Israeli Aggression toward Gaza as Compensation for Strategic
Failures
Written by Nassar Ibrahim, Alternative Information Center (AIC)
Tuesday, 30 December 2008

Democratic forces and civil society institutions throughout the world
have a crucial role to play in halting Israeli aggression. Here, a
demonstration in Toulouse, France against the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Comprehending and responding to the openly aggressive war that the
Israeli occupation is currently waging against the Gaza Strip should
not be conducted within the conceptual limits that the occupation
itself sets. Such limits dictate that the Israeli aggression and mass
killings are to be considered a normal reaction to the firing of
Palestinian missiles towards the Israeli cities and towns in southern
Israel.
Accepting this logic of occupation means providing political, moral,
and practical legitimacy for Israel?s bloody attack on Gaza, leading to
the twisting of facts and reinforcement of the systematic delusion on
which Israel justifies its aggression. Thus, the equations controlling
the reactions to this new aggression will be most flawed; a situation
which reflects what is actually now happening. Indeed, this is clearly
revealed by the context and level of discourse employed by some Arab
and international parties. This discursive approach attempts to create
a kind of false balance of power by demanding that both Israel and
Palestinians demonstrate ?self-restraint,? through framing this
aggressive war as a "terrible use of power," or by placing
responsibility on the Palestinians by comparing Israeli military forces
to the Palestinian resistance factions, or finally even by demanding
that Israel be more ?careful? during the attacks to avoid Palestinian
civilian casualties.

This seemingly uncontestable logic grants Israel protection and
justification, encouraging it to continue its aggression, killing and
destruction, assuming that the world perceives the actions as a kind of
self defense and consequently, not a gross violation of international
law.

Such an approach or analysis separates the action from its strategic
contexts and then reduces it to a just action and reaction. However,
the truth is something else. The current Israeli action in Gaza cannot
be separated from the political contexts and dimensions that have
accumulated over the past few years, particularly following the 2006
national elections in Palestine that resulted in the electoral victory
of Hamas.

Following announcement of the election results, the confrontation
commenced in various forms. It began with an international boycott of
the democratically elected Palestinian government, the imposition of
political conditions on said government, an economic siege, the
complete closure of the Gaza Strip, continuous military attacks and
extra-judicial assassinations. Israel and the international community
then encouraged conflict between Fatah and Hamas, which resulted in
internal clashes and finally the Israeli declaration of Gaza as a
hostile entity in September 2007.

This situation is emphasised by the statements of Israeli Foreign
Minister, Tzipi Livni, in Cairo a couple of days prior to the outbreak
of the current aggression: Israel will totally change the situation in
Gaza.

Accordingly, the current situation in Gaza is not simply a reaction to
the Palestinian missiles, as Israel claims, for even if the Israeli
military reoccupied Gaza completely, it will not succeed in ending the
firing of missiles and other forms of resistance.

Israel?s war of aggression on the Gaza Strip should then be understood
not as a revenge attack, but as a political battle. A political battle
that is being conducted with all available military means and aims to
restructure the Palestinian political situation in a manner that is in
accordance with the Israeli and American political strategies in the
region.

Therefore, the war on Gaza includes dimensions other than those
declared by Israel. It is compensation for the loss of the
neoconservatives and Israeli-American policies in the Middle East over
the past few years.

It is compensation and a bloody attempt to erase the memory of the
horrible defeat the Israeli military suffered in its war against the
Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. It is an attempt to improve the
Israeli military image and its power of deterrence, whilst repairing
the home front after the defeat it faced when the Israeli military (the
symbol of its pride and power) returned with nothing from Lebanon.  It
is compensation for the defeat that the Israeli-American political
project faced in Lebanon.

In one way or another, the war is one of compensation for George Bush,
who sank in the Iraqi sand where the accelerating Iraqi resistance
transformed his initial happiness upon the fall of Baghdad, during the
first days of war, into a horrible nightmare. It is also, in a way,
compensation for the terrible crises in Afghanistan.

In several of its dimensions, the war is one of compensation. It is
intended to restore confidence and tranquility for the regimes of Tel
Aviv and Washington, both aliens in the region, whose backs were broken
by national resistance in the Middle East. Thus, the stability of such
regimes is threatened and they are no longer capable of controlling the
angry streets and imposing their political limits on people.

The aggression on Gaza is a redress war (though indirectly) for some
Palestinian political parties, who failed to take the initiative in the
Palestinian street, a continuation of political reconciliation in
accordance with the American and Israeli logic.

Based on this analysis, it is possible to explore the reactions and the
political discourse that dominate the response of the various parties
to the horrible Israeli attack on Gaza. This explains the reactions of
the US administration, which insists on placing responsibility for this
attack on the shoulders of Hamas, but not on the aggressive policies of
the Israeli occupation. This further explains the silence and collusion
of some Arab regimes that avoid taking clear positions to deter Israel.
This also explains the tepid position of the European Union and its
despair in the face of the horrible massacres that Israel
systematically commits in Gaza. It explains the world?s silence in
response to the siege imposed on Gaza by Israel, and the lost
opportunity for a truce to which the Palestinian resistance fractions
were committed for over six months. In fact, all are interested in
completely changing the situation in Gaza as a preface to changing the
entire situation in Palestine.

Israeli Foreign Minister Livni said this herself: The situation should
be changed once and forever in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is waging its war of aggression on Gaza under the slogan of
"self-defense" from one side, and as an interpretation of its role in
Bush's declared war on so-called terrorism from other.  However, the
Israeli open war is being waged against the entire spectrum of
Palestinian factions, from Left to Right, including one and a half
million Palestinian citizens in Gaza. Despite how Israel is attempting
to portray it, this war is neither limited to nor directed only against
Hamas.

In light of the aforementioned, all are waiting for the results of this
Israeli aggression, hoping it will compensate each party for its loss
and recapture some of the lost bets within the ongoing failure that
shadows American policies in the Middle East and pushes their gambles
to dead-ends.

The great sacrifices of the Palestinian people and the steadfastness of
its resistance, resistance from throughout the entire political
spectrum in Gaza, are the embodiment of all the sacrifices and the
resistance of peoples that stand against the imperialist policies of
the world. They reflect resistance of the oppressed who are paying the
price of the polices of savage capitalism throughout the world, and
suffering the disastrous consequences of these polices.


And from here derives the question from which we cannot escape: what is
the response, the role and duty of all forces and individuals,
institutions, nations and peoples, who believe in freedom and justice
on the global level?



This question highlights the special importance to the role of people
in the Arab world in confronting the complicity of the Arab regimes, in
addition to the crucial task of democratic forces and civil society
institutions in Europe and the United States to sensitize the masses,
and to remove the veil of legitimacy of the wars and acts of aggression
carried out by Israel. The Jewish anti-occupation and anti-Zionist
movements also have crucial work in refusing these acts which are
committed in their name.


Gaza now stands on the front line and is engaged in the battle for
freedom on behalf of all the peoples of the globe. What is happening in
Gaza, in essence, is not simply a confrontation between Israel and the
"terrorists," as so many are trying to portray the situation.  It is
also a confrontation between the strategy and forces of hegemony and
arrogance on the one side, and the forces of resistance and freedom on
the other. In this situation, there exists no room for gray areas;
choices and options are critically determined and not fluid and
elusive.

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