‘Only the innocent pay the price’

The cultural gap between Palestinians and Israelis could be illustrated by thousands of incidents, but nothing reflects it more than the current war on Gaza. 

Hamas assumed that there will be no ground offensive against the densely populated strip, which makes guerrilla warfare in narrow city streets too costly to the invading tanks and soldiers, no matter how comprehensive the air bombardment. 

For his part, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon assumed that 2,000 air strikes will force Hamas to its knees begging for a ceasefire, whether from Cairo or the United Nations. 

Both sides misunderstood each other. 

Hamas ideology glorifies the concept of death while fighting the occupation forces. The fact that more than 300 Gazans have been killed so far does not weaken the resolve of Palestinian strategic planners in their underground air conditioned bunkers, sprawled along tens of square kilometres, executed by architects who had the master plan of the Iranian nuclear shelters and were helped to copy and implement it.

The Palestinians in Gaza realise that the material damage inflicted against their homes and high-rise apartment buildings by the Israelis during the last 10 days will be paid for by the Qataris in a $60 million donation and the housing units will be rebuilt within a year.

Israelis and Palestinians could have been spared the trauma of the ongoing war on Gaza, but both sides needed it for purely domestic reasons. 

Hamas needed it to show Palestinians that their future leadership should be one with the capacity to inflict the deterrence of terror on Tel Aviv; that only Hamas has Iranian and Syrian made Fajr missiles with a range of 175 kilometres; and that only Hamas can send its drones flying into Israeli airspace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed this war since he realised the ebb in Israel’s standing within the international community, following the American censure of his settlement policies in Arab territory. He was blamed for creating minefields in his talks with the Palestinian negotiators, not only regarding release of prisoners, but also in terms of the accelerating rate of violations within the Al Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu needed the war to stand tall amongst members of his Cabinet and some senior army officers who are strong believers in Likudist irredentist dogma. By firing the deputy defence minister, he stressed the message that the Israeli army is apolitical, and should not meddle in policy issues.

But Netanyahu does not believe in the two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In its July 13 issue, The Times of Israel reported excerpts from Netanyahu’s remarks at a press conference in which he insisted that a two-state solution is impossible.

Naming both US Secretary of State John Kerry and his security adviser Gen. John Allen — who was charged by the secretary to draw up security proposals that the US argued could enable Israel to withdraw from most of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley — Netanyahu hammered home the point: Never mind what the naive outsiders recommend. “I told John Kerry and General Allen, the Americans’ expert, ‘We live here, I live here, I know what we need to ensure the security of Israel’s people,” the report quoted the Israeli premier as saying.

The Times of Israel elaborated on what Netanyahu considers the wider lesson of the current escalation:  Israel had to ensure that “we don’t get another Gaza in Judea and Samaria... I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan.”

Meanwhile, only the innocent pay the price on both sides.