raid would be triggered by Hamas rocket attacks against Israel or a resumption of suicide bombings.

And what if there are no rocket attacks or suicide bombers? Never fear, they can be manufactured.

Barak, who is expected to become defence minister tomorrow, has already demanded detailed plans to deploy two armoured divisions and an infantry division, accompanied by assault drones and F-16 jets, against Hamas. The Israeli forces would expect to be confronted by about 12,000 Hamas fighters with arms confiscated from the Fatah faction that they defeated in last week’s three-day civil war in Gaza. Details of the plan emerged as Fatah forces in the West Bank stormed Hamas-run buildings, including the parliament in Ramallah, where they tried to seize the deputy speaker.

Goody, goody. More violence. I'm going to have to unblock Fox News on my cable box so I can get some sweet coverage of this terrorist busting action.

Israeli officials believe their forces would face even tougher resistance in Gaza than they encountered during last summer’s war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon. A source close to Barak said that Israel could not tolerate an aggressive “Hamastan” on its border and an attack seemed unavoidable. “The question is not if but how and when,” he said.

No, the question is: why do you keep banging your head against a wall even though it hurts?

This will end no better than the war with Lebanon. Israel will once again outrage the world by slaughtering innocent civilians, only to be taught another lesson about their overall impotence to control Islamic public opinion. Hamas will emerge even more powerful and popular, and probably will take over the West Bank as well. I challenge anyone to tell me the last time Israel made an intelligent strategic decision.

Some people doubt this report, and I hope they are right. Invading Gaza is not something the Israeli people really support at this time. If they think it will restore Fatah's reputation and strength in the strip, they are strictly delusional. Even wingnuts agree:

The Israeli Air Force would have less effect in this fight than one might think. They can target Hamas assets out in the open, but most of those assets will remain hidden in cities. Unless the Israelis plan on carpet-bombing places like Gaza City and Rafah, the Air Force will remain mostly irrelevant. Air power will probably have to be limited to helicopter gunships in support of infantry and armored units, and they will be vulnerable to missile attack.

Israel has to do something about Hamastan, without a doubt, but the question is what can they do most effectively. They would be better off taking out the major military points of Hamas and sealing off Gaza. Otherwise, the Israelis would not only have to roll across the entirety of Gaza, but they would also have to re-occupy it to keep Hamas from rising up again in the vacuum of their withdrawal. That does not sound like a promising use of the IDF, especially while Lebanon and Syria threaten Israeli security from the north.