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Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of , Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
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By Dr. Aaron Lerner
August 15, 2008
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If Israeli forces did go into Gaza, "afterward we would have to achieve a truce, and we would have to deal with the same parties as before."
Even if Israeli forces stay there two years and destroy the Hamas regime down to the last office and the last activist, in the aftermath [Israel] is controlling another people against their will, and the Palestinian people, when they compare the two, will choose Hamas ... and not those who talk peace," he said, referring to the moderate Fatah, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak in an interview with Channel 10 TV 10 August, 2008
That's "talk peace" -- not "make peace". And Barak believes that if Israel destroys Hamas, the Palestinian street will choose Hamas over Fatah. Does he think that the Palestinian street will choose Fatah over Hamas if Israel allows Hamas to continue and grow stronger?
Question: What does Mr. Barak think should be the primary objective of the Government of Israel (hint: he is minister of "defense")? Ehud Barak apparently thinks that the primary objective of the Government of Israel is to get the Palestinian public to support Fatah.
And while he himself demonstrated in his failed negotiations with Arafat that it is hardly a foregone conclusion that even a deal that includes reckless Israeli concessions will satisfy the Palestinians, it would also appear that he accepts the assertion that a necessary condition of any Israeli strategy/plan is that it ultimately leads to the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state come-what-may.
But is it indeed reasonable to insist that a necessary condition of any Israeli strategy/plan is that it ultimately leads to the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state come-what-may?
A sovereign Palestinian state is at best a "means" rather than an "end" for Israel.
Israel has goals: survival, development, Olmert's goal that Israel be "a fun place to live in", etc. Some may think that a sovereign Palestinian state would help Israeli attain these goals, but it isn't itself a goal.
Back to the Gaza Strip.
Barak argues that it doesn't matter how strong Hamas gets now as a result of their exploitation of the ceasefire because (thanks to the smuggling that has taken place since Israel's retreat from Gaza) "Everyone knows that when the truce was declared, there were already hundreds of Grad missiles there."
Again - that's Defense Minister Ehud Barak. A man boasting a military career.
Saying with a straight face that there is no difference between Hamas having hundreds of missiles that can reach as far as Ashkelon and Hamas having thousands that can reach Ashkelon and hundreds that can reach Ashdod and beyond. Not to mention an army that has been able to exploit the ceasefire to openly engage in large scale training exercises, build fortifications, underground launching position, dig tunnels, extensively plant mines and otherwise transform the Gaza Strip into a giant killing field against Israeli troops.
By the way -- does the fact that Hamas already has "hundreds of Grad missiles" in the Gaza Strip weigh in as an argument that Israel should wake up and do something already, or, as Defense Minister Barak seems to contend -- as an argument for Israel to ignore the growing missile threat altogether and leave it up to Arabs to pick the time and place to unleash them against the Jewish State?
What is really going on?
Is this really what Mr. Barak thinks or is he simply jockeying for a position on the Left end of the Israeli political spectrum in anticipation of elections?
One thing is clear: Mr. Barak has sent a message to the world that the ongoing smuggling into Gaza and strengthening of the Hamas army isn't really a big deal as far as Israel's Minister of Defense is concerned.
And if Defense Minister Barak doesn't give a damn -- why should the world?
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