![](https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Gazasmoke-150x150.jpg)
From the Archive: As Israel’s Operation Protective Edge winds down with more than 1,700 Gazans mostly civilians dead, Israeli leaders may feel they’ve finished a recurring chore, “mowing the grass” to eliminate troublesome Palestinians, as ex-CIA analyst Elizabeth Murray observed in 2012.