JtS makes a good point. I wish I had thought to make that point myself. However, the point I was making in my previous post is this... not only do the Palestinians not have the means to fight Hamas at this point, they also don't have an incentive to fight them.

While the majority of Palestinians are willing to live peacefully in their own independent state along side of Israel, each on their own side of the Green Line, unlike Hamas as stated in its charter, there is no one who will help them get their independent state except for Hamas. There is no one who will help them fight for their freedom except for Hamas. They have no one else with the means or the willingness to help them get their freedom.

Israel has removed any incentive the Palestinians would have to fight Hamas. Why should they? They know from experience that Israel will not give them their freedom no matter what they do. Under such circumstances, why would they want to fight the only people who are trying to help them get their freedom?

Israel needs to give the Palestinians an incentive to fight Hamas by giving them the one thing they want that they think Hamas might be able to give them. Their freedom.

Israel can continue to defend itself just as well against Hamas from the Israeli side of the Green Line as is can from within the Occupied Territories. The occupation does not make Israelis safer. It actually puts them in more danger than they would be without the occupation. So ending the occupation and giving the Palestinians their freedom is the best way to protect Israelis. That way, the Palestinians will no longer have any incentive to help Hamas, and they would have the incentive to cooperate with Israel in fighting Hamas. And Israel would still have the IDF to defend its borders (the Green Line).