The recent move towards Palestinian reconciliation undertaken by the Hamas and PLO leaderships, threatened to end the political – if not material – isolation of Gaza. It posed a risk to the current state of things by providing Hamas, a political movement which came to power through elections, with a means for re-entering the realm of international legitimacy.

Once the Americans and Europeans agreed to recognise the new caretaker government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began to seek a way out of his new, uncomfortable isolation. He could not attack the Palestinians solely for their political reconciliation – the Americans would admonish him for that. Nor, to his great consternation, could he convince world powers to repeal their endorsement of the new government. Desperately, he sought a way out.