Israel: Enough is Enough!

I fully supported Israel’s recent efforts to eliminate the threat to civilian Israeli populations from Hamas-launched rockets. The Israeli blockade of Gaza which Hamas claims as its rationale for the firing of rockets on Israel was actually predicated by the rocket fire which Hamas claims to be retaliatory. Hamas fired first, and the Israelis long endured that unlawful firing with restraint. Israel enacted only what could best be described as trade and economic sanctions against Gaza in an effort to peacefully force the Palestinian people of Gaza to make their Hamas leadership cease its illegal violent aggression against Israel. While the Hamas rockets were rarely effective, they were still the moral equivalent of one’s neighbor firing blindfolded into one’s backyard. The actual risk is relatively small, but the threat is great. Israel’s overall concept and stated goals are laudable, but the results have now become unacceptable.

 

 The Israelis’ stated intention was to eliminate the threat of Hamas-controlled rockets from Gaza; to stop the launches and disarm Hamas. Although the civilian casualties were relatively high, that is due more to the planning of Hamas than the planning of Israel. Hamas has, as it always has, employed its civilians as shields for its illegal military/terrorist actions. In the opening two weeks of the current conflict, most collateral damage could be rightfully ascribed to Hamas for its deliberate positioning of civilians in harm’s way. The reasoning is simple; civilian casualties get the attention of the press and the world and spark calls for cessation of hostilities. That cessation, as it has in the past and as Israel has rightfully argued, would have been unilateral; Israel would have stopped while Hamas would keep firing and use the Israeli-only ceasefire to re-arm and consolidate.

 

This has been the thinking of the Israelis, and they are fundamentally correct. Even the fractures in Hamas leadership between those on the ground in Gaza and those safely in Syria shows the tension. The leaders in exile in Syria are safe from both the physical and political fallout that the confrontation with Israel has provoked, while those indigenous to Gaza have come to see that continued hostility is productive for neither them nor the civilians they “represent”. In driving and revealing this wedge in Hamas leadership, the Israelis have proven astute. The hostilities initiated by Hamas will not end the embargo/blockade, and they have certainly not in any sense helped the people of Gaza.

 

But Israel has today overshot the goal and fired upon the UN Headquarters in Gaza, destroying the building and tons of humanitarian aid supplies sorely needed by a severely stressed Gaza population. I have reserved judgment on certain “atrocities” committed by the Israelis. Being a former American Infantryman, I know all too well how confusing things can get “on the ground”. In the chaos and confusion of battle, anything not immediately recognized as friendly is mentally interpreted as unfriendly. The use of white phosphorous adjacent to civilian structures can be accidental or unintentional; but the plethora of reports of such use by the Israelis indicates something more than accidental and definitely points in the direction of deliberateness.

 

The basic policy of saturation, “pacification”, containment, and subsequent operational expansion is sound, but it seems that the Israelis are taking “pacification” too far. The reports are beginning to sound closer to genocide. I am not making that accusation; I am simply saying that developments in Gaza are beginning to look as though they are headed in that direction. I have neither heard nor read any word that the Israelis are making any effort to evacuate non-combatant Palestinians in Gaza to the their rear into secure areas, and that makes me wonder as to what is happening with those actual civilians who find themselves behind the Israeli “lines”.

 

So, Israel, enough is enough; take a breather, reassess the situation, and make every effort to be certain of your targets. I would prefer to have seen peaceful resolution, but I also know that when one’s opponents are bent on violence and have the means to deliver that, it becomes impractical, if not impossible to negotiate. Israel must remember that, when this is over, they will still have to live with the Palestinians of Gaza.