Eight Reports on the Gaza War

1.  “Israel’s Gaza Defense,” Wall Street Journal Editorial:

Hamas refused to extend the truce past December 19, and the group has since resumed attacks, firing nearly 300 missiles, rockets and mortars.  The 250,000 Israelis in the southern part of the country live under constant threat, often in bomb shelters, and the economy has suffered.  Yet the world's media seem to pay attention only when Israel responds to that Hamas barrage.

Israel's air assault has resulted in more Palestinian casualties, but that is in part because Hamas deliberately locates its security forces in residential neighborhoods.  This is intended both to deter Israel from attacking in the first place as well as to turn world opinion against the Jewish state when it does attack.  By all accounts, however, the Israeli strikes have hit their targets precisely enough to do significant damage to Hamas forces -- both to its leadership and, on Sunday, to the tunnels from Gaza to Egypt that Hamas uses to smuggle in weapons and build its growing army.

2.  Michael Oren and Yossi Klein Halevi, “Palestinians Need Israel to Win,” Wall Street Journal:

Much more is at stake than merely the military outcome of Israel's operation.  The issue, rather, is Israel's ability to restore its deterrence power and uphold the principle that its citizens cannot be targeted with impunity.

3.  Michael Oren, “A Crisis and an Opportunity,” The New Republic:

Within minutes of the first Israeli air strike, the Arabs were screaming "massacre" and the media had all but forgotten the serial assaults that provoked it.  The press once again attached the word "disproportionate" and the "continuing cycle of violence" term to describe a supremely justified and largely surgical (the targets were exclusively military, the victims overwhelmingly Hamas gunmen) operation. . . .

The government is purportedly divided over the operation's goals, with Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in favor of toppling Hamas, while Olmert prefers to revive the tahdiyah.

4.  Shmuel Rosner, “The Short War,” The New Republic:

European leaders seemed hardly enthusiastic about the new round of violence in the Middle East.  They were quick to respond, but they didn't blame Hamas alone, rather asking "both sides" to halt their fire. Morally speaking, it was a disappointing, somewhat disgusting, reaction.

5.  Shadi Hamid, “What Was Hamas Thinking?,” Huffington Post:

There are a few things going on here.  Hamas is effectively the government of Gaza, but this does not mean it acts like a state might in similar circumstances.  Hamas still behaves like a traditional guerrilla or terrorist group. Such groups are interested in relative, not absolute, victory.

6.  Noah Pollak, “Daniel Levy on Gaza,” Contentions:

The occupation in Gaza was ended, and its termination only encouraged Hamas’ delusion that it is on the winning side of history.

7.  J. G. Thayer, “The Proportionality Trap,” Contentions:

As predicted, Hamas and members of the Arab world are condemning Israel’s current attacks on Gaza as “disproportionate,” meaning “excessive.”  And they do have a purely mathematical point — during the recent bombardments of Israel from the Gaza Strip, casualties have been light. At last count, one Israeli and two Palestinians (sisters, ages 13 and 5) died from in rocket attacks. So a proportionate response, one presumes, would have required Israel to kill a single Palestinian and two of its own citizens.

8.  Rick Richman, “A Right, Indeed a Duty,” Contentions:

You cannot say it more succinctly, or put it more clearly, than Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, did in a statement released last night.  Here is the text, in its entirety:

“Israel has a right, indeed a duty, to defend itself in response to the hundreds of rockets and mortars fired from Gaza over the past week.  No government in the world would sit by and allow its citizens to be subjected to this kind of indiscriminate bombardment.  The loss of innocent life is a terrible tragedy, and the blame for that tragedy lies with Hamas.”

Comments

[Dan Alexander]

Mr. Richman,

These comments you post are right on the mark - this is a critical time in the history of Israel and of the confrontation between radical Islam and the rest of the world, such as it is.

If it is true that elements of Israel's leadership, including the Prime Minister, believe a continuation of the tahdiyah is possible to negotiate, and argue it may be preferable to a ground assault, we might ask why.

I want to mention that I am sure that Olmert is not alone in his views and there is no point in demonizing him even if we might disagree with his ideas. (The same is true of others' positions, Barak or Livni or Netanyahu or people a bit further right).

I imagine one set of Olmert's reasons involves international reactions and realities. Perhaps another, the question of an exit strategy.

To the latter point, how to govern Gaza?

