Israel Needs To Change Its Approach To Palestine To Avoid Further Collateral Damage

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 9 October 2023 Hamas Has Grown In Strength And May Not Lie Low Main Points: 1. More than 700 casualties and more than thousand injured speaks of the enormity of the offensive. 2. Israel's retaliation will not salvage its image. 3. It has to adopt a pragmatic approach. ----- A massive Israeli reprisal would cause enormous human and material destruction in the Gaza Strip. (Illustration by C R Sasikumar) ------ The surprise attacks of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on the Israeli territory has caused more than 700 deaths and above 1000 injuries. This was the deadliest of the blows Hamas has made against Israel in the last 70 years and the numbers are rising. This shows that Hamas has grown in both strength and strategy. They unleashed a three pronged coordinated assault both on the military and civilian targets. The strategy was to cause the most damage in the first offensive. The simultaneous missile attacks demystified the celebrated Iron Dome. It turned into a dome of straw before the avalanche of missiles unleashed by Hamas. Israel has declared war against Hamas and emergency in the state. It has mobilised its tanks, air force and infantry and has launched forceful retaliatory attacks on Gaza strip causing hundreds of casualties including children and women. But the Hamas has an upper hand as it has reportedly captured one of Israel's commander and held more than 30 soldiers apart from dozens of civilians. The Hamas militants are still fighting in streets of Israel. This indicates a change in the war strategy of Hamas while the Israeli army and its intelligence showed complacency and paid the price for it. Benjamin Netanyahu is already going through a bad patch politically at home as nationwide protests have presented a challenge before him. Israel is facing a reinvigorated Hamas with support from Hezbollah and moral support from Iran, Turkiye and other Islamic countries. War of words has already started between Iran and Israel and Turkiye has warned Israel against pounding civilians. If Israel continues to pound civilians, Islamic countries, particularly, NATO member Turkiye may up the ante against Israel. In short, Israel is in a losing position. It needs to change its approach towards the Palestinian issue. Pursuing a military confrontation for a long period will only aggravate the problem at home and internationally. Israel should seek a peaceful resolution to the issue to avoid further collateral damage. ----- What The Attacks By Hamas Mean For Israel — And Prime Minister Netanyahu By P.R. Kumaraswamy October 9, 2023 The numbers are astounding. Over 600 deaths and 1,600 injuries, coordinated infiltration in 22 places by about a thousand militants and over 5,000 rockets. In addition, dozens of persons, mostly women and children, kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. Israel has confronted the largest single-day casualties in its history. Even by Middle Eastern standards, the scale, surprise and size of the attacks by Hamas on Israel are unprecedented. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “avenge this black day.” The full mobilisation of the reservists is underway and indicates an Israeli preparation for a ground offensive into the densely populated Gaza Strip, surrounded by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Traditionally, Middle Eastern militant movements have been comfortable operating closer to civilians. This gives them both immunity from reprisals and ensures popular support in case of collateral damages. Hamas is not an exception. A massive Israeli reprisal would cause enormous human and material destruction in the Gaza Strip. But the dead Israelis will not return. Revenge is sweet for an individual, but is it a good option for nations? Revenge only increases violence; plenty of examples in the Middle East exist. Even if Israel manages to inflict severe human and material damages, it is inconceivable that Hamas could be “destroyed”. However, Israel can hope to reduce the militant group’s military arsenal, reinforce deterrence and delegitimise its tactics. What are the realistic possibilities for Netanyahu and Israel? One, in the immediate run, western countries, especially the US, are coming out from the cold and re-engaging actively with Netanyahu. Beginning with President Joe Biden, they promised unwavering support for Israel’s right to self-defence. Pentagon seems to back the American support with emergency military-security supplies and increased intelligence cooperation. This might happen despite two practical hurdles: The US House of Representatives lacks a Speaker, and the Senate is yet to confirm Jack Lew as ambassador to Israel. Biden had in fact waited until last month for a face-to-face meeting with Netanyahu. Two, Israel will actively pursue the perpetrators of this massive infiltration. It is safe to assume that in the coming weeks and months, Israel will carry out overt and covert operations against the ringleaders of the Palestinian militant group. Israel mainly targeted militant leaders for a long, but since the Al-Aqsa intifada, it also went after political figures. Hence, it should not be surprising that all the senior members of Hamas — political and military — will be on Israel’s target list. Such operations will happen not only in the Gaza Strip but also elsewhere. Indeed, external leaders of Hamas, such as Khaled Mashal (against whom Israel carried out an unsuccessful attack in September 1997), suspected to be based in Doha since 2012, may not be safe after yesterday. This will be a long campaign and will not end anytime soon. Three, the Hamas attacks are a 9/11 moment for Israel and require a more nuanced Israeli campaign. Irrespective of the inept handling of the Bush administration and its ill-fated military campaign against Afghanistan and Iraq, the Al Qaeda attacks delegitimised suicide bombing. Terrorism has lost its legitimacy among the wider international community. Rhetoric such as “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” is no longer acceptable, even in the Global South. Will Israel be able to turn the current Hamas attacks into the latter’s delegitimisation? Besides killing a large civilian population, the militants have also kidnapped dozens of Israeli civilians, including women and children. Since they are non-combatants, they can’t be described, let alone treated, as prisoners of war. Available knowledge on the treatment of women by militant groups in the Middle East is anything but optimistic. Can “enemy” women expect better treatment than native Muslim women? Can Israeli women be safe under Hamas captivity? This will determine the international legitimacy of Hamas and its supporters. Four, Israel has been focusing on Iran as the principal benefactor of Hamas. It can no longer ignore the role of Qatar. It is no accident that Doha has been engaging, funding and patronising several Islamist groups — including Hamas. This was one of the reasons for the four-year-old Arab boycott that was hastily ended in January 2021. Qatar has silenced its critics and detractors by effectively using its energy-generated wealth and sportswashing. Indeed, the prolongation of the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2014 was partly fuelled by Doha. Now, Israel will have to drop its indifference vis-à-vis Doha’s role in strengthening Hamas. This means a greater role for Saudi Arabia on the Palestinian question. Israel must accommodate Saudi suggestions and proposals for shoring up support for Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestine National Authority that controls the West Bank. Above all, the crisis offers a temporary reprieve to Netanyahu, who has been facing opposition over his reform agenda. Since January, Israelis have been demonstrating against his efforts to minimise the powers and functions of the judiciary. With Israel facing one of the worst crisis in its history, the population will now rally around Netanyahu. There are calls for a unity government. But these will be temporary. In recent weeks, there were fears that Netanyahu has been unable to pay sufficient attention to pressing security challenges in his determination to stay in office. The Hamas offensive vindicated that fear. Israeli citizens have been unforgiving of their leaders and governments if they fail in their fundamental security responsibility. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 eventually ended the monopoly of the Labour Party in Israeli politics. It is safe to assume that the Hamas surprise strike will do what peaceful protests by Israeli citizens could not achieve in 38 weeks: The end of Netanyahu’s political career. ----- P.R. Kumaraswamy teaches contemporary Middle East in Jawaharlal Nehru University Source: What The Attacks By Hamas Mean For Israel — And Prime Minister Netanyahu URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/israel-palestine-collateral-damage/d/130862 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism