OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS; A STRATEGY FOR GAZA

The events on the ground and in the air around Gaza are, depending on your point of view, either fantastic or horrific. The resistance against the Zionist state is impressive and getting better all the time. Hamas’ twentieth birthday party was a big bash. You would have to go back to Orwell’s Animal Farm to witness a turnaround as profound as the Hamas capture of Gaza. Once hunted by both the Israeli’s and Fatah, Hamas is now doing the hunting. The Hamas executive force has been busy rounding up and jailing (a lesson learned no doubt from the Egyptians and Israel) the Fatah opposition, banning demonstrations and prayer assemblies and swapping tit for tat lies and denunciations over who first exploded the bombs during the anniversary parade.

"Humanity’s dead end"

On the foreign policy front, the Hamas story too is on message. They will never recognize Israel, they will condemn and threaten anyone who even negotiates with Israel, and for added good measure will continue to lob all sorts of increasingly powerful munitions over their side of the fence. Good to their word, the resistance to the “Zionists” will continue regardless of the incursions, air strikes and return shelling. Hamas has infinite resources in men and material to keep the Qassams and mortars flying, and the attendant deaths and economic dislocations seem a small price to pay. In fact, just as Hamas proudly marched it’s suicide brigades at its birthday rally, its similar rocket brigades are intended to be on open display.

The rocket’s results; towns terrorized, army encampments struck, houses with holes in the roofs, townspeople in shelters and now a two year old baby with shrapnel wounds. The Israel that boarders Gaza is under attack and the range of the rockets continues to be extended. We’ve asked this before, would any nation live with this threat?

The Israeli press is full of speculation about the timing and extent of a Gaza “operation”. Generals past and present are hinting and discussing the next steps involved for a reinvasion. The peace press is editorializing that more military action will not accomplish its goals of suppressing the rocket attacks. The number of expected Israeli causalities is discussed as it were a point spread on a football match.

Is there a way out of this train wreck or at least a policy that will mitigate the inevitable cries about Israeli over reaction and disproportionate response? Can the European armchair critics of Israel, that were so vocal over the Lebanon war, be mollified? Can Hamas be painted with the brush of aggression and warmongering? Can the inevitable suffering of the civilian population be pinned on the Hamas leadership instead of the Israeli tank commanders?

The answer is yes if anyone in the Knesset will stop their arrogance and adopt at least the veneer of humility. We have stressed this before but clearly no one is listening.

Israel must send its PR emissaries all over the world to ask for help with Hamas. It’s time to play the victim not the victor. It’s a role that won Israel the post holocaust 47 partitions. Humility created the entire Exodus afterglow that lasted until ‘67. The world still sees a tiny Jewish state amidst a sea of Arabs. The Israeli foreign policy tone should be astonishment that after its Gaza withdrawal, Hamas’ response was more aggression, more death, more bloodshed. Israeli Ambassadors should bring out the photos of smashed homes and hospitalized babies. Ask Norway, Hamas’ gateway to Europe to use their offices to calm Hamas. Olmert will have a sympathetic ear these days in Merkel’s Germany and Sarkozy’s France. They should be begged to help save the innocents of Gaza from the coming Israeli attack.

"The results"

There is no downside to this plan. The world wants to embrace a kindler gentler Israel. There are friendly European voices; the English, French, Spanish and even the Italians have all suffered indignities and death at the hands of Islamic fanatics. They have no use for those whose goal is Jihad and use bombs to achieve it. If it all fails, if no one can stop Hamas’ cross boarder bombardment then Israel should attack but only in the following way. Forget a land invasion that will only produce photo ops for the Islamists of children fleeing in front of IDF camouflage clad troops and tanks.

The smart move is for the Israeli air command to announce an ever-widening buffer zone that will be subject to a relentless bombing campaign until the rockets stop. Since Hamas has no air defense system, there is no strategic reason not to tell them and the world the scope of the air campaign. The worldwide benefit to Israel from this strategy is that it can demonstrate the self-destructive suicidal nature of the Hamas regime. If Hamas sacrifices farms, factories and Mosques, it will be equated to the Taliban in terms of fanaticism. Additionally civilian causalities will also rest on Hamas’ shoulders if they don’t evacuate them from the announced targeted areas.

There is nothing unusual about this military tactic. It was used against Belgrade in the 1999 Balkan’s war. Today, the Turks are first using air power against the air defenseless Kurds before any ground invasion.

There is a chance in Gaza for Israel to regain some of the world’s sympathy and support. It’s time to use a little Yiddishe Kop in the fight against the fanatics of Gaza.