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Reported by the Egyptian press:
[There are] "the new rules of the game" [practiced by Israel] for the military conflict with the Palestinians. Very simply, this translates as zero tolerance for any attempt by the Palestinian resistance to use Gaza as a base to mount attacks on Israel. It was shown by operation "First Rain", launched after mortars were fired following an explosion at a Hamas rally in Gaza on 22 September that left 23 dead. As veteran military correspondent, Alex Fishman, noted in Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper on 30 September, it was "less a rain, more a tornado".
Over the following seven days, Israel renewed its policy of assassinating militants, bombing civilian infrastructure and arresting Palestinians in mass sweeps, all methods tried and tested throughout the Intifada. For the first time since the 1967 War, it used artillery to clear entire regions in Gaza and flew F-16s to trigger sonic booms at a rate of one every two hours.
The aim of the onslaught was two-fold. In Gaza it was intended to sow fear among the civilian population, creating a popular groundswell for the PA to "act" against Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In the West Bank the purpose was to wreck Hamas as an electoral force. Of the 415 Palestinians Israel arrested last week, 250 were Hamas members, most of them civilian cadre, including 14 local government candidates and 15 campaign managers. The sweep also netted political leaders Hassan Youssef, Mohamed Ghazzal and Ahmed Haj Ali, all three driving forces behind the turn to elections in the movement.
The rain brought its harvest. By 24 September, Hamas leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, announced an end to all military operations from the Strip. And on 27 September instructions were issued to Gaza's Palestinian police to "arrest any person" not in uniform. Both decisions were taken unilaterally, without consultation and in response to the Israeli attacks. And both lay the seeds for confrontation.
Hamas leaders then battled Palestinian police:
It erupted on 2 October, when Palestinian police allegedly tried to arrest Mohamed Al-Rantissi, son of the assassinated Hamas leader Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantissi. Hamas reacted with absolute force, firing on police stations in Sheikh Radwan and the Beach refugee camp and leaving three Palestinians dead, including a police officer and 32-year-old woman, Hiyam Nasser.
The police evidently fled:
The police reacted by storming Gaza's Legislative Council building, demanding protection and, above all, leadership. The police are insisting that they cannot be viewed as simply one militia among others. Hamas is adamant that there can be no move to disarm its fighters, especially when they are once more under attack from Israel.
Is there any way out from this impasse, short of civil war? Yes, says Palestinian analyst, Hani Al-Masri. "The resistance must be allowed to preserve its arms. But this does not mean it can act like a collection of private fiefdoms which decides when and how to act. Resistance is a national activity that should be decided by all Palestinians through their legitimate national institutions."
They're still calling their war against Israel "resistance." The PR value of that word may be in doubt. All the world really cares about, is whether Israel will defend its own women and children. When the world saw Israel doing the minimum possible to defend itself, the world condemned Israel. In my view, the more that country behaves like it's in a war, and does everything necessary to protect its women and children, the more it will gain global support.
#1
#2Olah, thanks for that fascinating post. I'll be keeping an eye out now to see if things develop in that direction.
#3I love when you write about the Israrli-Plaistinae conflit. I just saw an amazing video that everyone has to see. If you ever had questions about who holds the moral ground this video should help you decide. The link is here
let me know what you guys think.
#4Thanks very much, Michael. I've noted that video -- it's very important to see it.
Absolutely correct assessment, Vik. That is also one of the reasons that there are some of us that actually support Hamas running in elections, especially in Gaza. Hamas is a classified terrorist group. Israel, unlike other countries, do not disseminate between a terrorist wing and "political" wing of a group. Hamas gets elected. Gaza then officially becomes a terrorist state. Hamas attacks Israel. That is a declaration of war, pure and simple. Israel goes in, kicks their collective asses, no problem. The world can say nothing that would justify Hamas' actions. We are in war. There is no more excuses of "occupation". Let the games begin!
-OC