Ezra Klein is an influential Jewish journalist working for the New York Times. He devoted these months in Gaza to analyzing the impact of the Hamas offensive (about 1,200 dead) and Israel’s retaliation (20,000 dead) through dozens of interviews with experts and analysts. He summarized what he learned in his last program as follows: security paradigm The methods the Hebrew Government has used in recent years have not worked.
“Israel had all the intelligence it needed to prevent a Hamas attack: detailed document containing the plananalysts who see how they are trained. They ignored him. And what they did wasn’t complicated. “They didn’t have advanced weapons in one of their tunnels: they had parachutes, vehicles, and people with rifles,” says Klein. “I don’t buy the idea that they would eliminate Hamas’ capabilities. The death toll in Gaza will lead to further radicalization and a thirst for revenge. “How many children are orphaned right now who would dedicate themselves to a quest for revenge?”
Recent research strengthens this thesis. The Gaza war triggered support for Hamas in Palestine, especially in the West Bank, the other piece of land that together with Jerusalem constitutes the occupied territory. Meanwhile, President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, collaborates on security issues His relations with the Israeli Government are rapidly declining, and 90 percent of Palestinians want his resignation. Palestinians also demand the right to defend themselves by force of arms.
“There will be no security as long as the root of the problem, the occupation of land and the denial of Palestinians’ rights and human dignity, continues,” he says for this newspaper. Atalia OmerMiddle East conflict expert from the University of Notre Dame (United States). “Hamas is more than its armed wing, it is an idea of liberation. Even if it collapses, another Hamas will emerge. You cannot underestimate the people’s desire for freedom. This is the lesson learned from America’s ‘war on terror’”.
Israel’s Gaza strategy
The Israeli Government is not explaining what the military strategy is behind what President Joe Biden calls “indiscriminate bombings” in Gaza. It has made the north uninhabitable for now; It destroyed or damaged seven out of ten buildings in the Strip, nearly all bread factories and many hospitals.
They also began to flood the network of tunnels through which Hamas designs its attacks against the occupying force and stores the rockets it launches into Israeli cities.
One of the targets aimed at by the Israel Defense Forces is a “Buffer zone” on the Palestinian side wall surrounding the Strip to prevent future attacks. According to Reuters, the Israeli Government secretly transmits this information to many Arab countries.
“I will be clear about the buffer zone: there will never again be a situation where Hamas terrorists can approach the border, cross the border and kill our people again,” said the security adviser to the Government of Mark Regev.
Israel built a multimillion-dollar separation wall with Gaza with advanced control systems, cameras and Artificial Intelligence, but it was neutralized by Hamas’ homemade drones with bombs.
in 2018 Israel Killed 312 Palestinian protesters Those approaching the separation fence to protest the blockade of the Strip. There were also more than 20,000 injured.
New security dilemma
Israel has maintained this attitude for decades. Systematic occupation strategy of Palestinian lands in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where he established hundreds of illegal settlements for more than 700,000 settlers. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, despite being under total siege from land, sea and air.
Since then it has waged more than five wars against the Strip. “lawn mowing strategy”. Almost always under the rule of right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu, they have caused the deaths of more than 6,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians. “Until October 7, many Israeli officials believed the strategy was working,” he notes. Sean Foley, specialist in Middle Eastern and Islamic History at Middle Tennessee University (United States). “This went hand in hand with funds coming into Gaza from abroad and opportunities for Gazans to work in Israel. Now they face a new dilemma.”
International governments insist that a two-state solution, based on the Oslo Accords and dozens of United Nations resolutions, is the best way to guarantee the security of both sides. A Palestinian National Authority with a viable State and security forces. This is also the position of the Spanish Government, expressed by both the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.