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Israel is killing Gazans and endangering its own citizens

If there was any remaining doubt, on Monday Israel made clear that it does not want a peaceful settlement to its war on Gaza, launching an air strike on Hamas officials in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

Five members of the group and a Qatari official were killed, but the attack does not appear to have gone as planned. The group’s top leadership, including its exiled Gaza leader and chief ceasefire negotiator, who was reportedly the intended target, survived.

Regardless, the impact has been massive. The White House has attempted to distance itself from the strike – even appearing somewhat critical of Israel – but Donald Trump’s suggestion that he was not involved in the decision to launch it is risible. The US has an advanced air defence warning system staffed by its own personnel in Israel and other tracking systems in Jordan, while Qatar houses the US’s largest Air Force base in the Middle East.

In Israel’s view, any efforts at peace talks are just getting in the way of its plans to destroy Hamas and force Gaza’s remaining Palestinians into a small ‘humanitarian zone’ conveniently close to the Egyptian border. This position is not new. On targeted assassinations aiming to wreck peace deals and ensure it gets its own way, Israel has form stretching back decades.

FOLLOWING THE FLOTILLA

 

openDemocracy stands with the Global Sumud Flotilla as it sails to Gaza carrying vital medical and food supplies. Two of its boats, including the British-flagged Alma, were reportedly struck by a drone at Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said port.

 

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In September 1948, the UN was attempting to bring Israel’s war of independence to an end. Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte, an experienced mediator, was seeking an agreement for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, who were being displaced in what later became known as the Nakba or catastrophe, to return to their homes.

The Israeli leadership, though, wanted as few Palestinians as possible in the new Jewish state and felt Bernadotte’s efforts were not in its interest. On 17 September 1948, the Lehi paramilitary militant group, known officially as the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, assassinated Bernadotte, along with a French UN-appointed observer, Andre Seraut.

Israel got what it wanted. The Nakba continued. Indeed, most present-day Gazans are descended from people forced to flee and are now themselves being forced out.

As to what is happening now, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has this week brought down four of the highest tower blocks in what remains of Gaza City, as well as dozens of other smaller towers, all of which Israel claimed – without evidence – were being used by Hamas.

As of early Tuesday, the Gaza health ministry reported receiving the bodies of 65 people killed in the previous 24 hours, while a further 430 had been wounded. Those dead included five people who had starved to death.

Celebrating the fall of what he called “terror towers”, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned: “Now, all of this is only the introduction, only the beginning of the main intensive operation – the ground incursion of our forces.

 

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“Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to say to the residents of Gaza, listen to me carefully: You have been warned: get out of there!”

It seems Israel intends the daily death toll to rise, the destruction to mount and the famine to worsen. Yet despite being under heavy pressure, Hamas is still there. It has survived 23 months of intense attack by one of the world’s most powerful militaries equipped with some of the most advanced weapons.

Israel believes that the only way to attempt to defeat the group is by destroying all of Gaza, whatever the cost to the Palestinians. But still, it will not achieve security.

In fact, what is well-nigh certain is that Israel will remain insecure until enough Israelis come to realise that ‘hard security’ will not work. It will only ensure the radicalisation of tens of thousands more young Palestinians from Gaza who are rightly embittered at what is being done to them and their families and friends. They, and many more Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem who are being subjected to violence by settlers, police and the IDF, will be determined to respond.

In the meantime, Israel is progressively destroying its own reputation and is now seen as a rogue state right across the world. There are even some Western governments, such as Spain and Belgium, prepared to respond with economic and other sanctions, while public support for a much-strengthened BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions) is growing.

As the Netanyahu government works to clear Gaza of its people and replace them with settlers, there will be relentless coverage of the human impact of the whole process. More people within Israel will see that the main threat to their common security is not Hamas but Netanyahu and those like him. The sooner that happens, the sooner the conflict might end.

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