Please go ahead and write down the names of the politicians, public figures, and journalists who are prompting the government and the IDF to enter Gaza. These people, the very same ones, will be asked the following questions after the next war (yes, it will be a war): Why did we go in? Who needed it? These same people will of course ask for the heads of Olmert, Barak, and Ashkenazi to roll, because “we need personal accountability.”
Indeed, there is no arguing that the situation in Sderot and the Gaza region is intolerable, impossible, and cannot continue. It is also true that there isn’t, never was, and never will be another country in the world that would allow for even one day its sovereignty and its people to be targeted like that. It is also true that the IDF is capable of wiping Gaza off the face of this earth (and there are some amongst us who even promise to wipe out Iran and its tens of millions of citizens.)
This is all true, but one needs not be a military commentator or retired general in order to realize that a wide-scale military operation, a euphemism for war, will bring maybe several months of quiet in its wake, but after that we’ll again face the storm.
We are talking about 1.5 million people who have nothing to lose. They are armed to the teeth; even following the occupation, or liberation, of the Six-Day War they possessed many weapons.
We can occupy and flatten Gaza, and then what? There’s nobody like our Arab neighbors when it comes to restoration. Anyone who served in the territories can tell you about how quickly razed homes are rebuilt. Sometimes within two to three days. Hundreds and maybe thousands of Palestinians will be killed, and then what?
And for a change, I agree with Haber even though we stand on different divides of the political spectrum. Invading Gaza is a fool’s errand without a long-term strategy and is nothing more than an exercise designed to keep one’s finger in the dike. Even if a military offensive effectively destroys Hamas’ power base in the Gaza Strip what is the point of turning control back to Fatah?
6 comments:
Difficult one. On one hand Gazans have the rulers they deserve. On the other hand it just isn't OK to have Israel under bomardment and terrorism threat. Then again it's not a simple task and the Israeli leadership is not exactly trustworthy to manage a major action.
In the end of the day it's just like allowing Nazis to run Germany in the 30s. It will cost us.
There will always be a price to be paid for any action or inaction but without an overall strategy or plan - what is the point of going in willy-nilly?
To clean out a few ammo dumps and buy a few days grace but the moment you leave the cycle with begin again. The problem with Hamas is not that they believe the West Bank is under ‘occupation’ but their ideology believes Sderot, Ashdod, Haifa, Tel Aviv, etc are all under ‘occupation’ in exactly the same way ‘Ramallah’ is.
I know that. And like their German predecessors they want to kill ALL the Jews - just read their charter.
As you say there has to be a very good plan. Yet progress is possible if a serious damage is inflicted on the terrorist infrastructure and on the command structure combined with long-term measures put in place. Actions in the West Bank bore fruit.
Overall, inaction is more dangerous than action, but this time they have to prepare it well. Task for the next Government.
But the reason the West Bank policy of containment and limited incursion has ‘worked’ is because the Israelis maintain a viable military/civilian presence in the West Bank at all times...and I would even go so far as to suggest that when Gush Katif settlements dotted the strip landscape - the threat to the outlying districts in Israel surrounding the strip were considerably lessened
Even being a bit more to the left of the political scale, unfortunately I don't see an alternative to an eventual invasion. That such invasion must not be ended by a quick withdrawal and must have a long term plan for restoring some semblance of normality in Gaza goes without saying. How to do it is another matter.
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