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Last update - 09:52 16/12/2007
Bring us war in Gaza
By Zvi Bar'el
Tags: Israel, Hamas, military, Gaza

In the end, we will enter Gaza. Not because a "major blow" or "wide-scale operation" can really convince a million and a half people living under siege conditions and poverty that they have nothing left to lose and it is worthwhile to rebel against Hamas. This sense of helplessness already exists in any case. For this purpose, unbearable sanctions have been imposed, which are again based on the same distorted conception that failed in Lebanon.

According to this conception, if civilian targets are hit - and this time we are talking about civilians - the people will rebel against Hamas, and everything will be rosy. But we cannot ignore the contradiction here. If the Israeli sanctions - sharply reducing fuel supplies, the plan to cut electricity, closing crossing points and preventing the movement of goods - were really working, there would be no need for a military attack.

Can a military operation succeed where sanctions have failed? This is precisely the moment to remember that the Qassam rockets and arms smuggling via the Philadelphi route tunnels did not start after sanctions were imposed. They were there when the Israel Defense Forces fully controlled Gaza, when targeted and non-targeted liquidations were the rule, and when Israeli intelligence knew where every car was headed. The IDF's reentry to the Strip, with all its armor and aerial might, assumes that this time the result will be different - without a convincing explanation.
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The IDF knows that Gaza is not Jenin refugee camp, or south Lebanon. Gaza is a maze of alleyways with thousands of children, women and old people, as well as ordinary men who do not fire Qassams or set off explosives. According to what the IDF has fed the media in recent weeks, Gaza also has an abundance of explosives, weapons of all types, and in particular, plenty of motivation to fight. All this, of course, should not necessarily deter Israel from attacking targets, buildings or Palestinian forces that continue to fire Qassams.

But the IDF already makes such attacks every day. It also enters populated areas, operates unmanned aerial vehicles and fires freely at Qassam squads. What could a wide-scale operation accomplish that the targeted attacks do not? Can we understand from this that just as a wide-scale operation makes clear the ineffectiveness of sanctions, it also attests to the failure of small-scale and targeted operations?

Or perhaps the only purpose of a wide-scale operation is to satisfy the lust for prestige because a state cannot allow its people to be attacked every day and stand idly by. After all, something must be done, and there is nothing wrong with an occasional showcase operation, which at least would give Sderot's residents renewed faith in their government and counter the feeling (which apparently has some basis) that the people of Sderot are considered less important than those of Tel Aviv or Netanya.

But it turns out that the residents of Sderot are not eager for war in Gaza. They only sought protection for their homes, protection that would certainly cost less than the war the IDF is about to wage against Gaza. But there is no prestige in protection; there is no might and no showcase. Protection is a budget item, while war is a demonstration of strength. Regarding protection, the prime minister can say, "We will not protect ourselves to death." But regarding war, one cannot say, "We will not fight ourselves to death." The latter statement lacks the demagogic ring of the former. Besides, the trauma of Lebanon must heal, and there is nothing like a successful war to heal a failed war. But there is no way to certify that this would indeed be a more successful war.

