West Asia (Middle East) has never seen peace. As things stand today there is little hope. Unless, there is a huge change in the mindset of both Israel and Hamas, blood will continue to be spilt.
Though Israel says it’s against only Hamas, hundreds of innocent civilians have died and thousands have been maimed. Gaza, the de facto capital of Palestine, will soon become completely uninhabitable, according to the Red Cross.
An Israeli army artillery battery fires a smoke bomb into the Gaza Strip from the border. Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships went blazing into towns across the Gaza Strip, attacking Hamas targets and searching for its leaders as the war death toll approached 600. (AFP/Jack Guez)
West Asia conflict is one of my pet subjects. In fact, my interest in international affairs began with this. There is so much history to this area that it’s impossible to even summarise anything here. But let us look at some interesting developments in the recent past, so we can capture the immediate context.
Year 2004
Who are Hamas? It’s the largest Palestiniansmilitant organisation and it came into being in 1987. It has been fighting Israeli occupation of the land, with rocket attacks and suicide bombings. Many Palestinians feel that’s the best way to fight Israeli occupation.
However, the face of Palestinian struggle for self-determination largely was Yasser Arafat, a terrorist-turned-moderate, who belonged to the moderate Fatah faction. That was until 2004 when he died. After that, the mantle fell on Mahmoud Abbas, who is an opponent of rocket attacks on Israel. His argument is that these attacks will only provoke Israel to hit back much harder and would do no good to Palestinian cause.
Year 2005
Gaza, a thin strip of land, was one of the areas Israel was occupying. In 2005, in a historic move Israel began withdrawing from the area. This was done in the face of strong opposition from Israeli hardliners who said the area was part of Greater Israel, Biblically ordained for the Jews. But the move delighted Hamas, who felt this was the result of its armed struggle.
Palestinians sift though the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli air strikes in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. (AFP/Said Khatib)
Year 2006
Election to the Palestinian Authority legislature was held in 2006. Hamas had a clear upper hand. Making international headlines, the terrorist group won over Fatah, the moderate group – 74 out of 134 seats.
Hamas’ victory instead of solving problems only complicated them. Not only it refused to put down arms against Israel, it refused to even recognise the existence of its Jewish neighbour. In retaliation, the US and Israel imposed sanctions on the Hamas administration, starving it of funds.
Year 2007
While Israel withdrew, clashes broke out between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza for control. Through the year there were clashes, finally ending with Hamas victory. Gaza Strip came in complete control of Hamas.
Year 2008
Even while all this was happening, there was no end to rocket attacks on Israel, which had started in 2001. Israel detected smuggling in of arms into Gaza. In as recently as Nov 2008, Israel raided Gaza and destroyed tunnels used for smuggling weapons. Hamas once again intensified its rocket attacks. Israel launched massive assault on Gaza.
Year 2009
Israel says it will not ceasefire until Hamas decides to stop firing rockets into Israel.
Palestinian medics carry a wounded boy into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. (AFP/Yasser Saymeh)
Why Hamas doesn’t impress
There are no saints in this conflict. Both Israel and Palestinian militants are guilty of perpetuating violence. But what disappoints me most is the inability of Hamas to honour the mandate of the people who elected them to power.
Hamas always refused to participate in elections. When it did in 2006, it was a historic move. Its victory only thrust more responsibility on its shoulders. It should have been gracious in victory. Imagine the dramatic turn if Hamas had declared that it would conditionally lay down arms, and talk to Israel.
Violence — let it be by anyone, Israel or Hamas — achieves only short-term goals. It’s never a long-term solution. Hamas should have realised that the rocket attacks had indeed succeeded, if not fully, at least to a large extent; when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Hamas had said it was ready to offer a 10-year truce if Israel completely withdrew from all occupied territories: Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel did withdraw from Gaza.
With the power of the popular mandate, Hamas — instead of getting into an internal fight with Fatah — should have snatched the upper hand and pushed ahead to get Israel out of West Bank and East Jerusalem as well.
A conditional laying down of arms would have been a wonderful beginning. Track the way the Troubles in Ireland were resolved. Of course, the history is different there, but rough parallels can be drawn.
