Wed May 2, 2007 5:05 pm (PST)
Coming soon - The role of Media in the Israeli-Hezbollah War
Gaza, Hamas and Fatah - What to do?
02.05. 2007
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000380.htmlOriginal content copyright by the author
Zionism & Israel Center
http://zionism-israel.comThere were some expected, and some unexpected, reactions to the article about Gaza Strategy. Since
each reader who writes probably represents many more who do not, we should deal with some of these
reactions.
Let's try to remember what this was really about: whether or not Israel should invade Gaza to stop
terrorist activity from there, and what we might gain from it. The conclusion was, that we would not
gain anything. I did not see any reaction that presented a real world argument about what might be
gained by an Israeli incursion into Gaza. Since I wrote the article, there was yet another article,
this time quoting Chief of Staff Ashkenazi, claiming that an Israeli incursion in Gaza is
"inevitable.". Ashkenazi wants an invasion that will "clean out" the terrorists. In his imagination,
this might be a quick operation. This is clearly a fantasy, unless he intends to denude Gaza of
every male over the age of 15. The following quote is perhaps significant:
At the same time, Ashkenazi said a permanent presence in Gaza - with IDF outposts and pillboxes -
was not the answer, since these would then only become targets. He reminded the ministers that there
were frequent attacks on Israel from Gaza even when the IDF was well ensconced inside the Gaza
Strip.
That is quite true. If so, what could be accomplished by a raid such as the one he contemplates? Any
"clean up" that the IDF might do, would be annulled in a month, and the terrorists would be back in
force.
One reader did present a "solution." I am ashamed to write about it. I am ashamed that Jews and
Zionists could think that way. But ideas like these have been circulating on the Web and we need to
explain why they are not carried out, to all those people who think that the solution is at hand,
and is not adopted because Israeli leaders are weak or "traitors" perhaps. What was proposed was
massive retaliation and collective punishment: destroy large areas of civilian dwellings in Gaza for
every rocket. Even the Reichswehr did not go quite that far in World War I. It is the sort of thing
Saddam Hussein might do. The IDF does not do such things, and it is well that they do not. Zionists
and Jews do not do such things. Those who cannot understand the moral implications, should consider
the practical ones. Every time the IDF has damaged property in Gaza, even unintentionally, even on a
relatively minor scale, it provoked a huge outcry and UN resolutions manufactured by Mr. John Dugard
and his friends. It doesn't require any imagination to understand that this policy would bring down
the condemnation of the world upon us. The first time we did it, the Hamas would gain the support of
the world community, the embargo on the Palestinian government would be lifted, and the Fatah and
the Hamas would join in the cause of fighting the "Zionist enemy" in earnest, backed by supplies
that would flow in abundance through the sieve of the Rafiah crossing. If we were to continue in
such a policy, we might find that we were the ones being invaded and occupied, and our leaders might
be tried like Saddam Hussein and his cronies. That may not seem "fair" to some people, but it is a
realistic appraisal of what would be likely to happen. Remember that in general, a major reason why
Israeli military action in Gaza cannot be effective is that it would be limited by US and EU
pressures. They certainly would not allow Israel to carry out war crimes such as those suggested,
which would have no strategic objective. In any case, it is not 1864 any more, and we can't do what
William Tecumseh Sherman did in Georgia.
The second set of objections revolved around the question of "is Fatah different from Hamas?" This
question is irrelevant to the issue of whether or not to invade, and therefore it will be treated in
a separate article. It arose only because I wrote what almost everyone takes for granted, that with
the passage of time, the Palestinian people will find that the Hamas are worse than the Fatah, and
will return the Fatah to power. If the invasion of Gaza were so beneficial in stopping terror, it
would gut the Hamas, and that theoretically would hasten the return of the Fatah. But we know that
would not happen anyhow. An invasion will strengthen the Hamas, because like the Hezbollah they
would survive, and like the Hezbollah, even if there were only ten of them left at the end, they
could claim "victory" and recruit new followers very quickly.
Ami Isseroff
