February 13, 2009
Critics of Israel’s most recent military raid into Gaza often hear the justification that Israel had to do something about Hamas’ rocket and mortar attacks and the despicable language in The Hamas Charter. True enough. However, fourteen Israelis were killed by those rockets in the Israeli city of Sderot. In response, more than 1,000 Gazans were killed, nearly 5,000 wounded, and hundreds of homes and other buildings were destroyed. Further, Israel had previously cut delivery of critical supplies of food, medicine, fuel, fertilizer, cash, and spare parts to a trickle. Gaza bakeries and banks were closed and unemployment was almost 50 percent. At the time of the military raid, Gaza was in a state of meltdown.
As Avi Shlaim, a professor of international relations and former Israeli soldier observed, the Gaza offensive “seems to follow the logic of an eye for an eyelash.” Israel won a short-term tactical victory. Hamas may have lost many of its leaders, but it has been strengthened as a political and social movement. Hamas is not going away. Each of those dead and wounded Gazans have relatives who may strap on suicide belts. What else are the 1.5 million Palestinians crammed into a narrow strip of land that is Gaza likely to do?
Remember, Hamas won a victory in the free and fair January 2006 elections for the Legislative Council of the Palestinian Authority. Israel and the United States refused to recognize this Hamas victory. (The U.S. promotes democracy as long as our favored candidate wins.) If Israel (and the U.S.) want something more than a stalemate in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, it will have to face political reality and negotiate with Hamas for a permanent two-state solution. Given the recent Israeli elections, this is unlikely to occur. Instead, Israel will continue ghettoizing itself from Gaza, the West Bank, and the rest of its Arab neighbors.
The Hunger Site
February 19, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Israel wants nothing less than a two state solution, in my opinion Hamas has disestablished itself as responsible leaders for placing civilians in harms way. Hamas rolled the dice – Gazan civilians payed the price. In the end Israel secured it’s military perimeter bordering Gaza and destroyed Gazan tunnel networks to Egypt adding to the effectiveness if Israel’s blockade. The catastrophic damage caused by Israel’s response to Hamas will hurt Israel and Hamas. Serious questions should be asked about Hamas’s ability to survive the damage to Gazan infrastructure and Hamas’s reputation as a democratically elected government. Israel’s use of (White Phosphorous) carcinogenic weapons will have a terrible impact on Gaza.
Time isn’t on Hamas’s side – their definition of strength only tightens the noose around their own necks. Israel will have a state and if Hamas continues along it’s path of self destruction – they’ll terrorize themselves out of an opportunity to have a nation.