A literally explosive phase in the decades-old Israel-Palestine conflict has been opened with militant group Hamas’ (an acronym for “Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya”) daring raid on Israel from around 28 points on the Gaza-Israel border last Friday. This attack coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, where Israel fought an Arab coalition led by Syria and Egypt.
The scale of the Hamas attack is difficult to comprehend, given Israel’s extensive surveillance of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which is under a 16-year old blockade impose by Israel and Egypt, the only other country bordering Gaza. Israel even has sources within Gaza who provide it with information and intelligence.
Nevertheless, the colossal failure on the part of Israel’s Shin Bet, the domestic security service and Mossad, the famous and much-feared foreign intelligence service to get even inkling on the pre-dawn raid by heavily-armed Hamas fighters, will be a major black mark for Israel. Military and intelligence experts will no doubt be debating about this for years, if not decades, to come. Also astounding is the relative ease with which they infiltrated Israel, killing around 1,000 Israelis and taking around 150 civilians and Israel Defence Forces (IDF) personnel hostage. They have since been apparently taken back to Gaza, although some Hamas fighters are still believed to be inside Israel.
Many people whose loved ones were either killed or taken hostage by Hamas militants lamented the late arrival of IDF personnel to the scenes of carnage, especially a music festival held just 6 Km from the Gaza border. Even Israel’s much-talked-about Iron Dome anti-missile system was foiled by thousands of inexpensive rockets fired by Hamas from inside Gaza. The whole Hamas incursion is an intelligence and military failure on an unprecedented scale for Israel and much worse than many of the previous Palestinian Intifadas (uprisings).
Of course, military analysts wonder whether Hamas had foreign help. Iran, which does not hide its contempt for Israel, is known to support both Hamas and Hezbollah, another militant group operating mainly from Lebanon. While the US and other allies of Israel have so far not established an Iranian hand in the Hamas attack, Iran is said to be wary of attempts being made to establish Israel-Saudi Arabia ties. In fact, Iran and Hamas have opposed the many accords under which Egypt, UAE and several other countries established formal ties with Israel.
Notwithstanding the many legitimate complaints and concerns regarding the harsh treatment of Palestinians by Israel since its founding in 1948 (eloquently described by Leon Uris in his seminal work “Exodus”), Hamas clearly deserves the ‘terrorist’ tag here, as there is clear evidence of the slaughter of innocent civilians by the group, not to mention threats to execute the hostages one by one if Israel fires more rockets and missiles into Gaza. President Ranil Wickremesinghe and many other world leaders have condemned Hamas for these horrendous acts.
But it is equally important for the West and all other countries to hold Israel accountable for countless violations of Palestinian rights over the years including the cold-blooded murder of Palestinian civilians on many occasions. The current administration headed by Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu is the most extreme right wing Government ever seen in Israel, which has been in turmoil for the last several months over Netanyahu’s widely despised Judicial Reform plans which will drastically reduce the powers and independence of the Judiciary. The Israeli Government has also announced further annexations of Palestinian lands in an egregious violation of UN Resolutions. Netanyahu himself is under a police probe for corruption and is trying to reform his tainted image.
A besieged Netanyahu has turned the Hamas attacks into a rallying cry for unity in a fractured and fragile land. He ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, which will cut off the coastal strip’s power supply, food and water and seal all border crossing points, saying Israel was at “war” with Hamas. This has been widely welcomed by ordinary Israelis battered by the Hamas strike, but the human rights implications for innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire deserves some thought. Already, hundreds of Palestinian civilians have perished in Israeli air strikes. There will be more victims especially if the IDF engages in a ground invasion of Gaza.
Although prospects for peace are rather dim at the moment, a two-State solution is the only viable answer to the Israel-Palestine conflict. All Gulf and Arab States must recognise Israel’s right to exist, a stand taken by the Palestine Authority based in the West Bank. Israel, in turn, must recognise the State of Palestine with clearly defined borders and any enclaves. The status of the Holy City of Jerusalem must also be clearly defined.
The US, a staunch ally of Israel (though President Joe Biden has kept his distance from Netanyahu over his expansionist policies) must take the lead in bringing the different factions in the Israel-Palestine theatre to the same table to work out a viable deal and a peace plan. A jittery nuclear-armed Israel, surrounded by volatile enclaves and hostile neighbours is the last thing the world needs at this stage, given the tensions already caused by the Russia-Ukraine War thousands of kilometres away.
