The cease-fire was declared on 26th Aug 2014, fifty days after the commencement of
Operation Protective Edge resulting in death of about 2200 Gazans and 72
Israelis. The 72nd Israeli succumbed to his wounds on 29th August. According to
reports, Hamas requested an unconditional cease-fire. Hamas never got their airport,
seaport, release of prisoners and open borders. They also never achieved
lifting of the blockade on
Hamas had achieved nothing; the only victory they achieved
was an enhancement of their dreams in their fantasy world, typical of
psychopaths and schizophrenics. This war was justified as Israel has a
right to defend itself from missiles being launched by Hamas with the intention
of killing as many Israelis as possible.
After a month of quiet, the parties will meet in Cairo where the psychopathic, barbaric Hamas will put its
original demands on the table, which will be opposed by Israel and Egypt . Will this cause a breakdown
of the cease-fire? We will have to wait and see.
As evil as Hamas and their ilk are, there is no doubt that Israel must
bear part of the blame for the creation of this terrorist movement that is
responsible for so much horrendous terrorist acts against Israelis in the past
and present. When Hamas was formed in 1987, it received support from Ariel Sharon because it opposed the PLO. He thought that by supporting Hamas, he
would weaken the resolve of the PLO to commit terror against Israel . He
adopted a "divide and rule" policy. This was proved a fatal error of judgment
on his part.
While the mantra of Hamas is unrelenting in not recognizing
Israel 's right to exist and
its commitment to Israel 's
total destruction. This was the mantra of the PLO as well prior to the Oslo
Accords of 1993.
We are all familiar with the inability of the Arab world to
come to terms with Israel 's
establishment in 1948 and the wars that were declared against Israel over the years with the culmination of
the Six Day War of June 1967, when Israel
occupied the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights . Israel became an occupying power
and encouraged settlements in these territories.
Meanwhile, until the achievement of peace, Israel should
have encouraged financial investment in the occupied territories, improved
services to the Palestinian people, improving infra-structure, health services
and economic viability. This would have been far more constructive as well as
serving Israel 's
interests. It could have achieved a bulwark against hate and terrorism. One
must always remember that an occupying power is responsible for the well being
of the people that it occupies. Israel
missed an opportunity for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state -
all because of lack of foresight and its encouraging of settlement policies in
the occupied territories. Israel
had neglected the Palestinians under occupation.
The Palestinians were subjected to settler vandalism,
including the destruction of their olive tree plantations, agricultural crops
and misappropriation of their lands for Jewish settlement. Apologists for the
settler movement and occupation have their mantras as well. "We have given
the Palestinians employment and they are ungrateful, in return they commit
terrorist acts against Israelis!" Wages paid to Palestinians were poor.
Many would get up at 3.00 am to catch buses that took them into Israel to get
opportunistic work or contract labor under appalling conditions. They had no
trade unions, security and exploitation was widespread. The Palestinians
remained poverty-stricken and their environment became so bad becoming a target
for the establishment of terrorist movements such as Hamas that thrive on the
dissatisfaction of poverty-stricken Palestinians with no future or any hope.
Another negative phenomenon that occurred during the war
was the increase of hate against Arabs in general. This disgraceful
development aggravates the relationship between Israel 's Arab citizens and Jewish
Israelis, which has been exacerbated by Operation Protective Edge. Both
peoples, Israelis and Palestinians will have to come to terms with each others
right to exist on a shared peace of land. Both peoples are not going to
disappear from the Middle East and will remain
an integral part.
This war has also proved that Hamas has no place in Gaza and is destroying
the Palestinians. There has to be a viable, pragmatic Palestinian leadership
that could be given the opportunity to cooperate with Israel , moderate Arab
States and the rest of the world in rehabilitating
Gaza , which has
been severely damaged. It is doubtful if the Palestinian Authority under
President Mahmoud Abbas is able to take over this responsibility without world support,
including that of Israel and
Egypt .
Rehabilitation of Gaza on a massive scale can
only really begin when there is total disarmament of Gaza .
