Re-Occupation of Gaza - Not an Answer for Israel

While the hoped for international pressure campaign on the Hamas appears to have not produced results under Bush, the chance for a new administration to give it a try has been scuttled by Israel.

I don't know what they think they will achieve.

Re-occupation is no answer.

Fatah back "in charge"? Is that our next, best hope? Else, "crush Hamas"? Is that even 'doable', except in Netanyahu's fiendishly military fantasy-world?

Anyway, re-occupation of Gaza does represent the worst of Bush-Rice lack of vision, even if they are only partly responsible. The right-wing ideology of an inexperienced leader is not enough either to solve problems or rightly exercise U.S. power, is it?

Meanwhile, Tony Blair has (naturally?) misread the destabilizing impact that progress has on the Israeli public. What else could explain the sudden actions? The political interregnum in the U.S.? The upcoming election ... uh, Israeli election?

From December 3, 2008, even, from Tony Blair:

The Annapolis process and the limited but, nonetheless, real change on the West Bank during the past year - for which the President and Secretary Rice deserve much credit - have yielded a genuine platform for the future.

Still, because of the far-ranging, strategic steps taken by Sharon to dis-engage, it is near impossible to find any sympathy for Hamas, outside of the menace Nasrallah:

"Palestinian officials who do not want peace and seek empty heroism did not take Egypt's warnings seriously," says the article. "The day of the Israeli foreign minister's visit to Egypt, the militants sabotaged mediation efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement by firing 60 rockets at Israel."

"Militants"? So, we haven't gotten farther than ... terrorists with 'veto power', yet?

more...the historical importance of 'ground reality' to creating peace - or conditions for it - is probably hotly disputed, even if it seems logical:

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Fourth, we need a new strategy for Gaza. The tadiya or calm was the right thing to do. It should be maintained. But it isn’t an answer. The people of Gaza continue to suffer grievously. The people of Sderot continue to live in fear. The smuggling through the tunnels - as I heard last week from Gazan businesses - puts the legitimate economy at risk. The military grip of Hamas tightens. We have to show to the people of Gaza how another choice can exist, so they can re-join some state of normality, and that we will work to bring such a situation about, so that the suffering can end. I have little doubt that people would take such a choice, especially if on the West Bank they saw tangible change and improvement.

But one thing is for sure: we cannot maintain the status quo there another year. It won’t work. The terms of Palestinian unity should also be set, by the international community and by the Arab world - terms that are fair to the Palestinian people but are consistent with the two State solution. There can only be one Palestinian state. It will combine Gaza and the West Bank. However much we are tempted to set Gaza to one side - because of the chaos it causes to Palestinian cohesion - it cannot be. But neither is its predicament inevitable. It can and must be reversed.

In all these areas, there is no need - indeed it would be an error - to start from square one.

What is required, rather, is an enhanced order of dedication to build the reality on the ground which, according to the thesis I have outlined today, is the necessary condition for a successful political negotiation, ensuring the two dimensions are intertwined, each as important as the other, each on its own much less than the sum of both together.

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