With Israel's breach of the ceasefire in Gaza, Saleh Al-Naami laments yet another example of Israeli-PA collusion which victimises Hamas
By Saleh
Al-Naami
November 21,
2008 "Al-Ahram"
-- -Hassan
Karim, 34,
has been
making the
rounds of
real estate
offices in
the hope of
finding an
apartment to
rent in the
western part
of Gaza
city. He is
doing all in
his power to
move out of
the Shajaiya
neighbourhood
in the
eastern part
of the city
where he and
his family
currently
live. It has
become too
risky to
stay there
now that the
Israelis
have
reverted to
attacking
border areas
of Gaza
adjacent to
Israel. "It
took a full
year for my
daughters to
recover from
the trauma
they
experienced
from the
quaking of
our house
during the
last wave of
Israeli
bombardments,"
he told Al-Ahram
Weekly,
adding that
one of his
daughters
feared that
if they
remained
where they
lived under
those
conditions
she would
suffer a
nervous
breakdown.
The staff in
the real
estate
office said
that
hundreds of
people
living in
the eastern
part of the
city have
been making
inquiries
into the
availability
of
apartments
in the
western
districts,
which are
regarded as
somewhat
safer. The
rise in
cross-border
assaults by
Israeli
death squads
targeting
Palestinian
militants
guarding the
roads
leading to
residential
quarters has
triggered
growing
alarm among
people in
Gaza. An
eerie
suspense
prevails as
pilotless
Israeli
reconnaissance
planes
constantly
patrol the
skies,
relaying
back to IDF
headquarters
images of
the damage
caused by
the strikes
and
gathering
intelligence
on the
movements of
Palestinian
resistance
forces.
The
Palestinian
factions
have
condemned
the sudden
resurgence
of military
activity
after more
than four
months of
almost total
calm along
the
Gaza-Israeli
border. In
response to
what they
claim as an
Israeli
breach of
the
ceasefire,
they have
resumed
missile
bombardments
of the
Jewish
settlements
on the other
side of the
border.
According to
Yediot
Aharonot,
one missile
struck what
the
newspaper
described as
a highly
sensitive
security
installation
causing
major
damage.
Israeli
officials
claim that
the purpose
of the
latest
military
operations
in Gaza is
to prevent
Hamas from
conducting
kidnapping
operations
across the
border using
tunnels dug
by Hamas
operatives.
Tsvi Barel
believes
that this
was only a
pretext for
launching a
military
offensive
aimed at
accomplishing
other
objectives.
In an
analysis
appearing on
the Haaretz
Hebrew
website on
Sunday, the
Israeli
writer and
journalist
argues that
Israel
deliberately
broke the
ceasefire in
order to
keep Hamas
from
bringing the
ceasefire to
the West
Bank.
The historic
ceasefire
obliges
Israel to
suspend its
campaign of
raids and
detentions
against
Palestinians
in those
occupied
territories.
It had been
scheduled to
end in about
a month,
after which
it was to
have been
renewed by
agreement to
include the
West Bank.
Israel was
keen to
forestall
this
development
at all
costs, Barel
wrote.
Palestinians
would see
Hamas,
instead of
the PA
president,
as the
agency
capable of
halting
Israeli
aggression
and
effectively
fusing the
West Bank
and Gaza
back
together
again. This
would
constitute
an enormous
political
victory for
Hamas and
debilitating
blow to PA
President
Mahmoud
Abbas's
credibility.
People would
ask more
loudly why
Abbas's term
should be
extended
when his
political
approach did
nothing to
restore the
Palestinians'
sense of
security
whereas
Hamas's did.
Israel has
absolutely
no intention
of allowing
Hamas to
gain a
foothold in
the West
Bank, Barel
stressed,
which is why
it decided
to breach
the
ceasefire.
The true
purpose was
to extricate
Abu Mazen
from his
current
predicament
and bolster
his
deteriorating
position.
Barel
writes, "the
question is
whether the
Israeli army
is more
prepared to
invade the
Gaza Strip
today than
it was last
year. If the
answer to
this is yes,
then another
question
comes to
mind: might
a major
operation in
Gaza at this
time appear
more like an
electoral
gambit than
a practical
step to put
an end to
Palestinian
terrorism?
Won't it
seem that
Israel is
taking
advantage of
the period
of the
handover of
power in the
US to impose
new
realities on
the ground?
And there is
another
disturbing
question: is
the IDF now
prepared to
create a
situation
that will
endanger the
possibility
of the
release of
the
long-forgotten
[sic] Gilad
Shalit?"
Israeli
officials
appear to be
gearing up
domestic and
world
opinion for
an
intensification
of military
operations
in Gaza.
