Mentioned in the book of Genesis, the Middle East’s incense route for many centuries brought myrrh, frankincense, and other goods from present-day Yemen to the Levant, and from there to the entire Mediterranean world. A recent study of trash heaps left behind by the caravans that traversed this path between shows that, contrary to what archaeologists previously believed, commerce along this route went in both directions. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:

The incense route was at its height during the Nabataean and Roman periods (roughly 300 BCE–300 CE) and linked the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It was the main thoroughfare for spice and perfume transport and is dotted by settlements and smaller roadside inns, or caravanserai.

Discovered organic materials [left behind by the caravans] include fish and shellfish that came from aquatic sources such as the Nile River, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, and fruits, including grapes or raisins, olives, pomegranates, and peaches. . . . At the same time, the archaeologists found potsherds from ceramics that originated in Petra in the east.

“Two millennia ago, the trade of perfumed oils and incense resins was extremely important in societies around the Mediterranean basin and prompted long-distance, intercultural contacts between places as far away as Southeast Asia, India, Yemen, Alexandria, and Rome. This is what makes working in sites along the Incense Road so very interesting,” the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Tali Erickson-Gini told the Times of Israel.

“Only a part of the incense road runs through Israel. The most intensely investigated part, and the shortest part, runs through southern Israel,” said Erickson-Gini. “Hopefully, in the future it will be possible to join forces with researchers working in neighboring countries.”

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.