The sky in Southern Israel during the day is crisscrossed with the exhaust trails of dozens of rockets launched by Hamas in Gaza and aimed at Israeli towns and villages. There are other exhaust trails left by the Israeli missile defense system interceptors fired from the Iron Dome batteries that protect those towns. Where the trails meet there is a puff of white cloud/smoke indicating that another rocket has been kept from harming the targeted Israeli citizens. To me, it is reminiscent of the Battle of Britain in 1940. Some rockets escape interception and spread destruction where they land. The residents scurry to reach shelter when sirens announce the imminent arrival of another salvo. Ambulances race to treat anyone injured and deliver them to hospital. Fire trucks arrive to put out any flames that result from the impact and explosion. In some respects it as quite surreal.
At night the picture is almost the same. Instead of exhaust trails one sees lots of light from the rocket motors of both missiles. Each successful defense is marked by an explosion, and a scattering of burning wreckage.
For observers on the ground there is another show. One hears the jet engines of Israeli Air Force attackers as they head for Gaza. There are explosions in the night; some from bombs, some from artillery. With the dawn come clean-up crews to collect wreckage and sweep away broken glass.
In Gaza things are not so well organized. Rubble remains in the streets. Injured individuals are brought to a hospital, but not always by an ambulance. There are dead on both sides of the border fence.
Journalists and TV film crews gather around impact sites to provide material that will be seen on network news programs. Those programs also call in “expert” analysts to discuss what has happened, or is still happening. Most of the reporting fails to provide answers to the critical question. Why?
There are a few “reasons” presented. Most of them are neither accurate nor supportable. None deny the fact that the unrest originated on the Arab side. The claim that Israel is evicting Arabs from their homes doesn’t stand up to careful scrutiny. The buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem were shown to be Jewish property in court almost 10 years go. The original appeal also supported the decision of the lower court. The high court deferred announcing a decision in order not to encourage more unrest. It would not have mattered. The Arab parties using the case as an excuse didn’t care. For them, it was just an opportunity to incite demonstrations. The facts were irrelevant. The same can be said about Arab claims that they were “protecting” the El-Aqsa Mosque. There was no threat to the structure, or the neighborhoods around it, except in the heads of the Arab politicians behind organizing the demonstrations. Elections scheduled for the Palestinian authority were probably never going to take place. PA President Abbas has played this game before. This time he called off the elections because Israel would not allow East Jerusalem residents to vote in those elections. That isn’t entirely true. Israel would not allow them to vote IN Jerusalem. Doing so would amount to recognizing Palestinian sovereignty there. The question of dividing Jerusalem has not been solved by negotiation. But the real key question to resuming Palestinian-Israeli talks is that of recognition of Israel by the Palestinians. Mahmoud Abbas has consistently avoided saying those words. He claimed the Palestinian Covenant, his equivalent to a constitution, had been modified. It wasn’t. That document still calls for the elimination of Israel and its’ replacement by a Palestinian state. It’s hard to see how that can be reconciled with support for a ‘two state solution’ that he says he supports.
Most politicians know that when you cannot get what you want by negotiation you can turn to violence. The problem with doing so is that it isn’t always easy to stop. Violent confrontations seem to have a dynamic of their own. The Arab side has a lot of grievances, some legitimate, some not. Violent demonstrations are often used as a bargaining chip. The troubles will stop once we get what we asked for. In the current situation, Hamas would probably have won a “free” election over the Fatah faction of President Abbas. Firing rockets from Gaza is a politically brilliant way of expressing support for non-Gazan Palestinians, especially if it can be done as a short spasm of violence. A brief confrontation would allow Hamas (Who has never recognized Israel in any way) to claim a military victory and a political victory. The media attention would bring the Palestinian-Israeli conflict back to center stage. Previously, Palestinian efforts had suffered a series of diplomatic/political defeats when Israel was able to conclude treaties of normal relations with Arab states that did not border on Israel.
Hamas was quick to capitalize on their achievements. Having surprised Israel by the act of firing rockets to begin with, they next stated that they were ready for a cease fire. If Israel wanted war, they were ready for that, too. The all too transparent objective was to stop the violence before there was any erosion in their achievements.
As I mentioned earlier, stopping violence isn’t always that easy. Now we must all wait to see how long they can get away with this farce.
Wetherhorn 