Prime
Minister
Ehud Olmert
announced
that he has
instructed
security
officials to
prepare a
plan for
ending Hamas
rule in
Gaza. Deputy
Prime
Minister and
Minister of
Communications
General
Shaul Mofaz
has called
for the
immediate
elimination
of the Hamas
leadership,
urging the
return to
targeted
assassinations,
a policy
Israel
practised
when he was
military
chief-of-staff
and minister
of defence.
In Mofaz's
opinion,
Israel made
a huge
mistake when
it entered
into
indirect
talks with
Hamas. At
the same
time, he
feels that
economic
pressures
and
collective
sanctions
against the
Palestinians
have not
proven
effective
and that
this policy
towards Gaza
has to be
subjected to
a complete
review.
Minister of
Industry and
Trade Eli
Yashay was
even more
hawkish.
"Anyone who
thinks that
a truce is
the right
direction is
burying his
head in the
sand. The
only thing
the
ceasefire
accomplished
was to help
Hamas arm
itself and
get more
powerful."
Yashay, who
is also the
leader of
the ultra-
conservative
Shas Party,
further
holds that
Israel
should cut
off all
water and
electricity
to Gaza as
long as
missiles are
being fired
from there
into Israel.
It should be
simultaneously
borne in
mind that
much of this
vehemence is
posturing
for the
upcoming
elections in
Israel. Most
of the
officials
who
criticise
the truce
with Hamas
are
political
opponents of
Minister of
Defence Ehud
Barak, whom
they accuse
of feeding
the "erosion
of the
Israeli
deterrent
power
against
Hamas".
Meanwhile,
Hamas leader
Ayman Taha
charges that
Israel has
"overstepped
all red
lines" with
these
operations
which he
believes are
"trial
balloons
meant to
gauge the
readiness
and ability
of the
resistance
to
retaliate".
He also
suspects
that they
are a bid on
the part of
the ruling
Kadima
Party, whose
credibility
was severely
damaged by
the last
defeat in
Lebanon, to
prove its
security
credentials
to the
Israeli
electorate
in advance
of the
parliamentary
elections.
At the same
time, he
vowed that
if Israel is
determined
to end the
truce
completely,
"we will not
be sorry and
we will
engage it in
a new and
honourable
battle."
In an
interview
with the
Weekly, Taha
said that
Hamas never
pledged that
it would
maintain its
halt to
missile fire
in the event
of renewed
Israeli
aggression
against
Gaza.
Responding
to an
article in
Yediot
Aharonot
which
claimed that
Egypt had
informed
Israel that
Hamas would
abide by its
pledge not
to fire
missiles, he
said that
his movement
promised
only one
thing, which
was "to
retaliate
powerfully
against any
Israeli
assault or
aggression
against our
people".
"It is
Israel that
breached the
truce and
its ongoing
aggression
against Gaza
belies its
claim that
it is
committed to
the truce
and intent
on
sustaining
it," he said
with
passion.
"The
occupation
destroyed
the
ceasefire.
It did not
abide by a
single
article of
the truce.
Therefore,
it is our
right and
the right of
all the
resistance
factions to
respond with
all possible
force in
order to
protect our
people and
our
Palestinian
land. No
Israeli
soldier or
settler on
this land
should have
the right to
safety and
security as
long as our
people are
being
subjected to
aggression
and siege.
They should
be made to
live among
their own
crippled and
wounded so
as to
experience
what the
people of
Gaza feel."
Israel
continues to
keep the
border
crossings
for
commercial
goods
closed, and
the blockade
remains
tight. The
fuel needed
to operate
the sole
power plant
has run out
and
essential
goods and
necessities
are nearly
depleted.
According to
Palestinian
National
Economy
Minister
Ziad Al-Zaza,
essential
foodstuffs
will run out
in a matter
of days.
Gaza does
not have
strategic
reserves of
food and
vital
materials.
In a
statement to
the Weekly,
Al-Zaza
warned that
Gaza is on
the verge of
a major
humanitarian
crisis due
to the
depletion of
fuel used
for cooking
and other
types of
fuel and
combustibles.
He appealed
to Egypt to
break the
blockade and
allow
essential
goods to
pass through
the Rafah
crossing,
and to Arab
countries to
support the
call to
reopen the
Rafah
crossing,
which was
one of the
points of
the truce
that had not
been
honoured.
According to
UN sources,
it would
take some
900
truckloads
per week --
150
truckloads a
day -- of
food and
other
essentials
to meet the
minimal
primary
needs of the
Palestinians
in Gaza,
where around
three-quarters
of the
inhabitants
are without
the
electricity
and the fuel
needed to
operate
refrigerators
and cooking
equipment.
The complete
closure that
Israel has
imposed on
Gaza has
also led to
a severe
shortage in
medicines.
The human
rights
organisation,
Addameer
(Conscience),
has warned
that the
lives of
dozens of
patients in
intensive
care units
in Gaza and
other
patients who
require
oxygen tanks
are at
serious
risk.
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