There is hardly a time when you can pick up a newspaper and feel happy about the current state of the world. Most notably, reading the World News section, you get the morose feeling that peace in the Middle East is anything other than a distant dream.
A lot of violence in the Middle East has been Muslim on Muslim. Look at the region's history, marred with conflict such as Persian vs. Arab, Shia vs. Sunni, Kurd vs. Turk; the Iran-Iraq war by itself killed a million Muslims. And whenever Israel defends itself, the world comes down hard on it, condemning its action. A country has the right to defend its citizens from an enemy who lobs rockets into civilian cities.
The recent conflict has been over Israel's blockade of Gaza. The Palestinians believe that Israel is halting deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza, choking the economic lifeblood out of the area. Israel's goal in the blockade is to stop rockets and other weapons being smuggled into Gaza in the same tunnels used for vital medical supplies and food.
The wreckage of this past conflict in Gaza is crippling. According to Palestinian estimates, one in seven of the territory's buildings has been destroyed, leaving thousands homeless and total losses $2 billion. In three weeks of bombing, 1,300 of Gaza's population has been killed and thousands wounded.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, speaking at a recent Arab summit in Kuwait this past week, gave warning to Palestinians that their own splits are "more dangerous than Israeli aggression." Palestinians have grown weary of the conflict between Fatah, the secular peace-talking party that controls the West Bank.
And for Hamas, the Islamist radicals who won legislative elections in 2006 and took power forcibly from Fatah in Gaza a year later, the power struggle has intensified. Rebuilding Gaza with these disagreements will make the task a complex one.
The influence of foreign governments has not helped reconciliation. The West, along with Arab allies such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, still support Fatah and shun Hamas, believing that if it gave up its aim of destroying Israel by armed conflict, it would legitimize Hamas. Iran, Syria and sympathizers such as Qatar have supported Hamas, advocating no change in its doctrine.
Now, it takes two to tango, so let's not forget the Israelis. It doesn't look good when you shell a Red Cross/UN Aid Station or are accused of using white phosphorus in shells that can have the same affect as napalm. These mistakes can ill be afforded because it only garners more tension in the conflict.
But I do see a correlation between this conflict and Israel's war with Lebanon in 2006. Then Hezbollah created a military network, built on small teams of guerrillas and mobile missile launchers, which were stationed in the local towns and villages. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Israel's strategy was to use its Air Force to beat Hezbollah into the ground, while not directly targeting the Lebanese civilians who supported the Hezbollah fighters. The goal was to inflict substantial property damage and collateral casualties in Lebanon. Israel believed it was dealing with a non-state, which hides among civilians. And the only deterrence was to inflict pain on the civilians, the families and employers of the militants, to keep Hezbollah at bay.
By using the same tactics as in Lebanon, the killing of Hamas fighters and inflecting heavy grief on the Gaza population, it seems from the withdrawal and cease-fire that Israel was trying to restrain Hamas from attacking again. Because Israel is looking ahead to weeks from now, when Hamas is thinking of attacking again, will they remember this conflict and its aftermath?
These two groups need to lay down their arms, sit across the table and work out a peaceable agreement. Palestinians believe that the goal of their armed struggle is to end the occupation and get rid of the Jewish state. Israel continues to defend herself, surrounded by enemies. Neither side is willing to back down; the ones who suffer are the innocent bystanders who get maimed. Every civilian death breeds a new resolve to continue the fight on its current path, yet we have seen that it doesn't work.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
