Yes, Israel Did Have Other Options

Israel had no other choice. We tried all other means to achieve peace, and Hamas rejected everything. Whatever’s happening in Gaza is not our fault. Blame Hamas. This was our only option.

There have been many myths and lies thrown around over the past three weeks, since Israel started its assault on Gaza. This one, though, is particularly dangerous because with the almost universal demonization of Hamas, it might be the most effective one in gaining public support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Given what’s reported about Hamas, it’s easy to believe that they don’t want peace and that they’ve rejected any of Israel’s attempts at peace.

But really, what has Israel done in Gaza to give any indication that it actually wants peace? Most people will immediately point to the so-called “disengagement” in 2005, when all of the illegal Israeli settlers in Gaza were withdrawn. The “disengagement,” though, was by no means a peace offer. After the settlers left, Israel proceeded to turn the Gaza Strip into the world’s largest open-air prison. It erected an 8 metre high concrete Wall around the entire territory, designed to seal the people of Gaza off from the rest of the world. Israel controls all of Gaza’s land and sea borders, meaning it dictates who and what can get in and out. It controls Gaza’s air as well, as there’s not a single plane in the Strip, not even a crop duster. Israel, meanwhile, would regularly fly its F-16s over Gazan neighbourhoods, producing sonic booms just for the sake of harassing and intimidating the people. Making sure the Gazans know who’s boss, I suppose.

The hermetic siege caused an absolute humanitarian catastrophe, with people lacking food, water, medicine, the most basic elements for everyday life. Only about 20% of the food aid that was needed was getting in. People were dying of preventable causes, simply because hospitals didn’t have the supplies that they needed to treat them. Businesses were shutting down left and right, causing unemployment to soar to more than 50%.

The people of Gaza were slowly dying as a result of the siege. And it’s not like Israel didn’t know about it. In fact, the siege was deliberately intended to cause harm and misery. In 2006 Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Ehud Olmert, explained that the idea of the siege was to “put the Palestinians on a diet.” That’s also known as collective punishment.
And then, in addition to the crippling siege, Israel continually fired artillery and rocket attacks into Gaza, and undertook several “military incursions” (read: invasions) as well.

So the “disengagement” argument is really a myth. Yes, Israel pulled its settlers out, but then it just intensified its occupation over every other facet of life in Gaza. As one article put it last week: “If you stick a knife in my chest and another one in my foot, then you pull out the one from my foot but drive the one in my chest even deeper, do not expect me not to kick you with my foot that is still bleeding from the wounds you have inflicted.”

Another shamefully under-reported fact that counters Israel’s argument that it had no other choice, is the fact that after Hamas was elected into power, it offered Israel a long-term truce in exchange for Israel’s return to the pre-1967 borders. It’s a pretty fair deal, when you consider the fact that all Hamas is asking Israel to do is to obey every single UN resolution on Israel-Palestine for the past 40 years, and adhere to its obligations under international law. The problem is that Israel considers it unreasonable for anyone to demand that it end of its brutal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and withdraw its oppressive military presence and its illegal settlers. So it rejected Hamas’ offer, just as it has rejected every similar idea in all of the rounds of “peace negotiations” that have ever taken place. Israel has never shown any interest in returning to its pre-‘67 borders and abiding by international law. That Hamas offer, by the way, still stands, if Israel ever decides to change its mind.

And then let’s look at the fact that, like I said in my last post, Israel is actually the one who broke the six-month truce that was in place before the attacks began. It broke the truce twice, in fact. So when they say that Hamas broke the truce by firing rockets at Israel, it’s a blatant lie. Israel’s violations of the truce have even been confirmed by a centre-right Israeli intelligence think tank, which asserted that "the escalation and erosion of the lull arrangement" occurred after Israel killed six Hamas members on November 4 without provocation and then placed the entire Strip under an even more intensive siege the next day.

So when we put all this together, it seems absurd for Israel to claim it had no other options. Option A would have been to lift the siege and the entire infrastructure of apartheid that goes along with it. If Israel is really interested in peace in the future, then this is the only way to achieve it. Option B would have been to accept the fact that Hamas is the democratically elected representative of the Palestinian people, and to listen to their offer of peace. Option C would have simply been not to break the truce. We could go on, too, all the way back to 1948, to look at all the options that Israel chose to ignore. Really, there are infinite courses of action that would have been better than to pummel Gaza into the earth for weeks, slaughter the people that had already been so thoroughly beaten down, and turn the mass prison into a mass grave.

And then today, we hear on the news that the Israeli cabinet has declared a unilateral ceasefire. I guess that means that the Israeli leaders think they’ve achieved their goals in Gaza. Let’s see. Their first stated aim was to destroy Hamas. Didn’t happen. Hamas is still there, and has as much support as ever. Their second stated aim was to stop the rockets from being fired from Gaza into Israel. Didn’t happen. Every day, more rockets are fired, not only by the armed wing of Hamas, but by other militant groups as well. But somehow, Israel is satisfied with its bombing campaign.

So let’s try to understand this, then. Before the assault started, Gaza was under a comprehensive siege. Israel provoked an end to the truce, and then proceeded to kill over 1,200 people (up until now), and injure 5,200, with medical sources on the ground saying that 95% of those casualties are civilians. And now, Israel is calling a unilateral ceasefire, meaning it might stop the bombing, but it’ll go back to putting Gaza under siege again. That means we have the exact same situation after the massacre as we did before. So why did all those people have to die? What was gained? What was the point of the slaughter? It’s sickening, and it absolutely cannot be justified.