Notwithstanding all the criticism and the enmity, it is
amazing that Israel repaired the water and the electricity supply (damaged
by Hamas missiles) into Gaza within the 3 day period of the
ceasefire. What other country would do this? Note that also
within these days some 3,000 truckloads of food, medical supplies and even
building materials were shipped into Gaza through the two crossings, Kerem
Shalom and Erez. So much for a "Humanitarian crisis." Most people do not
realize that apart from days when Hamas directly fired at the crossings and they
had to be closed, trucks were taking food and other humanitarian supplies into
Gaza throughout the nearly 4 week period of Operation Protective Edge, at the
rate of ca. 800 trucks per day!
Why does Israel do this, something that no country on
earth would do for an enemy population in time of war? The fact is
that Israel does not want to be held responsible for a truly
humanitarian disaster, when pictures of starving people and children will be on
the TV screens all around the world, as well as the pictures of children
killed or injured in the actual fighting. Note that Israel is the only
country that can in fact provide this kind of material for the population of
Gaza, since Egypt will not do so, and the supplies from other countries, that go
through Israel, are miniscule. But, we also do this because we are not
cruel, because we do not want to be responsible for such human suffering.
And we do this for ourselves, not for anyone else. Israel is believed
to be deliberate "baby-killers" throughout most of the Muslim world, they
believe this of us because they are anti-Semitic. What is worse is that
most people in the West, who are supposed to have free access to information,
also believe this, partly due to their own anti-Semitic prejudices and partly
due to media bias.
It is known that the Sunni extremist forces,
including Hamas and the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, show no
compunction about deliberately killing children, yet this is what they
accuse the IDF of doing, when it is certainly not true. There is
always this paradox, that the enemy projects their own evil onto us, the
Jews. Thus, Hitler accused the Jews of having plans to take over the
world, while he certainly had these intentions and the Jews were entirely
innocent. Similarly with the Islamists, they are terribly cruel, in
Nigeria Boko Haram kidnap girls because they are against them being educated and
then turn them into slaves. In northern Iraq the forces of the
Islamic State decapitate people regularly when they are alive, this is a common
barbaric practice of the Islamists, they did this to Daniel Pearl in
Pakistan, yet they accuse Israel of being cruel!
In Cairo, Israel agreed to extend the 3-day truce but
Hamas did not agree. Hamas's main condition is that Israel open borders,
that there be no blockade and the crossings be open. Israel has
surprisingly agreed to this demand, but in exchange Israel's condition is that
Gaza be demilitarized, i.e. no going back to the status quo ante, where Hamas
builds up a cache of missiles and weapons and rebuilds its tunnels and in a year
or three starts another round of fighting, in which the innocent people on both
sides suffer. To avoid this PM Netanyahu has agreed to swap "open borders
for demilitarization," and this formula is supported by Pres Obama and the
USA. It could be accomplished if the Palestine Authority under Pres. Abbas
retakes responsibility for dealing with the reconstruction of Gaza, while Hamas
is somewhat sidelined.
But, Hamas would never agree to this, since it
would mean a loss of their control of Gaza, and yet in effect this was the
reason for their starting the war in the first place, their inability to cope
with Gaza with both Israeli and Egyptian blockades and no access to other
sources of funds and weapons. They "shot their wad" so to speak and are
now in dire straits. They started hostilities again, and Israel is
continuing to blast them and the pressure is great for them to renew the
ceasefire and the negotiations. Since there is now supposedly a Unity
Govt. in Gaza and the West Bank, a mechanism could be worked out, such that open
borders are exchanged for assurances that Israel can accept of no weapons and no
tunnels. Unfortunately, Hamas could not accept Israel's conditions and has
gone back to firing missiles into Israel. They will pay for their
aggression and eventually will be forced to cave.
No comments:
Post a Comment