Make no mistake about the happiness being shown in the streets of Gaza. The residents of the Gaza Strip are not celebrating because it was forced on them by Hamas but were rather expressing relief that the nightmare in now over. This relief will evaporate soon enough, if the two sides do not take advantage of the opportunity that has opened up for them.
Israel is licking its wounds and digging about to find someone to blame but it would be better off thinking about an impetus: an elusive formula that can rescue the two sides from a tangled, bleeding situation and move towards a status-quo of normality.
Striving towards a permanent solution for Gaza requires Israel to think about the big picture. That means setting itself a detailed and comprehensive vision that will include profound thinking about civilian rather than military issues. To date Israel has perceived Gaza mainly as a security threat and from this point of view it has conducted its policy and military decision making. The needs of the Gaza Strip residents, its impact on leadership and the potential it contains for Israel are all in the hands of a military unit, the government coordinator of the territories. This unit works with all the means at its disposal, which is the for the most part tactical.
Israel has never formulated a comprehensive, long-term, practical approach regarding a real solution for the Gaza Strip. For every problem that arises, it has a military solution. Even civilian issues are in the hands of the IDF, which mainly deals with them as a nuisance. Israel bears no responsibility for what happens in the Gaza Strip even though Hamas was founded under its control. It never concerned itself with the welfare of Gaza's residents but drove a wedge between itself and Hamas and saw residents as a bother in its efforts to exhaust the enemy.
So far Israel has only used sticks against Hamas. Using military power is very tempting because the finest technology and force belongs to the IDF and is available for operations. But it has misled Israel. Using force creates a sense of short term achievement, but it humiliates Hamas, pushes it into a corner and requires revenge. For Hamas just as for Israel, violence is not an aim but a means - to achieve quiet and consolidate stability.
The end of the campaign leaves Jerusalem with new cards. If it knows how to play them right it may profit Israel's citizens. If not then it may sentence Gazans to a series of painful experiences in the future. Hamas is hurt militarily and morally. The Gaza Strip is on the verge of a humanitarian tragedy and is desperate for a savior. The Arab states in the region led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia support Israel and are prepared to back a permanent solution. Even the Qataris if they integrate themselves sensibly into a rehabilitation project might play a vital role. For the first time the Hamas leadership has reached an understanding that Gaza needs a long term solution for its future and they are saying so publicly.
The person who has taught them this lesson is Abu Mazen who has succeeded through peaceful ways in the West Bank of reaching more achievements for the Palestinian national movement: stability, international recognition and cooperation with Israel. "Through violence," Abu Mazen says, "we are losing to them but with diplomacy we can win."
Abu Mazen is also an important card that Netanyahu holds. He is the only one who understands all the players in the arena that has all doors open to him, and can sew together the pieces. Even the Egyptians don't enjoy such privileges because of their frosty relations with Hamas. The "Rais" will be a key figure in any talks for arrangements which might begin in several weeks in Cairo. Who remembers that only two months ago, in the immediate aftermath of the kidnapping of three youths in Gush Etzion, and even before that, Netanyahu demanded that he break up his reconciliation with Hamas.
But from the moment Gaza began being destroyed, Abbas was denied moral permission to divorce Hamas. Israel and Hamas too very much need a mediator like him as proven over the past week. However, the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip will take years and it's not certain that Abu Mazen will be around for much longer. He is a man in his 80s, a heavy smoker, with heavy political pressures.
The author is the Arab affairs correspondent for Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzahal).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 27, 2014
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