Can the goverments that grew Hamas destroy it?

It is a great irony of the war in Gaza that the two governments most responsible for navigating the response to Hamas-Israel's, for military action, and Qatar's, for diplomacy-also facilitated its growth. That is an impediment to any lasting solution because it's hard to see either making the policy reversals required.

- MARC CHAMPION

This may sound harsh, given that Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu has sworn to eradicate the group and is currently pulverising Gaza in pursuit of that goal. Qatar, for its part, proved an indispensable mediator in securing the recent pause in hostilities and release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Yet neither of those actions can deliver stability.

Qatar's usefulness does nothing to lessen the results of more than a decade and a half's financial and political support for Hamas. It can't be allowed to maintain its Janus-like role. This is a war in which Hamas need only survive to win, and Qatar's support is aimed precisely at its survival. In addition to a safe bolt hole and money, it has offered Hamas leaders legitimacy and a platform from which to promote their cause.

Just expelling the group's so-called politburo from Qatar isn't the answer; having them return to Syria, or move to Iran would be no improvement. They either must be incarcerated or extradited for trial elsewhere.At a minimum, they need to be muzzled and isolated. Hamas can only be an obstacle to the two-state divorce between Israelis and Palestinians that remains the sole plausible way to end the cycle of bloodshed and repression.