Many of those impressed by
Hamas's performance and Israel's newly exposed vulnerabilities also quietly doubt whether this is a sus-tainable strategy, if it means gaza (as Lebanon before it) is be pum-melled by israel
Pursuing this strategy would be very costly in both blood and treasure-and holds no guarantees of winning the core demands of palestinian self-deter mination and statehood.
As palestinians and Arabs debate these questions in private and public , hapless arab governments are uneasily watching the spectacle of their citizens weighing in on issues that matter to them,and taking up arms when they feel diplomacy has failed them.
Whatever the outcome of this debate , the enduring political aftershocks will challenge the estab-lished arab order long after memo-ries of the recent war have faded.