Israel is (again) trying to deal with a flare-up in the hostilities with Hamas in the Gaza strip and it is already clear that the political echelon, and may be also the Army, have not learned anything from the previous times that Hamas or the Jihadists decided to come out and try to hit Israel.
Even if it appears that this time the Hamas is reacting to events in Jerusalem (which also border on complete lunacy, from both sides), to the people living in the border towns and villages in the south, it doesn’t really matter what this time keeps them from sleep and forces them into shelters (if they have a shelter). And this time around it doesn’t only affect the people in the south of Israel, yesterday all day, Ashkelon was under an unrelenting attack of hundreds of rockets which, while the Iron Dome of the IDF stopped many, still two people were killed, dozens wounded, and serious damage inflicted. And that does not take into account the stress that continuous air alarm sirens cause. Yesterday evening, after the Israel Air force destroyed a high-rise in Gaza city, also Tel Aviv and the Dan region had to deal with an intensive rocket attack during which hundreds of rockets were fired within a short period of time and people had to scramble for a safe place to hide. Also in Tel Aviv, most rockets were stopped by the Iron Dome air defense system, but the Hamas made its point very clear, if not to the Israeli government, then definitely to the population of the whole Dan region: we can and will reach Tel Aviv and if we didn’t hit you this time, you were just lucky.
How did we get to a situation, in which Israel, the mightiest military force in the Middle East, cannot keep a terrorist organization like Hamas under control, and has to allow it to have hundreds of thousands of Israelis run for their lives. The events of the past twenty years, with several big actions, including ground troops into the Gaza strip, and numerous retaliations by the Air force for rocket attacks, should have taught us more than just doing “more of the same”. The answer must be found in the right-wing policies of the Israeli government over many years.
For the past fifteen years, the Palestinian Authority has been led by Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), who has throughout his tenure, behaved differently from his predecessor, Arafat, in that he advocates and believes that the Palestinian issue must be solved by non-violent means and he has disapproved of terrorism consistently. This does not however, imply that he is willing to give up on (in Palestinian eyes) very basic issues, such as East Jerusalem, or an Independent Palestinian State. He is willing to negotiate these issues with Israel and if necessary accept moderation by the United States, even if he believes the U.S. is biased in Israel’s favor.
Abu Mazen is Netanyahu’s worst nightmare. He is the living proof of the lies that are at the basis of Israel’s consistent policy towards the Palestinians: Israel is always willing to negotiate (but on its own terms) but there is no partner on the other side. Netanyahu does not intend, nor did it ever intend to negotiate with the Palestinians about the future of the Occupied Territories, because as far as he is concerned, the future of the West Bank is already clear. It is an integral part of Eretz Yisrael, and will never be given to anybody, and the ultimate goal is to remove the goyim (Arabs). But to the outside world, a façade has to be kept up of Israel willing to negotiate and respect Palestinian rights. And as long as Israel can claim that there is no partner, there are no negotiations, and Israel can quietly continue to prepare the Occupied Territories for true Jewish sovereignty, by a continuous influx of illegal settlers, by constant harassment of the Palestinians and denial of basic rights to the local population. Thus, Israel has done all it can to weaken and discredit Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority, and a major focus has been to strengthen Abu Mazen’s biggest contenders: Hamas. Hamas started out as a terrorist organization based in the Gaza strip, but has from the beginning had its eyes set on the West Bank to increase its influence and its political power. For Israel this was the best option possible. And while in particular, military actions against Hamas have sometimes be harsh, Israel has under the guise of humanitarian aid, allowed a never ending stream of goods into the Gaza strip, allowing Hamas to show the population that they are working for them and taken care of them while Abu Mazen sits in Ramallah and doesn’t seem to care about the hardships of the Gaza population. This seemingly contradictory policy by Israel reached its peak a while ago when Qatar, decided to open a channel to Gaza and allow the transfer of large sums of money (in cash!) and Israel cooperated with this fully, and hundreds of millions of dollars were given to Hamas. Part of this no doubt to be distributed to the population, but no doubt a lot of money went into the pockets of the Hamas leadership and a lot of money was spent on things that Israel did not have in mind.
The result of this Israeli policy of “Divide and Conquer” has been that, while Israel numerous times has bombed “hundreds” of Hamas sites, including those where rockets are made and stored, Hamas still managed to develop more and more sophisticated weaponry, including long-range missiles and attack drones, and thus Israel cannot be surprised that when Hamas saw the time is right, to use this arsenal.
It sometimes appears that Israel does not want to solve the problem of the Gaza strip and the incessant attacks on the population in the south, because with the demise of Hamas, Israel will be forced to deal with Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority, which will place Israel in the spotlight of the intransigent negotiator who does not want to come to a solution.
The simple fact is that Israel does not want to come to a solution. Israel will never allow a Palestinian State to be established. The arguments against it may be many, most of them security issues, but those will not hold in the end and thus Israel will do its utmost best to prevent negotiations from taking place at all. Even if it means that the people in the south, and now also in the center, will be forced to deal with rocket attacks every now and then.
So, is Israeli politics towards Hamas going to change? There is increasing pressure from the population (and quite some politicians) that a large military action is needed to stop Hamas and restore security to the areas around the Gaza strip (and, as is apparent now, also much further off). Twice such action was attempted, with heavy losses of the Army and without any sustainable effects. Brute force may affect the military prowess of Hamas but will most likely strengthen its support among the Gazan population as well as that of the population in the West Bank and the devious policy of Israel will realize an even worse nightmare than Abu Mazen has been: control of Hamas over all the Occupied territories, not just of the Gaza strip.
It is unlikely that Netanyahu is even considering any options that may lead to a failure of his own plans with the West Bank but sadly, he will not hesitate one moment if he thinks that sending the army into Gaza may serve his goals. Even if this will lead to a large number of Israeli casualties and in the end will solve nothing. Rumor already has it that he forced this latest flare-up in the south because it will affect the delicate coalition negotiations that his rivals are currently holding with representatives of the Israeli Arab parties and may cause the Arabs to pull out of any deal, thereby preventing the formation of a new government and allowing Netanyahu at least another six months in power.
Israel and Israelis will have to seriously reconsider the options that remain to begin to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and ma the best possible first step is to finally get rid of a corrupt, self-serving Prime Minister, who has fooled all of us for 20 years.
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
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