With the focus of Israel and the world on Gaza, where unarmed members of the Israeli Defense Force are evicting settlers who have refused to leave, the relative lack of violence between the two groups is both impressive and important to the country's political future, according to two MSNBC analysts.
In a discussion on Thursday with MSNBC's Lisa Daniels, U.S. Army (Ret.) Colonel Jack Jacobs noted that the restraint shown by soldiers in the face of being battered with hot paint, acid, insults and more has been "outstanding."
"We train all the time in the American Army for urban warfare, for riot control and so on, and this is the toughest (situation) I've ever seen anyone ever operate in, in or out of training," Jacobs said. "In a controlled environment, it's easy to do properly, in an environment like this, it's extremely difficult and indicates a great deal of preparation that the Israeli army underwent before it started this operation."
That said, both Jacobs and former FBI Agent Rick Hahn predict that violence will escalate.
"The fact of the matter is that the army knows that the longer it goes, the greater the chance that somebody is going to get hurt, and that's not what they want to see here," Hahn said.
"The potential protests that are going to take place elsewhere are going to be the result of the protesters evaluating what took place today and determining other means in which to get their point across, perhaps to be a little bit more difficult," Jacobs noted. "I think that over time, things are going to get much more difficult until it reaches a point where it's impossible for any protester to make his point without any violence. At that time, there's liable to be a little violence, I'm afraid."
The two analysts noted that the non-violent behavior of the troops was planned in advance.
"One of the reasons they're taking great care in doing this - so much with kid gloves - is because they don't want anyone to become a martyr here, whether by injury or by an unfortunate incident in which somebody dies," Hahn said. "That certainly would lead to lengthening this resistance and strengthen the far right element there in Israel."
"We have to recognize that there is very much a domestic political element here that we have to keep in mind. Don't forget that (Benjamin) Netanyahu wants to run against (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon," Jacobs said. "It's important for the support of Netanyahu that there not be untoward violence. Otherwise, it'll turn the fickle middle part of the Israeli electorate away from the right and Netanyahu will not be successful."
To watch the complete interview between Lisa Daniels, Rick Hahn and Jack Jacobs, click on the "Launch" button above and to the right.