I think that is a challenge which Israel will face if it invades, and some may argue it cannot be done. But I think it must invade, for short medium and long term military reasons.

I suspect the only possible answer to the question of how to govern Gaza is with a very firm but paradoxically generous hand, not only to Palestinians but also the portion of the "world community" which is so anxious to make its ugly mark in Gaza through the culture of dependency they fund and the blame-Israel arguments they love, or exist, to employ.

In one sense, if Israel believes it must stay in Gaza for a very long time, then it must become in that place a nimble and model colonial power - Mandatory Power if you will. Its rule must come to empower increasing numbers of Palestinians who do want some amount of personal achievement and freedom and autonomy, to convince them that they can safely take part in a civil society policed by Israel, including economic life and much more. As with Iraq, that society may be a mixture of the old and the new, with success defined by Gazans really - what they would take some reasonable risks to be and to do, if allowed to choose a role other than inhabitants of Refugee Camp Strip.

Without an effective plan for governing Gaza, I don't think Israel has an exit strategy. Perhaps the Iraq experience has some lessons for Israel. Some would argue Israel cannot be that Mandatory power, but I don't see anyone else doing it.

If not now, when?

In this regard, I believe the role of legitimate non-profit organizations in the PA is critical. Too often, non-profits in the USA are not recognized for the critical role they can play in positive social change, if rewarded for sound outcomes and treated fairly and with sound policy. In foreign policy often the USA (and others, I am sure) fund non-governmental organizations because of their connections to the funders, not their near and long-term ability to promote a different social dynamic. In other words, the short-term view of the myopic grant administration committees (ah, government by committee) rather than a sound long collaborative strategy with a goal of making the grantee a grantor. If politics can be local, tranparent, and focused on meeting real needs and offering real opportunity, it should be, everywhere in the world, including the West Bank and Gaza. This is the path of shalom, or part of it.

I follow closely Ehud Ya'ari's column in the Jerusalem Report, because I respect him as a true expert locally and regionally, a journalist dedicated both to the truth and to Israel's security, with deep sources in Israel's security establishment and throughout the Arab world. Ya'ari urged Barak's policy preference to crush Hamas many, many months ago and commonly slams Olmert's leadership on national security questions in an authoritative and fair way.

Mr. Richman, does Ehud Ya'ari have a piece worth posting in the midst of this?

Hamas has forced this battle at this time, and has shown it can strike Ashdod and Ashkelon with Iranian rocketry. If Iran acquires the ability to produce a low-grade nuclear weapon - a "dirty bomb" - which could be detonated 30 miles from Gaza, would it use it?

If the reason it would not is deterence, that would seem to support the pro-invasion position. It will be fascinating to see whether Sheik Nasrallah and his allies in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard continue to hold their fire in the event of a ground invasion. Syria, too.

Evidently Barak's side won out in part, to reach this stage. I wonder what is now transpiring through diplomacy and tough decisions as Israel considers whether to enter Gaza on the ground, and with what goals and methods.

These matters are extraordinarily important, bigger than any person, be they a politician, a journalist, or just a regular person like me. Thanks to you for blogging and allowing me to contribute to the dialogue. You have a great site and deserve many more visitors and comments.

I pray God helps the IDF to success if there is to be a full ground war (and of course if not).
I pray that Israel continues to find ways to distinguish itself morally from Hamas, while taking appropriate note to balance these goals with its soldiers' interests, and those within range of the rockets of Hamas and Hezbollah. I believe the IDF, officers and enlisted men and women, will behave heroically in the main as so often before. We should remember them in our prayers every chance we get, literally, and we should raise our voices in Israel's defence! Shma Kolaynu!

Dan Alexander

[melanie]

Dead right israel has finaly worked it out after the lebanon war ,Those who are complaining are supporters of the terroists and complain they will as the money they supplied to hamas for arms goes up in flames,the reality is terroists should not get a say in anything let alone the conditions of any cease fire ,who intheir right mind would let that happen ,the damage would not be so bad if they had not built up their arms as much as they have and hidden them near the population ,i hope they make them give back the kidnapped soldier as part of any deal ,and tell them this is the way it will be do it again and your history ,go israel one of the only countries to stand up to these criminals and thugs for its own people ,great leadership too i might add and i was very impressed by the way livni spoke about it with such determination .