Could War with the Dominion have been avoided?

[Kor37 9]

It may have been avoidable had the Alpha Quadrant waited and gathered information on the Gamma Quadrant before foolishly and recklessly establishing colonies like "New Bajor" which was cited by the Jem Hadar as a provocation. Before the colony was established the Ferengi were able to deal with Dominion allies such as the Dosi relatively peacefully. Granted, the Dominion may have reacted too extremely to the colony, but still it was a massive mistake to set one up before everything was known about who considered that space their territory.

Well said. I agree completely. Planting your flag in someone else's territory without permission rarely goes smoothly.