Operation Cast Lead was the name given to the recent Israeli operation into the Gaza Strip. The two official reasons given for the campaign into Gaza are 1) to put an end to the rocket and mortar fire coming from Gaza; and 2) to restore Israel’s deterrent, which Israel has lost since it withdrew from Gaza. Although these may be a few subsidiary reasons, the real reason Israel is back in Gaza is much more startling: destruction, conquest, and subjugation.
That may sound a bit crude, but sometimes it’s better to be blunt and to the point. This is exactly what preeminent international theorist and self-avowed realist John Mearsheimer does in his recent article about the Israeli war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. As any good realist does, Mearsheimer lays out the case that the Israel’s latest war will not make the country safer and will exacerbate the already desperate Israel-Palestinian conflict. But the more interesting part of the article is how Mearsheimer sets the record straight, in regards to Israel’s attitude and overall policy regarding the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Mearsheimer discusses how Israel has done very little to mitigate the conflict and has done almost everything in its power to exercise its powerful will over the Palestinians.
It’s a good article and Mearsheimer does an excellent job describing the reality of the situation in addition to arguing why Israel’s latest war cannot be won. Mearsheimer state’s bluntly in the first paragraph that “Israel has foolishly started another war it cannot win.” In case you’re pressed for time (or just perhaps enamored with my deft insight), here is a brief summary of what the article says.
- Israel does not wish for any sort of lasting peace, a viable Palestinian state, or a fair resolution to the half-a-century long conflict. Israel intends on controlling all of what was known as Mandate Palestine (current Israel, plus the Gaza Strip and the West Bank) in order to create a “Greater Israel.” This has been Israel’s unofficial policy since it declared independence in 1948.
- The way Israel plans on achieving a Greater Israel is by inflicting massive amounts of pain and suffering on the Palestinians so that they will learn to accept their fate as a defeated and subjugated people. Israel does not seek equality between races, religion, or aspirations; they seek total domination.
- The Israeli caused breaking-up of the National Unity government between Fatah (West Bank) and Hamas (Gaza Strip) lead to the expulsion of Fatah from Gaza and a breakdown in political cooperation. This lead to the eventual blockade of Gaza by Israel. The Gaza Strip is a 139 sq. mile strip of coastal land that is home to 1.5 million people; this gives Gaza a population density of almost 11,000 people/sq. mile. (Rhode Island is bigger than the Gaza Strip by 10 square miles and has roughly 500,000 less people.) The blockaded Gaza Strip is nothing short of a prison. Hamas responded to the blockade by continuing to fire rockets and mortars across the border into southern Israel. This eventually lead to the June 9th, 2008 ceasefire between Hams and Israel.
- Despite what many have said, Israel was never interesting in sustaining a ceasefire and is the ones responsible for its collapse. During the June 9th ceasefire period, Hamas drastically reduced the number of attacks on southern Israel. Israel, on the other hand, continued arresting and assassinating Palestinians on the West Bank and sustained the suffocating blockade on the Gaza Strip.
- Throughout the conflict leading up to operation Cast Lead, Hamas maintained the position that they are seeking long-term stability and peace with Israel if they are willing to stop assassinating their leaders and end the deadly blockade of the Gaza Strip. Also important to note is that between Nov. 4 and the Israeli operation in Gaza, zero Israeli’s were killed by rocket or mortar fire form Hamas.
- Since Operation Cast Lead began, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 4,000 wounded. More than half of the casualties have been civilians. Three Israeli citizens and one solider have been killed by rocket fire, 9 have been killed since ground forces moved in (4 from friendly fire) and 98 have been injured.
Israel’s operation into Gaza is nothing new. It’s just the next step in a futile attempt to divide and conquer all of the territory once designated as Mandate Palestine. People who attests that Israel is simply practicing self-defense against the terrorist forces of Hamas are simply blinded by Western biases and the West’s (especially America’s) special, albeit irrational, relationship with Israel. If Israel really wanted to stop the rocket and mortar fire, it could easily do so by negotiating a real, faithful, and long-term cease-fire with Hamas. However, Israel does not intend on doing anything resembling this. Israel intends on controlling all of Palestine by the use of force. This policy is commonly referred to as the “Iron Wall” strategy. The Iron Wall strategy means forcing the Palestinians to accept their role as a subjugated and dehumanized population.
This violent and cruel policy is clearly reflected in Israel’s incursion into Gaza. Israel claims that the IDF is going to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties – even putting its own soldiers’ lives at risk to avoid unnecessary collateral damage. This is absolute non-sense. Set aside the fact that it is nearly impossible to avoid huge civilian casualties while firing cluster bombs into Gaza, Israel does not care for the well being of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. For example, Israel’s opening salvo on Dec. 27 took place as children were getting out of school, and one of Israel’s first targets was a graduation ceremony for police cadets — not exactly Hamas terrorist. In the meantime, Israel has launched its typical propaganda campaign to hide the true reasons and travesties of the war (one only need to browse the headlines of Ha’arretz or Arutz Sheva); Israel has also disallowed reporters into the Gaza war zone.
The timing between the recent one-week ceasefire agreement and the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama is no coincidence. Some hope that Obama will be less supportive of Israel’s aggressive policies in Palestine, but I am highly skeptical of any such notion. I’ve written about the Israel Lobby before (coincidentally, a review of a book by Mearsheimer) and its immense influence in American politics. I’ve also noted how Israel supporters are able to berate even objective criticism of Israel’s policies in Palestine. For most Americans, Israel is the rough and tough nation, surrounding by heathen on all sides, always on the brink of annihilation. What they fail to acknowledge is that most of Israel’s troubles are self-made.
Perhaps what makes this entire operation so egregious is that it is essentially subsidized by the United States. We are the enablers of the Iron Wall policy. We give Israel the money, the weapons, and the encouragement to go about its business of subjugating an entire people and aggravating East-West relations. Don’t get me wrong, I support Israel’s right to exists and defend itself when the situation warrants such action and I also acknowledge the fact that Hamas partakes in “terrorist” activities. However, the situation is so lopsided and misrepresented, making Israel look more righteous in the conflict, that the distinctions between who’s terrorizing and who’s simply defending themselves may not be what is perceived as. Moreover, I cannot support policies driven by a policy of divide and conquer, nor can I look at the current war in Gaza and think that Israel’s actions are justified.
Perhaps this quote in Mearsheimer’s article from Arnon Soffer, a prominent Israeli demographer who advises the Israeli government, best captures the hopelessness that Israel has created.
When 1.5 [sic] million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It’s going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.
