Al Jazeera English - War on Gaza - Israel's fait accompli in Gaza

Eric Margolis

Gaza is one of the world's most densely populated places [GALLO/GETTY] There are two completely different versions of what is currently happening in Gaza. In the Israeli and North American press version, Hamas - 'Islamic terrorists' backed by Iran - have in an unprovoked attack fired deadly rockets on innocent Israel with the intent of destroying the Jewish state. ................ The firing of the feeble, home-made al-Qassam rockets by Palestinians is both useless and counter-productive. It damages their image as an oppressed people and gives right-wing Israeli extremists a perfect reason to launch more attacks on the Arabs and refuse to discuss peace. ......................... Seventy per cent of Palestinian children suffer from psychological trauma [GALLO/GETTY] While firing rockets at civilians is a crime so, too, is the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which is an egregious violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. According to the UN, most of Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinian refugees subsist near the edge of hunger. Seventy per cent of Palestinian children in Gaza suffer from severe malnutrition and psychological trauma. Medical facilities are critically short of doctors, personnel, equipment, and drugs. Gaza has quite literally become a human garbage dump for all the Arabs that Israel does not want. ......................... Call it a prison riot, writ large. ............... Israel's elections are only six weeks away, and Likud was leading until the air raids on Gaza began. Kadima and Labour are now up in the polls. .................. A fait accompli IN DEPT Latest news and analysis from Gaza and Israel Send us your views and videos Watch our coverage of the war on Gaza The Israeli offensive into Gaza now looks likely to short-circuit any plans Obama might have had to press Israel into withdrawing to its pre-1967 borders and sharing Jerusalem. This has pleased Israel's supporters in North America who have been cheering the war in Gaza and have been backing away from their earlier tentative support for a land-for-peace deal. As he concludes forming his cabinet, his Middle East team looks like it may be top-heavy with friends of Israel's Labour party. ................... Arab deal killed Israel's Gaza offensive is also likely to torpedo the current Saudi-sponsored peace plan, which had been backed by all members of the Arab League. The plan, now likely defunct, had called for Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders and share Jerusalem in exchange for full recognition and normalised relations with the Muslim world. Arab governments will now be unable to sell the deal as they face a storm of criticism from their own people over their powerlessness to help the Palestinians of Gaza. ................. Israel's security establishment is committed to preventing the creation of a viable Palestinian state, and refuses to negotiate with Hamas. Unable to kill all of Hamas' men, Israel is slowly destroying Gaza's infrastructure around them, as it did to Yasser Arafat's PLO. ............ Though the torment of Gaza is seen across the horrified Muslim world as a modern version of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising by Jews against the Nazis during World War Two, Western governments still appear bent on taking no action. ........................... Hamas refuses to recognise Israel as long as Israel refuses to recognise Hamas and the rights of millions of homeless Palestinian refugees. .................. Eric S. Margolis is an author, syndicated foreign affairs columnist, broadcaster, and veteran war correspondent. His latest book is American Raj: America and the Muslim world. The views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Al Jazeera. I posted these excerpts to try and get some balance but I disagree with the author's pessimism. The Iraq war has changed the balance of power in the micro-environment around Israel. There is no strategic combination of Arab forces that can prevent Gaza from being occupied, at a terrible price to the Palestinians. However, Israel knows it can not make such an occupation long term. They will withdraw, as they did in Lebanon but this time the withdrawal will differ in two ways. First, there will be the appearance of victory. That appearance is important for Israel's politics and to provide That One with the opportunity he needs to move fro peace through strength. The trick I see is to let beneficent Arab states enter this fray as liberators of Gaza without doing so with tanks and bombs. Clinton will negotiate a peace force, perhaps under the UN flag but I hope under the banner of the Arab states. These Arabs will be able to pose, with justice, as the force that contained Israel while also providing a meaningful replacement for Hamas. This would serve MANY interests: Egypt ... The government is threatened by the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, as an arm of that movement, is a huge danger to Egypt's governing oligarchy. An Egyptian force, under an Islamic flag of peace, could be seen as heroic. Jordan .. Jordan needs a stable economy tied to Israel's economy. Israel needs a way to close the West Bank settlements but has to do it in a way that can be seen as coming from strength. Finally, this may provide a unique opportunity for some new participants in the Middle East. China , India and Europe all need peace in the Indian Ocean. They could all play a role in an economic effort built on a pacified Gaza. Call me an optimist.