Most of the world is waiting for the war. However, Palestinians in Gaza are reeling from a war already on their soil, courtesy of a massive Israeli Army offensive whose aim appears to be to crush the intifada once and for all. Two military raids in Gaza have left 11 Palestinians dead in less than two days. According to Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper, 72 Palestinians died in the fighting during February, including three children under the age of 10 and 25 civilians unaffiliated to any Palestinian faction. Over the same period, six Israeli solders were killed.
In addition to the killings, Israeli forces have also seized a triangle of territory in the northern Gaza Strip, creating what they call a “security zone.” At least 60 Israeli tanks and other armored vehicles have taken control of 10 square kilometers near the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun, close to the refugee camp at Jabaliya.
The operation, Israel says, is open-ended, another way of saying that it will remain in northern Gaza indefinitely, or “for as long as is necessary. If we decide to hold on to this territory for a long time, we will,” said Col. Yoel Stick, commander of Israeli’s northern Gaza brigade. Palestinians fear a darker purpose than mere counterinsurgency. They see Israel’s ever-deepening invasions into Palestinian-controlled areas as a prelude to their eventual reconquest. They say that this was the first sizeable takeover of a residential area in Gaza in 29 months of fighting, marking a shift in tactics. Previously, Israeli incursions, while deadly and destructive, have at least been brief.
The Israeli reconquest of Gaza harks back to pre-Oslo days, just as the Palestinian Authority is about to elect a new prime minister who helped prepare the Oslo accords. Mahmud Abbas is poised to become the first PA premier as part of the PA’s reform program, an attempt, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, “to regain the confidence of the Palestinian people, and to proceed with reform in terms of accountability and transparency. We also hope we will be able to re-engage with the Americans, and with the Israelis as far as the peace process is concerned.”
Abbas is the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee, a Fatah leader, one of its co-founders and a member of the Palestinian Central Council of the PLO. Most important is that Arafat, who is listed in the United States and Israel as being against peace, chose a man of peace; Abbas is the architect of the Oslo peace agreements signed in 1993 between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Many difficulties await the new prime minister: The 30-month-old intifada, a stalled peace process with Israel and a devastated Palestinian economy which will be crippled further by the indefinite closure of the West Bank and Gaza. Two reports issued by the United Nations and World Bank last week linked such closures to economic woes, saying almost two million Palestinians live on less than $2 a day.
But the influence of the new prime minister depends a great deal on Israel’s actions. Last week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon again ruled out any diplomatic process until the PA ended “terrorism and incitement,” reformed its institutions and replaced its elected leadership. Many Palestinians do not see how a prime minister, or anybody else, can bring about peace as long as he must deal with such hard-line positions.