People’s mandate gives power to push for peace as well. That’s a side which Hamas never recognised. Now, all the good that had been achieved in the last few years have come to a naught. Things in Gaza haven’t been this bad, at least in the recent past.
What lies ahead in Gaza and West Asia?
Any conflict can be ended. But it will need sagacity and statesmanship. Hamas is still pressing for the return of all the Palestinian refugees to their original homes, which is what Israel is now. Isn’t Hamas being unrealistic with that demand?
Hamas will have to recognise Israel. Because, whether anyone likes it or not, Israel is a reality. Hamas will have to then go ahead and talk to Israel. Israel too will have to back down and agree to at least sharing Jerusalem with Palestinians, if not completely hand it over.
Sounds too good to be true!
Filed under: Politics - World , Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, Israel
A useful piece for people like me
Good effort
Very informative summary of the Gaza conflict.
As you say, the good that has been done in the past few years has been destroyed.
Both Hamas and Israel will have to back off a bit for anything constructive to take place now.
Middle-East Islamic countries actively supporting Hamas will also have to do the same.
Very Informative, Pradeep. I had been reading up on this , in the last few days and to say the least – it was all very confusing – with so many different views.. From your account, Hamas seems to be equally at fault for things escalating to this extent.. I just hope that both countries come to an understanding soon..
Thanks: Yamini, Manju, Smitha
Hello padeep,
first of all wish a veryhappy new ..Belated
Well your post is very informative, I dont understand why people only criticizing israel, after this time its Hamas who broke the deal and fired rockets first, thinking what Israel wont retaliate? Hamas only firing rockets on civilans tagets not on millatry targets so its a act of terrorism, secondly they using human sheilds to hid themselfs. No idea when this blood spill will stop but I am sure till people dont stop sponsering Hamas people we will surely going to see this sort of act incoming monts again.
Thanks for sharing information…
Your account is historically naive. History is too often complex for a simple journalistic account.
Israel did everything to promote Hamas in the initial stages they wanted to destroy the post Arafat PLO. Just as we have seen with the other terror monsters which big countries like US, India help create (Taliban in Afghanistan, LTTE in Sri Lanka), these mad dogs end up going after the original benefactors.
Below is an account of the Hamas in Gaza by a respected 3-term ex-Israeli MP. This was sent to me by an Indian friend who visited Gaza..
—————————
Israel is missing the historic chance of making peace with
secular Arab nationalism. Tomorrow, It may be faced with a
uniformly fundamentalist Arab world, Hamas multiplied by a
thousand
Just after midnight, January 2, Al-Jazeera’s Arabic channel was reporting on events in Gaza. Suddenly the camera was pointing upwards towards the dark sky. The screen was
pitch black. Nothing could be seen, but there was a sound to be heard: the noise of airplanes, a frightening, terrifying droning.
It was impossible not to think about the tens of thousands of Gazan children who were hearing that sound at that moment, cringing with fright, paralysed by fear, waiting for the bombs to fall.
“Israel must defend itself against the rockets that are terrorising our southern towns,” the Israeli spokesmen explained. “Palestinians must respond to the killing of their fighters inside the Gaza Strip,” the Hamas spokesmen declared.
As a matter of fact, the cease-fire did not collapse, because there was no real cease-fire to start with. The main requirement for any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip must be the opening of the border crossings. There can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies. But the crossings were not opened, except for a few hours now and again. The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an act of war, as much as any
dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyses life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water.
Those who decided to close the crossings — under whatever pretext — knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions.
That is the main thing. Then there came the small
provocations which were designed to get Hamas to react. After several months, in which hardly any Qassam rockets were launched, an army unit was sent into the Strip “in order to destroy a tunnel that came close to the border fence”. From a purely military point of view, it would have made more sense to lay an ambush on our side of the fence. But the aim was to find a pretext for the termination of the cease-fire, in a way that made it plausible to put the blame on the Palestinians. And indeed, after several such small actions, in which Hamas fighters were killed,
Hamas retaliated with a massive launch of rockets, and — lo and behold — the cease-fire was at an end. Everybody blamed Hamas.
