Beyond Gaaza by Hasnat Till the writing of these lines, the death toll in Gaza has crossed 1000 including civilians, women and children. Israel's aerial bombardment that caused damage on this scale could not possibly have been a retaliation of the rocket attacks by Hamas inside Israel. It was surely designed to achieve bigger goals. Apart from the short term objective of electoral success in the upcoming Feb elections for the ruling party in Israel, there is indeed the long term aim of crushing Palestinians resistance, once and for all. Gaza to be made an example for the West bank and East Jerusalem. But is Israel going to achieve the desired objectives? Is it going to stay safe after inflicting this recent bout of violence on a hapless people? If the past is a guide, it won't. So, what lies beyond Gaza is the subject of our Special Report today. Most of it is analyses drawn from history because, frankly, there is not much scope or hope about the region's future. Diplomacy, so far, has not generated optimism either. To begin with, there is a US monopoly on diplomacy with no room for Arab and European voices. The US response is dithering -- between a shamelessly pro-Israel outgoing administration and a muted upcoming presidency. Intelligent timing as far as Israel is concerned, careful enough to not put its most trusted partner in an embarrassing position. Meanwhile the Palestinians are forced to grapple with the situation on ground as a divided people. The death of Yasser Arafat has left them leaderless, holding on to their scattered patches with very little control and pitched against an enemy bent upon destroying them. So who among the Palestinians is going to look at the larger picture and think of alternative solutions, when there is no single authority to lead them. The problems are too many and solutions too few.
Till the writing of these lines, the death toll in Gaza has
crossed 1000 including civilians, women and children. Israel's
aerial bombardment that caused damage on this scale could not
possibly have been a retaliation of the rocket attacks by Hamas
inside Israel. It was surely designed to achieve bigger goals.
Apart from the short term objective of electoral success in the
upcoming Feb elections for the ruling party in Israel, there is
indeed the long term aim of crushing Palestinians resistance, once
and for all. Gaza to be made an example for the West bank and East
Jerusalem.
But is Israel going to achieve the desired objectives? Is it
going to stay safe after inflicting this recent bout of violence on
a hapless people? If the past is a guide, it won't.
So, what lies beyond Gaza is the subject of our Special Report
today. Most of it is analyses drawn from history because, frankly,
there is not much scope or hope about the region's future.
Diplomacy, so far, has not generated optimism either. To begin
with, there is a US monopoly on diplomacy with no room for Arab and
European voices.
The US response is dithering -- between a shamelessly pro-Israel
outgoing administration and a muted upcoming presidency.
Intelligent timing as far as Israel is concerned, careful enough to
not put its most trusted partner in an embarrassing position.
Meanwhile the Palestinians are forced to grapple with the
situation on ground as a divided people. The death of Yasser Arafat
has left them leaderless, holding on to their scattered patches
with very little control and pitched against an enemy bent upon
destroying them.
So who among the Palestinians is going to look at the larger
picture and think of alternative solutions, when there is no single
authority to lead them. The problems are too many and solutions too
few.
