The Hamas government in Gaza has been gloating over how the last round of hostilities has resulted in the resignation of Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman. They claim they were responsible for his resignation. Well, that’s partly true. He wanted a stiffer response to th firing of over 450 rockets at Israeli civilians. The Prime minister said no. So he quit.
He wasn’t alone in thinking that warning Gaza residents that this or that building is marked for destruction in order to limit “collateral damage” deaths. Even some Gaza residents have been heard saying “we shoot some rockets, they blow up some empty building. And then everything goes back to what it was before”.
The Israeli government has been justifying not escalating by noting that if Israel were to respond strongly it might result in the collapse of the Hamas government. Who knows what come after that? Israel certainly doesn’t want to take over. Neither, it seems , does any other body, Not Egypt, Not Jordan, Not the Arab League, and Not the UN. If there is a vacuum, maybe a more militant faction will fill it. Better the devil we know than someone who may be worse.
The main point is that when you choose to go to war to achieve some political objective you cannot be sure the fighting will end with your success. Israel appears to be aiming only at maintaining a cease fire atmosphere and has no desire to achieve anything more. It isn’t surprising, since the various Arab organizations claiming to represent the Palestinians are all united in aiming for the destruction of Israel. However, a new defense minister may not be easier to get along with for Hamas. When Israel has elections, whether in another year or sooner, a new government might entertain ideas of a different kind of reponse to the recurring game of build a bunch of rockets, find an excuse to shoot them, call for a ceaseifre before the situa
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