The tens of thousands of Palestinians who burst
out of Gaza into Egypt this week in search of food,
fuel and medicine have temporarily broken the siege
that had tightened like a noose around this teeming
territory ever since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip
last June.
Like the lid coming off a pressure cooker,
the blown-up border fence has avoided a bigger
explosion – for now. But Gaza’s humanitarian
disaster and conflict shows every sign it could
escalate into war if it is not brought under
control.
That would put paid to any chance current
efforts to resurrect peace negotiations
might succeed.
The breach in the Rafah crossing may well
be the work of Hamas, the Islamist party that
now controls Gaza, to dramatise the plight of
the population and put pressure on Egypt to
intercede with Israel and the US.
It follows Israel’s tightening of the
blockade, in response to the continuing
barrage of primitive rockets aimed at the
Negev town of Sderot from north-west Gaza.
Last weekend Gaza’s power went off after
Israel suspended fuel supplies.
This siege is not only wrong;
it is almost wholly counterproductive.
First, Israel’s tactic of “collective punishment”
is illegal. Targeting a civilian population
is prohibited by international law: there is
no debate to be had about it.
Second, however, two decades of using this
tactic, in the occupied ter- ritories and
in Lebanon, should have taught Israel that
it does not work. It actually strengthens
organisations such as Hamas and Hizbollah.
Indeed, this siege is visibly increasing
Gazans’ dependence on Hamas as the only
source of the means of subsistence.
It is time that Israel, its Arab neighbours
such as Jordan and Egypt, the US and the Fatah
nationalists they are all backing against
Hamas rethought their position.
Their attempt to isolate and topple Hamas after
its 2006 election victory – which included
arming Fatah warlords in Gaza – has failed.
Arab and international mediators should
immediately seek an armistice from Hamas
and an end to the Gaza blockade from Israel.
They should then seek to revive the year-old
Hamas and Fatah unity agreement and set up a
joint caretaker government prior to eventual
new elections. The Islamists should be brought
into talks – on condition they are ready to
work for a Palestinian state on the West Bank
and Gaza with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Only when that is achieved should Hamas, and
all Arab countries, be required to recognise
Israel – an Israel with fixed borders, not
the moving frontiers it keeps pushing into
occupied Palestinian land.
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