Gaza: A tale of lost opportunity, angry reprisals

ANALYSIS

updated 3:48 p.m. ET July 8, 2006

JERUSALEM - Gaza’s transformation into a battlefield is a tale of lost opportunity and ill-fated visions.

The capture of a young Israeli soldier and Israel’s tough response have threatened Israeli support for withdrawal from the West Bank, exposed rifts among the Islamic militants of Hamas and rendered the Palestinians’ moderate president irrelevant.

Expectations that Palestinians would begin building their own state following Israel’s historic withdrawal from the impoverished Gaza Strip last year have given way to despair and escalating bloodshed.

Israeli troops who had been clashing periodically with militants are back in Gaza fighting pitched battles with masked gunmen firing AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. Undersupplied Palestinian hospitals cancel non-emergency treatment to tend to the wounded. Families are fleeing their homes.

Israel blames what it calls the unfathomable decision by Gaza militants to continue firing rockets into Israel even after the Israeli pullout — rather than begin building their nation.

“You don’t need to be our friends if you don’t want to, but you have your opportunity. Be quiet, invest in your own, promote your own well being,” said Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, a member of the Israeli army’s General Staff.

Losing faith in West Bank withdrawal
More and more Israelis see the aftermath of the Gaza withdrawal — the political rise of Hamas, the rocket attacks, a growing Syrian, Iranian and al-Qaida influence in Gaza — as proof that a similar withdrawal from the West Bank is not feasible.

Palestinian militants say Israel can’t subjugate Gaza for four decades, withdraw and then expect everything to suddenly be normal. They say attacks on the Jewish state are justified because Israelis occupy the West Bank and still control Gaza’s air, sea and borders.

Some Palestinians argue that Israel’s decision to quit Gaza without negotiations undermined moderates and bolstered radicals.

“They made the peace camp in Palestine just irrelevant ... and they gave Hamas the opportunity to claim that the evacuation of Israelis from Gaza is an outcome of their resistance,” said Ghassan Khatib, the Palestinians’ former planning minister.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ failure stop militant attacks or win the release of 19-year-old Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit has underscored his growing marginalization and lack of power.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, considered a relative pragmatist, on Saturday called for a truce with Israel, but did not offer to release the Israeli soldier. Israel quickly rejected the proposal, saying it would not end its offensive unless he were freed.

Shalit was seized June 25 in a cross-border raid by Hamas-linked militants, who have demanded the release of some of the 9,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

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