Opinion
The latest round of hostilities between Israel and the Gaza strip
militias started when Israeli intelligence gathered information about an attack
being prepared by the Popular Resistance
Committee (PRC) led by Zuhair al-Qaissi.
The PRC is the group that kidnapped Gilad Shalit in June 2006. This group was
planning to infiltrate Israel via Egypt the same way they had done in August
2011.[1]
Back in August, the Israeli intelligence had knowledge about an
attack from the Sinai but decided against a preventive strike on al-Qaissi.
This decision cost the lives of 8 Israelis. So this time al-Qaissi was targeted
in his vehicle travelling inside the strip before the planned attack would be carried
out.
Since then, we have had the usual exchange of rockets from Gaza countered
by Israeli air strikes on the rocket launchers. The militias have lost the
following armed militiamen[2] :
6 from the Popular Resistance Committee:
Ahmed Hanani
Zouhir al-Qaisi
Mahdi Abu Shawish
Kamal Abu Mansour Nuseira
Hussein Al-Barham Breim
Ahmed Deeb Salem
10 from Islamic Jihad:
Fayiq Saad
Muatasim Hajjaj
Ahmad Hajjaj
Shadi Sayqali
Ubeid Gharabli
Muhammad Maghari
Hazim Qureiqi
Muhammad al-Ghamry
Muhammad Hararah
Mahmoud Najim
And 2 more from Al Quds brigade according to Al Jazeera[3] ,
so 18 militiamen in total.
As the truce has been accepted on both sides on March 13th,
2012, Al Jazeera is reporting a total of 25 casualties in the Gaza strip. This
yields a ratio of 28% civilian casualties out of the total.
According to the Israeli YNET, 26 Palestinians were killed, of
which 22 armed militiamen and 4 civilians. This yields a ratio of 15% civilian
casualties out of the total[4].
On the Israeli side, injuries have been reported but no death.
The spokesman for the Islamic Jihad group, Daoud Shehab, has called the truce announcement “a
victory for the shahids (martyrs)” [5].
Let’s examine this victory closely.
Armed groups such as PRC and Islamic Jihad are attempting to
commit terrorist acts on Israeli soil like kidnapping soldiers, hijacking
buses, from the Sinai Peninsula, taking advantage of the chaos in Egypt. Their stated
goal is “to liberate Jerusalem”. Their strategy is to harass the Israelis so
much that the population will eventually leave the country en masse (80% of the citizens of Sderot, the closest town to the
Gaza border, have moved north).
But clearly this strategy is no longer working.
This is what they have accomplished in this last round:
They lost 18 of their trained recruits including the leader al-Qaissi.
They lost between 4 and 7 civilians and rendered the life inside
the strip unbearable.
They killed very few Israeli civilians (none at this hour).
But more importantly they have allowed Israel to demonstrate its
technology to the world, the Iron Dome. With every round of hostilities, the IDF
collects data allowing tuning up the tracking system bringing interception of
short range missiles closer to a 100% success rate. Without this technology,
this kind of exchange of fire would have led the IDF to send ground troops into
Gaza. Instead, the Israeli civilian population is safer and more time is
dedicated to take out the rocket launchers.
Maybe it’s time for the PRC and Islamic Jihad to give up on their
strategy and accept a tadhiyeh, a long term cease fire. But the raison d’etre of these militias is armed
resistance. Currently, the Hamas government lets them act freely, claiming it
has no control other them and no means to stop them. Really? [6]
If Israel is able to know that the PRC is about to launch an
incursion from the Sinai and the whereabouts of their leader, how hard is it for
the government of a strip 40 kms long by 6 kms wide to find these terrorist cells,
put the men in jail or incorporate them into the police force as a way of
reconversion?
This implies that Hamas also accepts a tadhiyeh. A complete
paradigm shift needs to take place in the Gaza strip governance. If the Hamas went
ahead and put an end to the “resistance”, started caring about the well-being
of the citizens of the strip, this could lead to the reconstruction, the end of
the maritime blockade from Israel and the permanent opening of the Egyptian
border.
Maybe the Israeli Iron Dome is going to make this transition
happen, by forcing the jihadists to recognize their failure, just like the West
Bank barrier put an end to Palestinian incursions from that territory.
Hanuman
Hanuman