What was the aim? Tzipi Livni announced it penly: to liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza. The Qassams served only as a pretext.
Liquidate Hamas rule? That sounds like a chapter out of The March of Folly. After all, it is no secret that it was the Israeli government which set up Hamas to start with. When I once asked a former Shin-Bet chief, Yaakov Peri, about it, he answered enigmatically: “We did not create it, but we did not hinder its creation.”
For years, the occupation authorities favoured the Islamic movement in the occupied territories. All other political activities were rigorously suppressed, but their activities in the mosques were permitted. The calculation was simple and naive: at the time, the PLO was considered the main enemy, Yasser Arafat was the current Satan. The Islamic movement was preaching against the PLO and Arafat, and was therefore viewed as an ally.
With the outbreak of the first intifada in 1987, the
Islamic movement officially renamed itself Hamas (Arabic initials of “Islamic Resistance Movement”) and joined the fight. Even then, the Shin-Bet took no action against them for almost a year, while Fatah members were executed or imprisoned in large numbers. Only after a year, were Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin and his colleagues also arrested.
Since then the wheel has turned. Hamas has now become the current Satan, and the PLO is considered by many in Israel almost as a branch of the Zionist organisation. The logical conclusion for an Israeli government seeking peace would have been to make wide-ranging concessions to the Fatah leadership: ending of the occupation, signing of a peace treaty, foundation of the State of Palestine, withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a reasonable solution of the refugee problem, release of all Palestinian prisoners. That would have arrested the rise of Hamas for sure.
But logic has little influence on politics. Nothing of this sort happened. On the contrary, after the murder of Arafat, Ariel Sharon declared that Mahmoud Abbas, who took his place, was a “plucked chicken”. Abbas was not allowed
the slightest political achievement. The negotiations, under American auspices, became a joke. The most authentic Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, was sent to prison for life. Instead of a massive prisoner release, there were petty and
insulting “gestures”.
Abbas was systematically humiliated, Fatah looked like an empty shell and Hamas won a resounding victory in the Palestinian election — the most democratic election ever held in the Arab world. Israel boycotted the elected
government. In the ensuing internal struggle, Hamas assumed direct control over the Gaza Strip.
And now, after all this, the government of Israel decided to “liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza” — with blood, fire and columns of smoke.
The official name of the war is “Cast Lead”, two words from a children’s song about a Hanukkah toy.
It would be more accurate to call it “The Election
War”. According to the polls, Barak’s predicted election result rose within 48 hours by five Knesset seats. About 80 dead Palestinians for each seat. But it is difficult to walk on a pile of dead bodies. The success may evaporate in a minute if the war comes to be considered by the Israeli public as a failure. For example, if the rockets continue to hit Beersheba, or if the ground attack leads to heavy Israeli casualties.
The timing was chosen meticulously from another angle too. The attack started two days after Christmas, when American and European leaders are on holiday until after New Year. The calculation: even if somebody wanted to try and stop the war, no one would give up his holiday. That ensured several days free from outside pressures.
Another reason for the timing: these are George Bush’s last days in the White House. This blood-soaked moron could be expected to support the war enthusiastically, as indeed he did. Barack Obama has not yet entered office and had a
ready-made pretext for keeping silent: “there is only one President”. The silence does not bode well for the term of President Obama.
The main line was: not to repeat the mistakes of Lebanon War II. This was endlessly repeated on all the news programmes and talk shows.
This does not change the fact: the Gaza War is an almost exact replica of the second Lebanon war. The strategic concept is the same: to terrorise the civilian population by unremitting attacks from the air, sowing death and destruction. This poses no danger to the pilots, since the Palestinians have no anti-aircraft weapons at all. The calculation: if the entire life-supporting infrastructure in the Strip is utterly destroyed and total anarchy ensues, the population will rise up and overthrow the Hamas regime.
Mahmoud Abbas will then ride back into Gaza on the back of Israeli tanks.
In Lebanon, this calculation did not work out. The bombed population, including the Christians, rallied behind Hizbullah, and Hassan Nasrallah became the hero of the Arab world. Something similar will probably happen this time, too. Generals are experts on using weapons and moving troops, not on mass psychology.
