Gaza ceasefire: nothing gained

It appears the fighting in Gaza has subsided. Israel declared a ceasefire yesterday and has announced that they will be removing troops from Gaza. Today Hamas stated that they have agreed to the ceasefire and look forward to seeing the Israeli army out of Gaza. But the damage done speaks for itself: over the past few weeks, over 1,300 Palestinians have been killed, thousands more have been injured, many been driven from their homes and Gaza’s food supply and utilities have been crippled. And what has been achieved? Almost nothing. Hamas remains in control, and I doubt they are on any better terms with Israel than they were a month ago. Their military wing remains enormous, and they are still firing rockets at Israel on occasion.

So, where do we go from here? I don’t know. But I think there are many things we can learn from this brief crisis in Gaza. 

Firstly, this Gaza crisis reminds us of how turbulent the situation there really is. This is probably evident to people in Israel and Gaza, but to the rest of us sheltered in the Western world we do not hear much about it. This especially reminds us that a ceasefire is not a peace treaty or a time of peace; the Israeli attacks were prompted by Hamas attacks and tension that arose when the previous ceasefire ended. From this I gather that unless the UN or surrounding countries can make the current ceasefire last longer and be more legitimate war may well start again. 

Also, the crisis reminded us of how many Palestinians stand firmly behind Hamas and its militant wing. Many Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank called for another intifada (which fortunately did not happen). Others stood strongly behind Hamas even after admitting that Hamas was mostly responsible for starting the violence.

Next, I would like to address the issue of white phosphorous gas. Many Palestinian news stations accused Israel of using this deadly gas, the use of which against populated areas has been outlawed by the UN and the Geneva Convention. Did they use it? I think the answer is yes. A later UN investigation clearly shows evidence of some of these WP bombs being used. (The picture on the left is one such piece of evidence.) So what does this mean? For the most part, it simply reinforces the message that Israel is not afraid to get its hands dirty. I am surprised and worried to hear that they even have WP weapons in the first place. I hope that should this conflict begin again Israel will refrain from using these weapons, but I am not optimistic about this. There is little we can do to prevent this, though, as the neither the UN nor humanitarian groups have been able to influence Israeli military policy thus far. 

I still believe that Hamas can be cleaned up and made more legitimate, as I discussed in “How to handle Hamas,” but I realize that is probably never going to happen because no one is going to step up and do it. Israel can’t—Hamas will physically fight them every step of the way. The UN can’t—they are far too weak to put such a program together. The US can’t—we have our own problems right now. So Israel’s goal of destroying them entirely is much more realistic. But is it the right course of action? I am not entirely sure. One thing is sure, though: we won’t be hearing the end of Gaza anytime soon. I have no doubt that the violence will continue, certainly before the year comes to a close. All we can do is watch, wait, and hope for the best.

Tomorrow I will begin a series that I hope you will find interesting.