The decision by Hamas to end the cease-fire with Israel is understandable. There is a great deal of not merely frustration but deep bitterness in Gaza at the fact that, after six-months, the truce has not resulted in an end to the Israeli blockade. Faced with permanent shortages of food, fuel and medicines and no economy to speak of, let alone jobs, ordinary Gazans have given up hope that their lives are going to return to a semblance of normality. The 360 square kilometers that make up the strip have become the world’s largest prison and for its 1.5 million inhabitants there is no sign of release from their daily misery. Is it any wonder they have taken such a momentous decision?
Nonetheless, it is wrong. Ending the cease-fire is going to make life infinitely worse for the people of Gaza. Despite criticism from the Israeli judiciary about the legality, let alone the military value, of hitting civilian areas from where rockets are fired, the response to attacks on southern Israel will once again be devastating. Israeli tanks and fighter plans will again rain death and destruction in an area a little over twice the size of Washington DC. Gaza homes will be destroyed, hospitals and schools bombed, ordinary people — not just the militants — killed and maimed. That is how it was before the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire and that is how it is going to be again. For every Israeli killed there will be dozens of Palestinians killed in retaliation. That is the way the Israeli military machine operates. It is not an eye for an eye. It is an iron fist in an iron glove, brutally smashing anyone and everyone in the way.
With an Israeli election just weeks away, ending the cease-fire is bound to play into the hands of Israel’s hawks. That may be what this is all about. Unlike Fatah, Hamas does not want Labor or Kadima to win. It does not want moderate Israelis in the picture. As far as it is concerned, it is engaged in an all-or-nothing struggle and it clings to the dream that the Israelis can be defeated. For that, it reckons there has to be a Likud government — a government that will not only act as jack-booted thugs in Gaza but so oppress the Palestinians generally and resist all attempts at compromise that those in the West Bank will turn in revulsion against compromise, against Fatah, and embrace Hamas.
In the squalor and misery of prison camp Gaza, that may seem a compelling vision. But the reality, even with a Likud government, will be different. Palestinians in the West Bank will certainly feel nothing but anger and hatred toward the Israelis when homes in Gaza are bombed and innocent civilians killed in reprisal for Hamas rocket attacks. But they, and many in Gaza too, will blame Hamas as well for allowing such a situation to occur. The divide between the two Palestinian camps will remain as sharp as ever — and the Israelis will exploit it to the full, as they have already done. The color of the government will not make any difference.
Hamas’ way is not the answer. All they are doing is turning themselves and the inhabitants of Gaza into sacrificial victims with no political gain whatsoever. It is gross folly. Violence will not bring peace any closer. Armed struggle is not going to bring the Palestinians victory. Victory will only come through compromise. Only dialogue can achieve that.
