And here's the nastiest question of all: if you treat these tribal entities as if they were legitimate wings of the government, and consider an attack from any of them to be equivalent to a declaration of war by the nation-state, how the hell do you ever *stop* such a war?

I think this is what frightens me the most. I'm not entirely sure what Israel is gaining by launching attacks, other than saying, "Look, we're not afraid of you." I don't know what to do to stop it either.