At a briefing for senior Israeli journalists Oct. 29, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed them to attribute part of his remarks to a “senior diplomatic source.” I understood him. There wasn’t much to be proud of in this briefing, so he would obviously prefer not to be cited by name.

He explained certain facts, which many already knew, but which he did not usually describe with such clarity. He said that he had no interest in another round of fighting with Hamas in Gaza, and that if such fighting did break out, there would be casualties on both sides, and that when it was all over, the situation would not be very different from what it is now.

He added that he wanted to hand responsibility for Gaza over to someone else, but that there was no one to hand it over to. Israel is unwilling to engage in negotiations with an organization that refuses to recognize it. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel, so he is unwilling to engage with it in dialogue. Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank is unwilling to enter Gaza as long as it is not granted responsibility for the weapons controlled by the various groups there. This is because the Palestinian Authority leadership realizes that the moment it assumes responsibility for Gaza, Israel will retaliate against it, if any of the organizations do start firing their rockets and missiles.

While he was still head of the Likud in 2005, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to disengage from Gaza unilaterally without first reaching of some agreement between Israel and the PLO, and then refused to begin negotiations with the new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over a permanent agreement. This resulted in what looks like a dead end. Like then, the parties have been unwilling to enter direct negotiations, while expressing a clear willingness to halt confrontations. The Hamas leadership admits openly that it has no interest in another round of violence with Israel. This could indicate a window of opportunity where the parties could benefit from re-examining the understandings reached after Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996.