Israel’s Gaza Strategy

(Haaretz) – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will stress to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at their scheduled meeting in Jerusalem Tuesday evening that Israel reserves the right to act freely in the Gaza Strip against Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups.

Olmert will also tell Rice that Israel is interested in continuing negotiations with moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority. In Olmert’s view, Israeli military activity in Gaza in the past few days has got the message across that Hamas needs to rethink its strategy.

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Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin said Sunday that Iran and its allies Syria and the Hezbollah were using the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip as a reference point to determine their own future actions with regard to Israel.

“The fact that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are not shooting now does not mean they are out of the battle. Everyone is watching to see how the conflict in Gaza will end, to decide how to act.”

Hezbollah supporters protesting against the Gaza
offensive near the border with Israel. (Haaretz/AP)


According to Yadlin, Hamas was pressured into deciding “that the situation is intolerable and that the siege must be broken and a different equation forged in the conflict with Israel.”

Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin suggested that Hamas wants calm in Gaza so that at a later stage it can take over the West Bank.  

A democratic, economically developed, politically organized and capable Palestinian state would change the situation in the Middle East. It would strengthen the status of the United States in the region, making it the player who had the courage, the vision and the ability to allow this to become a reality. It would significantly reduce Israel’s demographic concerns and may also serve to diminish the threat that Arab divisiveness poses to the stability of the region as a whole.

If so, then what stands in the way of reaching of a peace agreement?

Naturally, there are differences of opinion, particularly on issues such as Jerusalem and the territories, but there are also other factors.

While negotiations are meant to bridge differences of opinion, what truly impedes their progress are the inherent shortcomings of the process and the relatively narrow area within which the parties may operate between their constituencies and their negotiating partners. Such inherent complexities may affect the negotiations more so than their actual standpoints.

In order for a democratic Palestinian state to be established, the Palestinians must rid themselves of their divisiveness. For the state to be able to govern, it needs one government. One voice.

For a government to be able to maintain law, order and security, it needs one army, when, in fact, there are many armed groups amidst the Palestinians.  

GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspended peace negotiations with Israel, demanding it end a Gaza offensive that has killed more than 100 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

Many of the civilian casualties have come when Israeli missiles fired by helicopters, jets and unmanned drones have hit buildings and homes that the army said were used by militants.

Anti-Israeli demonstrations erupted in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces confronting stone-throwers near Hebron shot dead a 14-year-old boy wearing a Hamas headband, witnesses said.

ARAB ANGER

There has been popular sympathy for Gazans in the Arab world but restraint from Arab governments wary of Hamas’s militancy and links to non-Arab Iran. However, Saudi Arabia on Sunday said its fellow U.S. ally Israel was emulating “Nazi war crimes.”

Egypt opened its border crossing with Gaza, which has been sealed off as part of Israel’s efforts to blockade Hamas, to let some 40 wounded Palestinians receive care in Egyptian hospitals.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Muslims to strike back and slammed Iran’s U.S. enemy for backing Israel.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Israel of using “excessive force” and demanded a halt to the assault.

The Security Council also met to urge an end to violence, while the European Union condemned Israel’s attacks as disproportionate and violating international law.

IDF pulls out of Gaza, Hamas declares ‘victory’