Yesterday I talked about strife from Gaza. Today it is time for just a few more background facts.
Yesterday, Hamas launched long range rockets at Israeli cities. The one aimed at Tel Aviv landed in the Mediterranean. But the one fired at Beersheva hit a home. It destroyed most of the structure. Fortunately, the residents heeded the Red Alert warning and hid in a bomb proof shelter. The previous week the Israeli Army destroyed an underground tunnel going from Gaza to inside Israel. It was the fifteenth such tunnel to be destroyed this year. The Israeli government has not yet decided what they wnt to do, but several ministers have made dire threats against Hamas. It remains to be seen whether there is any substance behind their words. Hamas seems to have decided that they are empty threats. Those rockets were launched at the same time as an Egyptian delegation was actually present in Gaza trying to broker a cease fire and bring this current round of violent confrontation to an end.
On the Israeli side there are plenty of voices calling for strong responses that will, hopefully, bring down the Hamas ruling party. But that leaves a very awkward question unanswered. If Israeli embarks on yet another major military operation, what will the area look like after it ends? Israel seems to have no desire to return to being the de facto government in Gaza. But if Hamas is toppled, what will replace them? Is it even possible to defeat the Hamas military wing and bring about a disarmament of that private army? If it were possible, then the Palestinian Authority could return to being the governing body. Negotiations to that end foundered when Hamas was perfectly willing to have the PA return to handling civil affairs, but adamant about refusing to disband their military wing. The PA remembers when the Jordanian Government decided that there was no room in Jordan for a separate private army, and sent the Arab Legion (Jordanian Army) into the refugee camps where Yasser Arafat had control. It ended badly. there was considerable bloodshed. But the Jordanians emerged victorious.
Whatever happens now, if Hamas is not crushed and disarmed, there will be a lot more low-level violence to come. Don’t forget that there a lot of other parties with vested interests in the outcome; Iran, Russia, The US, and the European Union will all want to be involved. It’s sad that most of the victims will be Gaza residents.
Wetherhorn 