The Only Glimmer of Hope for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=237212&sc=104

Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military response against Hamas in Gaza this past winter, has not been without controversy. Even many of Israel's friends have accused it of using excessive force and engaging in wanton killing in that operation.

A March 23 United Nations report said that a working group had verified reports of violations "too numerous to list." It cited "targeted and indiscriminate" attacks on hospitals and clinics, water treatment facilities, government buildings, and utilities.

"There are strong and credible reports of war crimes and other violations of international norms," it declared.

Physicians for Human Rights in a March 24 report also provided allegations that Israeli soldiers had acted in violation of international law and the Israeli army's own code of ethics.

And Human Rights Watch, in its March 25 review of the Gaza fighting, found instances in which white phosphorus rounds were used under circumstances that had no clear military rationale.

Their use has been criticized because the pieces fall randomly and can set fires, especially in urban settings such as Gaza. Human Rights Watch concluded that the Israeli army did not follow proper precautions for the shells' use.

Israelis themselves have questioned what went on. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that some soldiers who fought in Gaza stated that Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property.

An internal Israeli army probe is underway, but critics deem it inadequate. The Association for Rights in Israel, together with 10 other Israeli human rights groups, have called on Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to establish an independent investigative body to examine the military's actions during the Gaza campaign.

Of the people killed in the conflict, 1,440 were Palestinian, including 431 children and 114 women. Anywhere between one- and two-thirds of the casualties were civilians. (Since Hamas is not a regular uniformed army, the distinction between soldiers and non-combatants is a difficult one to make.)

Much of the blame for this should be placed at the feet of Hamas, which itself does not follow ethical standards or any normal military rules of engagement when fighting Israel.

Hamas intentionally utilized facilities such as universities as bases from which to attack Israeli troops, and used innocent Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Even so, I happen to think that those who claim Israel used "disproportionate" force and acted irresponsibly in Gaza are probably correct. But I draw different conclusions from these facts.

The enemies of Israel insist that the Gaza war demonstrated the aggressive nature of the country. But I'm more inclined to see this in the context of bullying or spousal abuse.

We've all read about wives, battered for years, who finally kill their husbands. Who would doubt that this is, to use the language of Israel's critics, "disproportionate?"

But these women finally take such extreme measures not because they are more powerful than their husbands but because they are in fact deathly afraid of them, and so want to put an end to the abuse once and for all.

They have been driven to distraction. The fault often lies with a justice system that does little to protect them from such assaults.

Children bullied in schoolyards, for the same reasons, sometimes end up turning on their tormentors. They finally snap - as did the Israelis when almost nobody in the world seemed to care that rockets from Gaza rained down day after day on border towns like Sderot.

Like the woman who has lost faith in restraining orders, or the student who is aware that his teachers' hands at school are tied by an uncaring bureaucracy, Israel knows that the polite expressions of concern in world capitals and the lip service paid to international law at the UN when diplomats affirm Israel's right to exist in security and peace do little to discourage foes like Hamas.

No one advocates war crimes by armies any more than one would justify murder, even against violent husbands or bullies. But we can recognize the circumstances that lead to such behaviour.

The increasing strength of militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, sponsored by an Iran that denies Israel's right to exist, make Israelis feel they are being pushed against a wall.

Being under constant siege by enemies who tell you every single day, that they intend to destroy you once they get the chance, can make anyone, to use modern slang, "lose it." And the result is something like Operation Cast Lead.

It's long past time for responsible parties such as the United States, Canada and the European Union to step in and separate the two sides by manning the borders that Gaza shares with Israel and Egypt. Only then, when neither is attacking the other, can there be even a glimmer of hope for an eventual peace between Israelis and Palestinians.