In short: a war is needed. We can only guess what the new Palestinian partner, President Mahmoud Abbas, will say when the IDF accidentally hits a school or health clinic. Will he still be able to shake Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's hand and kiss Olmert's wife on the cheek? We could tell him, of course, that he could do us the honor of wiping out terror himself. Abbas would undoubtedly respond that negotiations exist to serve this very purpose.
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  1.   Israels choice: Innocence or Guilt....???? 10:33  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/12/07
  2.   Wake up and smell the coffee 10:36  |  David 16/12/07
  3.   Are you really that politically stupid and sick over there? 10:39  |  Dutch 16/12/07
  4.   Why not give an option to the those who are 10:44  |  Akram Zekaria 16/12/07
  5.   This wouldn`t make a blind bit of difference to Israel 10:52  |  Clickfool 16/12/07
  6.   #1, Dino 10:57  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 16/12/07
  7.   # 6 Cipora Julianna Kohn 11:19  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/12/07
  8.   Nonsense-Build Shelters for Everyone? 11:41  |  Ben Israel 16/12/07
  9.   #1 akram zekaria??is that your real name? 11:46  |  Marine 16/12/07
  10.   This is how this war will play out: 11:47  |  Danny 16/12/07
  11.   WATCH OUT HAMAS 11:47  |  indrajaya 16/12/07
  12.   ZVI BAREL`S POSITION IS AS CONFORTABLE 11:56  |  Robert 16/12/07
  13.   #9 supposed marine 11:58  |  David 16/12/07
  14.   #13 to David from Yerushalaïm 13:06  |  Marine 16/12/07
  15.   Marine in London (no name either) 13:15  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/12/07
  16.   Zvi Bar`el you must be stupid 13:26  |  Sarah 16/12/07
  17.   #3 doris in the country of the blind 13:27  |  v hardman 16/12/07
  18.   9# Marine. It is my real name & I am a real 13:35  |  Akram Zekaria 16/12/07
  19.   #9 marine of london needs intense history courses 13:36  |  victor hardman 16/12/07
  20.   #5 Clickfool 13:38  |  Sarah 16/12/07
  21.   Clickfool,Dutch,Swiss Dino,swiss,honourably put,but you are 13:43  |  lakshmi 16/12/07
  22.   I am against 13:47  |  KUTW 16/12/07
  23.   #18 To Mr Zekaria 13:57  |  Marine 16/12/07
  24.   For Sarah # 290 13:57  |  Clickfool 16/12/07
  25.   lakshmi 14:00  |  Sarah 16/12/07
  26.   Clickfool 14:08  |  Sarah 16/12/07
  27.   # 21 lakshmi 14:23  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/12/07
  28.   23# Marine, thank you for respecting my opinion,I wish 14:28  |  Akram Zekaria 16/12/07
  29.   to Akram Zekaria #4 - flawed logic 14:30  |  zeev 16/12/07
  30.   Clickfool,a word of advice,no point in wasting your day trying to 14:31  |  lakshmi 16/12/07
  31.   For Sarah again # 26 14:36  |  Clickfool 16/12/07
  32.   RETAKE GAZA,DRIVE TERRORISTS OUT,LET JEWS RETURN TO GAZA FOREVER! 14:37  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 16/12/07
  33.   A `real` war with Gaza would make it a ghost town! 14:44  |  Petra 16/12/07
  34.   VOICE OF THE MIDDLE AGES)))))))) 14:49  |  Robert 16/12/07
  35.   lakshmi 14:52  |  Sarah 16/12/07
  36.   Lakshmi, a world campaign is already underway 14:56  |  Dutch 16/12/07
  37.   Every Qassam is a war crime 15:02  |  Da Nang 16/12/07
  38.   #31 Clickfool 15:02  |  Sarah 16/12/07
  39.   35Sarah,I don`t recall saying you should wear a hijab to hide 15:22  |  lakshmi 16/12/07
  40.   to Akram Zekaria #18 15:25  |  zeev 16/12/07
  41.   #swiss dino rewrites the geneva conventions. 15:28  |  duncan 16/12/07
  42.   Dino-innocence and guilt? 15:31  |  Maurice 16/12/07
  43.   For Sarah, who now has me confused # 38 15:43  |  Clickfool 16/12/07
  44.   all are seeing but nobody is registering 15:44  |  Kris 16/12/07
  45.   29# Zeev. Jewish Compassion has no limites 15:48  |  Akram Zekaria 16/12/07
  46.   27Swiss Dino,the Russian immigration was deliberate israeli 15:52  |  lakshmi 16/12/07
  47.   Statesmanship in the land of the Generals 15:59  |  Tosefta 16/12/07
  48.   to David #13 - good question 16:00  |  zeev 16/12/07
  49.   Israel`s Gaza Operationss, Ultimately an Economic One! 16:04  |  Ambrose 16/12/07
  50.   Dutchie & LockSchmidt: Stop posting your rubbish to HAARETZ,women 16:04  |  Vittorio 16/12/07
  51.   #2 David 16:14  |  Ben Alofs 16/12/07
  52.   Gaza 16:18  |  Joseph 16/12/07
  53.   #22 KUTW 16:49  |  Boycott 16/12/07
  54.   The `superior` Jews 17:04  |  Jake 16/12/07
  55.   to Akram Zekaria #45 - compassion vs. logic 17:05  |  zeev 16/12/07
  56.   53Boycott 17:11  |  KUTW 16/12/07
  57.   Petition Haaretz - Ban Clickfool 17:14  |  Barry 16/12/07
  58.   I`m surprised that Israel 17:19  |  Chris Linthwaite 16/12/07
  59.   Israel snatching defeat from the jaws of victory 17:20  |  Tosefta 16/12/07
  60.   #51 dr ben and the cart before the horse 17:25  |  victor hardman 16/12/07
  61.   swiss dino 17:35  |  scallywag 16/12/07
  62.   57 Barry, Clickfool by any other name is still a fool AND 17:36  |  The Equalizer 16/12/07
  63.   #54 jake bush snr on zionism 18:04  |  duncan 16/12/07
  64.   # 41 duncan 18:06  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/12/07
  65.   #56 KUTW 18:06  |  Boycott 16/12/07
  66.   to Sarah #16 - of course they are 18:12  |  zeev 16/12/07
  67.   #58 chris 18:12  |  duncan 16/12/07
  68.   # 42 Maurice 18:21  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/12/07
  69.   # 61 scallywag 18:28  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/12/07
  70.   #1 Swiss,What do you call Camp David? 18:29  |  TOMY 16/12/07
  71.   65.Boycott 18:31  |  KUTW 16/12/07
  72.