In the wake of the UN-sponsored cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel might easily embark on a fresh rampage in Gaza in order to boost the morale of a dispirited Israeli public. Israel has two goals in mind. The first is to repair the damage done to its army’s image and to treat the bruised psyche of Israelis. The second is to tell the Palestinians very forcefully that whatever setbacks Israel encountered in Lebanon, the same ones will not be encountered in Gaza. To the Palestinians Israel is flatly stating there will be no “Lebanon Part II” in Gaza.
There was no respite for Palestinians during Israel’s Lebanese offensive. Not for even one day during the war on Lebanon did the Israeli Army stop the killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their homes. Indeed, since the capture of Cpl. Shalit on June 25, the Israeli Army has killed over 200 Palestinians, including six entire families. Over a 1,000 others, nearly all of them civilians, have been injured, many seriously. The concern now is that the offensive will be notched up in order to bolster the Israeli Army’s reputation. Because when Israel was in Lebanon, the world did and said little in the way of condemnation, Tel Aviv naturally feels it can get away with similar atrocities in Gaza — in other words that it has a mandate to kill and maim.
And with the detention of Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nassereddin Al-Shaer on Saturday, the systematic diminishing of the Palestinian government continues. Al-Shaer’s detention follows last month’s arrest of Aziz Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The number of detained Palestinian officials is now 68, including eight ministers, most of whom are associated with Hamas. Many of the ministers have been sentenced to six months’ administrative detention without charge or trial while others have reportedly been tortured and placed in solitary confinement. This can only be construed as an Israeli attempt to undermine the Palestinian political system, to eliminate the Hamas government and force the Palestinians to choose a new one. The fact that Hamas’ 2005 cease-fire was held was not good enough to build on. Diplomacy has been ditched because in Israel there is no wish for making the enemy a peace partner.
Such high-profile officials are an obvious bargaining chip that Israel can use to extract the many concessions it wants from the Palestinians. Such hypocrisy means that only Israel is allowed to set the rules of the game and only Israel can play it. A new Israeli campaign in Gaza would not necessarily seek to achieve specific political or security goals. Rather, a fresh slaughter would pay a domestic dividend for a beleaguered and much-humiliated prime minister and his armed forces. It would be an attempt by Israel to balance its losses in Lebanon. On the back of Israel’s military defeat in Lebanon, Palestinians fear that their blood will be used to bolster public confidence in Ehud Olmert who, in turn, has decided that Israel must be compensated for its military failure in Lebanon. And what better place to rediscover lost pride than among the innocent and defenseless in Gaza?
