Ceasefire in Gaza
Editorial

November 25,2012

Some one used the word déjà vu in one of the pieces here. The recent Israeli attacks on Gaza and the retaliatory rocket attacks allegedly by Hamas — or was it vice versa — brought to mind an earlier attack in January 2009. The magnitude of the losses was much bigger then — death toll for the Palestinians was more than 1000 — but the context and impact were pretty much similar.

Israel’s aerial bombardment, killing civilians, women and children, was thought to have been aimed at achieve an electoral success in the impending elections in February 2009.

That is exactly how some people have explained the current round of violence. This was Israel’s ruling party’s last chance of showing to its people how committed it remains to their cause.

Beyond this election campaign timing, the recently concluded eight day war also has a fresh context. There is now a Muslim Brotherhood president in next door Egypt who is said to have a bigger role in whatever happens in the Middle East; the level of Egypt’s involvement in shaping up the ceasefire arrangement is only one indicator of that role. There is an Iron Dome anti-missile defense system in Israel now. There was talk about Israel sending ground troops into Gaza and the anti-missile defense system, by reducing the number of Israeli casualties, is said to have prevented that.

Even though the cease fire has been hailed by all sides, the fact remains that the Hamas appears to have been a bigger beneficiary in practical terms; Israel has lost its moral case yet again. The Islamist government in Egypt has also made many gains by exercising a leadership role and getting recognized for that, even if the other mediator was the US as always. The US hegemony in diplomacy over the Middle East dispute remains, the cyber attacks by Anonymousnotwithstanding. The Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas is said to be a loser by virtue of the sheer gains made by the Hamas.

These small tactical victories aside, the larger issue of Palestinian rights and Israeli occupation remains unsolved, and the two-state solution, brought to fruition by the Oslo Accords, is increasingly turning out to be dead-end. Till both the Palestinian and Israeli political leadership thinks it fit to convey the benefits of a one-state solution to their respective people and a consensus to that effect is reached, we shall continue to see more such attacks and brutal killings.