Ehud Barak has been Prime Minister, as well as Foreign Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel. In Sunday's Agenda, he says that while he rarely uses the word "inevitable" when it comes to war, he is fairly sure that the ground invasion will soon be a fact.
"Since we can't knock out Hamas's military capability from the air, we're going to have to put many thousands of boots on the ground," he said.
According to Ehud Barak, the ground invasion will begin within two or three days. And according to the IDF, the bombing of Gaza will escalate in the coming days to prepare for ground troops.
"It may take time, and it will cause loss of life. That's how it is in war," says Ehud Barak.
Ehud Barak's Plan for Peace
Many are now asking themselves how peace can be achieved and maintained in the region.
Ehud Barak's solution is for Israel to take control of the Gaza Strip and defeat Hamas, and then hand Gaza over to a kind of peacekeeping force consisting of the neighboring Arab countries for a short period. After that, the Gaza remand can be returned to the Palestinian Authority.
"It's an idea that was unfeasible 15 years ago, but it's probably feasible now," says Ehud Barak.
"The Palestinian Authority must be strengthened"
According to Bitte Hammargren, a journalist and author specializing in the Middle East, this kind of solution will be difficult to implement. She questions the idea that the neighboring Arab states would want to enter Gaza as a peacekeeping force.
She also believes that peace will only be possible when the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is strengthened. It has been weakened, she says, because of Israel's settlement policy, as well as the policies of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Netanyahu has deliberately tried to belittle the Palestinian Authority, and President Mahmoud Abbas's policy to avoid talking about a two-state solution. At the same time, he has strengthened Hamas for many years," she says.