Up to 300 hundred dead. BBC Television pictures showing Israeli bombardments of Gaza. The Islamist lobby out in full force. President Ahmanidejad (Hamas’s financier), hosted by Channel 4. It’s not really too difficult to get worked up about Israel’s actions. So easy to point the blame. Much harder to separate truth from fiction – especially when the truth is often under reported - if reported at all.
Let’s go back to 2005, when Israel withdrew – unilaterally – from Gaza. This action was designed to herald future withdrawals by Israel from much of the rest of the administered territories around the West Bank.
At the time, Israel was praised by many governments in the West for a bold and decisive action. To jump start the economy in Gaza, millions of dollars were spent on agriculture and the building of green-houses by the World Bank – all of which were smashed up by Palestinian Terrorists - as Israel departed. Other financial aid – again in the millions of dollars - designed for schools and children, were used by the extremists to promote hate education, and virulently anti-Semitic literature.
Instead of building a peaceful and viable Gaza, Hamas mounted an armed coup d’état against President Abbas’s Fatah movement (which included throwing leading ‘Fatah’ Palestinians off the rooftops). Aided and abetted by Iran, Hamas gradually began the ‘Talibanisation’ of Gaza (in marked contrast to the more secular West Bank, still run by Mahmoud Abbas). Not for nothing has Gaza become known as ‘Hamastan’.
As the Islamists took control , Hamas and Islamic Jihad, used the hilltops of Gaza to launch daily missiles against Israeli towns and civilians. Hamas also kidnapped Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit and has held him in solitary confinement since 2006, not even allowing Red Cross access. Networks of tunnels were built into Egypt, allowing Hamas to smuggle in weapons into Gaza
Apart from the recent ceasefire (ended by Hamas on 19 December),
barely a day went by over the past few years, in which missiles were
not fired onto Israeli territory. In the Israeli town of Sderot, 92%
of residents experienced a missile landing in their street. As the
months and years have gone on, the missiles have moved from being
‘home-made’ affairs, to ones built by Iranians with longer ranges and
more deadly warheads. Over 5,000 missiles have been fired since the
Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. From the end of the ceasefire on 19
December, Hamas launched a sustained barrage of missile attacks, with
missiles reaching far into Israeli territory, hitting towns like
Ashkelon and Ashdod. As President Mahmoud Abbas stated:
"I say in all honesty, we made contact with leaders of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. We spoke with them in all honesty and directly, and after that we spoke with them indirectly, through more than one Arab and non-Arab side... We spoke with them on the telephone and we said to them: We ask of you, don't stop the ceasefire, the ceasefire must continue and not stop, in order to avoid what has happened, and if only we had avoided it." (PA TV Dec. 28, 2008)
And yet despite this desperate situation, Israel is still blamed for her apparent refusal to allow aid into Gaza. But even before the cease fire breach, Israel was providing around 4,000 trucks of aid into Gaza and medically treating over 9,000 Gazans in Israel itself. Hamas, by contrast, has blown up crossings meant for aid and has used some aid trucks in which to bring in explosives. It was only a few weeks ago that sacks designated as EU flour were found to be full of explosive materials designed for Gaza.
If there is a truth about this conflict, it is that peace will be virtually impossible, whilst Hamas control Gaza. For those fond of IRA Analogies, Hamas is more INLA to IRA/Sinn Fein. Hamas remain an Iranian proxy, with one aim: to destroy Israel as a frontline against extreme Islamism. Just as Hamas wiped out their more secular Palestinians in Gaza, so their aim is to wrest control of the West Bank from President Abbas. And if that happens, there won’t just be missiles attacks on Israeli territory on a daily basis, but missiles fired on to passing planes landing at Ben Gurion Aiport. And these planes won’t just be El AL, but British Airways and American Airlines too.
In this conflict, Israel should be understood a little more and condemned a little less. It is not just about defending herself from terrorism and constant missile attacks– which every state has the right to do. If she destroys the Hamas terrorist network in Gaza, it will not only weaken the expansionist ambitions of Iran, but it will also allow more moderate Palestinians to take charge. If that happens, the chances of negotiating a just and peaceful settlement will be much greater. Of course it is tragic that in a battle against terrorism, lives are lost. Innocent Palestinians have suffered greatly and have been used and abused by Hamas time and time again.
But how much greater will that tragedy be, if we allow Iran/Hamas to halt the peace process, attempt to destroy a free and democratic country and give extreme Islamism a boost across the whole of the Middle East? Hamas’s days of terror must be brought to an end.
