It has been ten days since the barbaric attack by Hamas terrorists on the Israeli villages around the Gaza strip, whereby hundreds of people, including babies and children were brutally slaughtered and burned alive in their houses. Israel has not yet recovered from this enormous blow but the consensus is clear: Hamas must be destroyed once and for all and war has been raging with intensive aerial bombardments on Gaza and a large mobilization of reserve forces.
It is clear to all, including the world, that this is not just another ”Action” by Israel. After years of clashes between Israel and Hamas, clashes that in most cases followed small, local attacks by Hamas, but never were decisive or final, this time Israel is determined to destroy Hamas and its infrastructure (and kill its leaders).
The Arab world was quick to condemn the Israeli bombardments of Gaza, mostly without a word about the massacre of Israelis, and Iran is continuously threatening to interfere, mostly through its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
Public opinion world-wide is already changing from expressions of horror about the massacre, to condemnation of Israeli actions and pictures from the destruction in Gaza and the hundreds of thousands of Gazans fleeing the northern part of the strip will quickly become the main issue of this war, while forgetting the hundreds of Israelis that were murdered.
The United States has firmly committed itself to Israel and its right to defend their citizens, but in Western Europe the mood is quickly changing and Israel will soon have to deal with increasing pressure to stop the war. Nevertheless, in Israel the mood is clear: Hamas must be destroyed and until then there is no stopping and no relaxing.
However, while the Israeli people are united as far as the war and its goals are concerned, the discussion about “Blame” quickly became a central issue and surprisingly the people are almost of one mind about who is responsible for this disaster: the Israeli government, and it Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli Army, and its supreme commander, albeit reluctantly, admitted to failure, but as is his nature, Netanyahu blames everybody, from the army to the protesters, but not himself or his government. And while this, for many people, is a positive development and may result in a change of government after the war, the war effort will be managed and controlled by Netanyahu and his fascist colleagues in the current government, even after the establishment of a “War Cabinet” containing three generals.
While the war and the efforts to win this war are of the immediate concern of the Israeli population, it appears that there is unity on another issue: the “Peace Process”. While over the years, the discussion on how to achieve peace with the Palestinians never let up and caused many a rift between politicians, political parties and even the army, it now appears clear: the Peace Process is dead, a victim of Hamas barbarity which has caused a complete loss of believe in any possibility for peace.
It is obvious that many Palestinians as well as Israeli Arabs condemn the atrocities as strongly as Israelis do but that is no longer relevant. Israel will never again believe in the sincerity of the Palestinians or their allies, in trying to obtain peace and no guarantees by the U.S. or anybody else will be able to change that.
One of Israel’s big leaders, the late Shimon Peres, often talked about “the New Middle East” where peace will be established between Israel and its Arab neighbors, with Palestinians enjoying freedom in their own country. It was a dream of Peres, and many Israelis but it has now turned into history, without becoming reality. Even with the Abraham Accords, and the improvement in relations between Israel and Arab States (including Saudi Arabia), Israel will never agree that the Palestinian issue will be part of such improved relations.
So what is next for this war-torn region? It appears, that after this war is over and Israel will return to some sort of normalcy, both she, and the Arab States will need to attempt different approaches to solving the “Palestinian Issue”. Approaches that will not include a Palestinian State but possibly a “one-State Solution” whereby the Arab population will obtain some sort of autonomy within the framework of the State of Israel.
And even that looks like and impossible option at this point………….
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