Act two of the Gaza slaughter has begun. Death from above now continues on the ground. Overwhelming firepower from tanks, artillery and aircraft are killing women and children indiscriminately. Reports speak of civilians cowering inside as battles rage, terrified residents in other areas fleeing in fear, the windows of the house being blown out, people living without electricity, surviving without heat and eating cold food.
The death toll was already high, and will turn higher still with the ground invasion. Palestinians know from grim experience that the death of one Israeli citizen justifies the indiscriminate murder of hundreds of Palestinians.
All this, we are told, is in Israel’s “self-defense”. But this is not going to improve Israel’s security. Indiscriminate killing of women and children will never do. In the coming days it could get worse and in the long-term this massacre could create a new generation of radicals. They do not have to be supporters of Hamas nor do they have to be religious fanatics.
As it resumes its slaughter, Israel and its friends, neocons in the US and others, continue to defend the indefensible. It was all because of Hamas’ intransigence. Did not they refuse to renew cease-fire? Did not they fire rockets at southern Israel?
Nobody bothers to think about the terms of the cease-fire violated by Israel. One condition was that Israel would lift the penalizing blockade it imposed on the Gaza Strip. Nobody bothers to ask how it is that Israel can impose such a blockade. Israel can collectively punish Gaza by imposing a blockade, for electing a government not to its liking, only because Gaza Strip happens to be under the occupation of the Jewish state despite the “disengagement” of Israeli troops. So the core issue is occupation though US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not admit it. The core issue is a Nazi-like occupation, not Hamas, not one or two crude rockets falling on Sderot.
Even the goal of regime change in Gaza may have made some sense if Israel had treated the “good Palestinians” in West Bank with a minimum of respect. What has President Mahmoud Abbas who has chosen the path of negotiation and accommodation with Israel to show for his moderation? Nothing apart from some praise from Bush and his neocon followers and a doubling of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel and its American friends may be delighted to note that their actions have created a rift between West Bank (Fatah) and Gaza (Hamas). But there is another rift that should worry them. This is the widening gap between Abbas and the people of West Bank. Israeli actions in Gaza are not the only reason for this rift. A major reason is the feeling that Abbas has not been able to bring about even the slightest change in the Israeli attitude toward Palestinians.
So the ground invasion of Gaza will not solve the underlying problem. Neither would calls from Western capitals for restraint on the part of killers and their victims. The ground invasion may silence Hamas’ weapons to some extent and for some time but never the Palestinian voice. More and more Palestinians in West Bank now realize that Israel’s fight against Hamas is part of a broader war against the Palestinians in both West Bank and Gaza. If the West does not realize this and take some corrective action immediately, the West Bank may very soon go the Gaza way with much more tragic consequences.