It may be that the army will “have no alternative” but to re-conquer the Gaza Strip because there is no other way to stop the Qassams — except coming to an agreement with Hamas, which is contrary to government policy. When the
ground invasion starts, everything will depend on the motivation and capabilities of the Hamas fighters vis-à-vis the Israeli soldiers. Nobody can know what will happen.
Millions are seeing the terrible images of the conflict, day after day. These images are imprinted on their minds forever: horrible Israel, abominable Israel, inhuman Israel. A whole generation of haters. That is a terrible price,
which we will be compelled to pay long after the other results of the war itself have been forgotten in Israel.
But there is another thing that is being imprinted on the minds of these millions: the picture of the miserable, corrupt, passive Arab regimes.
As seen by Arabs, one fact stands out above all others: the wall of shame.
For the million and a half Arabs in Gaza, who are suffering so terribly, the only opening to the world that is not dominated by Israel is the border with Egypt. Only from there can food arrive to sustain life and medicaments to save the injured. This border remains closed at the height of the horror. The Egyptian army has blocked the only way
for food and medicines to enter, while surgeons operate on the wounded without anaesthetics.
Throughout the Arab world, from end to end, there echoed the words of Hassan Nasrallah: The leaders of Egypt are accomplices to the crime, they are collaborating with the “Zionist enemy” in trying to break the Palestinian people. It can be assumed that he did not mean only Mubarak,
but also all the other leaders, from the king of Saudi Arabia to the Palestinian president. Seeing the demonstrations throughout the Arab world and listening to the slogans, one gets the impression that their leaders seem to many Arabs pathetic at best, and miserable collaborators
at worst.
This will have historic consequences. A whole generation of Arab leaders, a generation imbued with the ideology of secular Arab nationalism, the successors of Gamal Abd-al-Nasser, Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat, may be swept from the stage. In the Arab space, the only viable
alternative is the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism.
This war is a writing on the wall: Israel is missing the historic chance of making peace with secular Arab nationalism. Tomorrow, It may be faced with a uniformly fundamentalist Arab world, Hamas multiplied by a thousand.
My taxi driver in Tel-Aviv the other day was thinking aloud: Why not call up the sons of the ministers and members of the Knesset, form them into a combat unit and send them off to head the coming ground attack on Gaza?
Uri Avnery is an Israeli peace activist who has advocated the setting up of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He served three terms in the Israeli parliament (Knesset), and is the founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc)
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Thanks Sabu for sharing those points… Of course the issue can be seen from many angles, and like any two or more warring parties, all have to first take their share blame for pepetuating the troubles.
That article you shared was quite an eyeopener…
Both will have to back down considerably. As long as that does not happen, blood will continue to be spilt. The biggest tragedy is that today spilling blood is a celebration for a growing number of people.
Dear Pradeep,
Your view on the West Asia situation is truly realistic and characteristic of an in-depth analysis of the basic issue. Keep it up.
Would like to read more in this blog.
Rgds to all at home and a spl one to NBN sir.
Warmly,
K.A.Soman.
Pradeep,
Brief & well written.It is going to be a never ending war.I suppose something similar to our Kashmir .
U.Chandran
Pradeep,
Good job! Very informative. I’m going to post it on my Facebook.
Great post Pradeep..It is such a sad state of affaris that Hamas didn’t make the best out of their opportunity.Majority of people on the surface of earth would sympathize with Palestenians,but sadly,they happened to be muslims and their state of affairs got perceived as just another case of Al quida or like militants..I read about how people pray for Israel to wipe out all terrorists from Palestein,,duh,ignorance is fine but dumbness is not fine,isn’t it?
Most of the people who passionately make comments on this issue have never ever read history or even seen a map of the region..how hypocritical..
I am collecting resources as to make a post on my place..I hope you would put forward your input then..
Good day
– Thanks Soman sir and Chandran sir…
– Pascale: thanks for putting the post on Facebook.
– Nimmy: I can really understand what you mean. Indeed there is this unfortunate aspect of religion that is colouring the whole issue. If no party in the conflict has any desire to live in peace, where is hope? I feel sad for the people who are helplessly caught in the crossfire. I shall indeed give you my input.