I haven't written about Gaza for some time. However, an interesting recent column was brought to my attention via Daniel Pipes's blog. In the column a liberal Israeli commentator, Yossi Klein Halevi, admits that he and others who supported the "disengagement" were wrong on the Gaza withdrawal. He writes:
...Israelis still felt so desperate to end the occupation that they withdrew their army and uprooted their settlements from Gaza in 2006. Had Gazans begun at this point to create a peaceful state from their new, self-governing territory, the Israeli public almost certainly would have endorsed substantive negotiations over a West Bank withdrawal. Instead, they elected a government led by Hamas, whose theology calls for the destruction of Israel and war against Jews around the world, and whose terror attacks are small pre-enactments of its genocidal ambitions. Palestinian rocket attacks that had previously been aimed at settlements were simply redirected toward towns and villages within Israel.aHalevi thinks that "even guilty Israelis realize that, until our neighbors care more about building their state than undermining ours, the misery of Gaza will persist." I wonder, it seems to me there are still plenty of "guilty" Israelis, as he puts it, that are perfectly willing to put the "plight" of the "Palestinians" above their own interests. But it's certainly difficult to tell given the chaotic political situation in Israel.
He also thinks that "[w]ithin the coming weeks, the Israeli army may re-invade the Gaza Strip in an attempt to stop the rocket attacks on Israeli towns and, perhaps, topple its Islamist Hamas government." I certainly hope so -- such an action would be overdue.
2 comments:
I question whether the Israeli army (which relies on slave-labor, in part) needs to re-invade Gaza. A more economical approach might be to tear down the Hamas government.
For a start, that would mean bombing all governmental buildings--in the daylight when they are fully occupied, not at night after phoning to give advanced warning, which is the procedure followed now, according to news reports I have seen scattered over the last couple of years.
Not only administrative facilities should be targets, but all "public" infrastructure such as water supplies, power generators, and warehouses storing food.
At the same time, Israel could announce that they will allow unlimited immigration from Gaza to Saudi Arabia, via Saudi ships. Let the Saudi's support their Muslim brothers and sisters.
Pin-pricks don't stop monsters. Annihilation of the Islamo-fascists will.
It is true. If Israel were to bomb Gaza in the manner indicated, I suspect the place would collapse and the attacks from Gaza would stop. However, as far as I'm concerned they should never have left Gaza in the first place (not to mention uproot innocent, loyal citizen in favor of the enemy). They should have made the necessary military actions without leaving.
However, since the Israeli government follows much the same limitations that the American government follows, to the extent that they do something it will be far more limited and intended to limit the loss of life. Given that they will not do the kind of bombing necessary, a re-invasion and "cleaning up," of the kind done in the West Bank a few years ago is likely the best one can hope for.
I'm afraid the idea that the "Saudi's support their Muslim brothers and sisters" is unrealistic, at least with the current Saudi and other Arab governments. The rest of Arab world could have supported the Palestinians for 60 years by absorbing them, just as Israel absorbed the refugee Jews from the Arab countries. Only Jordan did that. Countries such as Saudi Arabia are content to encourage terrorism and have let the problem fester. They will certainly not accept their "Muslim brothers and sisters."
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