[News] On War and Gaza's Will to Resist

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  ON WAR AND GAZA'S WILL TO RESIST

Undoubtedly, operation Protective Edge has failed to weaken Palestinian 
resistance against unjustifiable sanctions and violence posed upon Gaza. 
On the contrary, Israel's cruel treatment on Palestinians have further 
raised an anti-Israel stance throughout the world

  * Dr. Hatem Bazian
  * Updated : 04.09.2014 01:26:46
  * *http://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/2014/09/04/on-war-and-gazas-will-to-resist*

Carl von Clausewitz, in his enormously influential work, "On War," 
articulated two principle standards to measure success in confronting an 
enemy in a campaign: the military force must be destroyed, and likewise, 
the will to resist must be crushed.

We are certain that Israel and the Zionist Movement for the past 68 
years - if not longer - has identified the Palestinian people, both 
individuals and groups, as an enemy, and waged many wars to destroy its 
limited force while seeking to crush its will to resist. From the Nakba 
massacres in 1948 and the 1967 War, to the massive assaults on Lebanon, 
numerous assassinations and Rabin's policy of "force, might and 
beatings," Israel has spared no tool or stratagem in pursuit of a 
mirage: crushing the Palestinians will to resist.

No one can argue that Israel's military hardware, start-of-the-art 
armaments and power are far superior to that of the Palestinians in the 
past and present. One has to consider that the U.S. and European powers 
provide Israel everything it needs regarding military hardware, 
training, funding and technology as well as commitment to maintaining 
Israel's "qualitative edge" over the combined Arab and Muslim forces. 
Israel's aptitude in destruction and spilling innocent blood is 
undisputed, and would receive a "World Cup" if this was the measure for 
victory in Gaza. "Blood is not an argument" nor a military strategy, 
however, but this has eluded the Israeli leadership.

After the announcement of a long-term cease-fire agreement on Aug. 25, 
2014, the door has opened for a clearer strategic assessment after 
Israel's disproportionate destructive campaign and endless slaughter of 
the Palestinians in Gaza. What did Israel accomplish, though? Where does 
the Palestinian will to resist stand today after 68 years of continued 
attempts at crushing it by every military means available and with a 
most formidable regional and global alliance serving Israel's needs?

Sound strategic analysis points to Israel's complete and total failure 
in achieving any measured success in the two most critical goals 
mentioned above. Furthermore, the fact that Israel entered into this war 
on Gaza assuming all the initiative and strategic math was totally in 
its favor illustrates the gravity of their defeat.

Murdering 503 babies and children, 302 women, old men, ambulance and 
health workers, kids playing soccer on the beach or at U.N. facilities, 
17 journalists, bombing homes, hospitals, schools of all types, mosques, 
the electricity generation station, water treatment plants, camels and 
zoo animals, and residential towers are not indicative of victory or 
gallantry. The major questions according to Clausewitz would be: did 
Israel manage to destroy the Palestinian forces in Gaza and was their 
will to resist crushed?

Israel's decision to attack Gaza was based on a profound miscalculation 
and self-constructed assumptions not connected to Palestinian realities. 
The chaos in the Arab and Muslim worlds was extrapolated into a number 
of wrong assumptions about the war outcomes and a conclusion drawn based 
on it, but was not connected to actual Palestinian internal strength and 
preparedness inside Gaza. In addition, a self-constructed view about the 
weakness of the resistance and their inability to withstand an attack - 
since all the political cards in Israel's hands - was mistaken, not to 
mention support from key Arab allies was nonexistent.

The alliance with Egypt, the Palestinian Authority (PA), Saudi Arabia, 
the United Arab Emirates and Jordan was wrongly translated into the 
magic bullet that will force Gaza to surrender in a few days, and accept 
a cease-fire followed by the reintroduction of the PA structure in Gaza.

Even though the unity agreement between Hamas and Fatah put forth a 
transition plan, it did not involve disarming or neutralizing the 
resistance; thus, the attack was intended to crush and weaken the 
resistance before the next implementation stage of the unity government.

For sure, Gaza's government was (and still is) under extreme financial 
stress, and the unity agreement was reached to facilitate employees' 
salary payments and the easing of the economic crisis brought about by 
the intensification of the siege.

In addition, regional changes after Egypt's military coup and Syria's 
civil war impacted Hamas considerably, and weakened its economic and 
political standing.

Israel started the war at the weakest stage in local, regional and 
global support for the Palestinians in general and Hamas in particular. 
A hunter moving for the easy kill was the Israeli leadership's strategic 
view after Gaza's population was "put on a diet" for seven years, 
including total air, land and sea sieges, crippling land and sea 
blockades, pummeled twice by military campaigns in 2008/2009 and 2012.

A strategic shift occurred in the course of the war, however, and the 
hunter lost all advantages. In turn, Israel went on the run, seeking 
Egyptian and U.S. help for an early exit strategy: the initial Egyptian 
proposal.

Simply put, Israel faced an emboldened, well-trained and 
strategically-savvy Palestinian force, the likes of which Israel had 
never seen before in Gaza.

Ending rocket fire from Gaza was Israel's early expressed goal in the 
war, but shifted to finding and destroying the tunnels - whose presence 
and sophistication were a total surprise - and caused the land invasion. 
In addition, the rockets never stopped; rather, they demonstrated 
greater distance and accuracy, coupled with a most daring development of 
locally-manufactured drones and sniper rifles that forced a strategic 
balance despite the disparity of military hardware at Israel's disposal.

What is clear from a strategic perspective is that Israel's military 
operational freedom in Gaza came to an end with this campaign.Another 
more critical assessment will become clearer in the months and years to 
come, which has to do with the total collapse of Israel's global 
perception and standing. This collapse is seemingly irreversible, and 
global public opinion has shifted so decisively during the duration of 
the war on Gaza that it will not be possible to change it.

Indeed, Israel will spend hundreds of millions to prop-up the Hasbara 
networks, undertake massive lobby efforts to prevent criminal 
prosecution of its leaders and campaign to defame pro-Palestine 
supporters. However, Israel fails to recognize what has taken place: war 
crimes and criminal actions that were witnessed and internalized at 
every moment by both a local and global audience. The war's effects 
across the world can be seen in the reemergence of a stronger and 
creative progressive movement, which is making "Boycott, Disinvestment, 
Sanctions (BDS)" campaigns a focal point across the globe, and linking 
the local struggles to that of Gaza and Palestine.

Gaza's steadfastness, once coupled with the total arrogance of power 
exhibited by Israeli leaders, made a historical epistemic shift in world 
public opinion, and Israel's unrestrained violence including 
intentionally targeting children and civilians is the primary cause for 
this strategic swing. The Israeli leadership will draw a number of 
conclusions.

One possibility is the realization that a real end to the occupation, 
settlements and the dehumanization of Palestinians is no longer tenable 
and change must be swiftly undertaken.

However, knowing the right wing coalition, personalities and parties at 
the helm of the Israeli Apartheid state, the most likely conclusion will 
be that not enough force was used or problems persisted during the 
planning; Thus, next time, more force is needed as well as a campaign of 
assassination and machination against the Palestinians. If this is the 
Israeli conclusion - and I believe it will be -then Israel is back to 
square one in its attempt to shoot its way out of a serious political 
problem. Certainly, killing more Palestinians is not a solution, and if 
it is pursued, then the future results will not go according to Israel's 
right wing strategic dreams or liking because of increasing global 
frustration with Israel's crimes and catastrophic actions. /
/
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