EXPERT COMMENT
Despite escalations, a full-blown conflict would be bad for both sides. But all this brinkmanship is diverting attention from Palestine.
Every conflict that generates public attention triggers speculation about what might happen next. Some offer doom scenarios; others use scaremongering as a diplomatic tactic in the hope that presenting policymakers in the international community with worst-case scenarios will spur those leaders into action.
After the latest escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, there is a tendency to assume that such a war is imminent. Resist that argument: escalation does not automatically mean all-out war is inevitable.
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