The March in Gaza becomes a War. There is the risk of reprisals this Easter
domenica 1 aprile 2018 English 0 commenti
Il Giornale, April 1, 2018There is confusion on the numbers but not on the significance of yesterday's “Great March of Return”, as Hamas has called it. Sixteen are dead and 1,400 were wounded after about twenty thousand protestors marched along the Gaza’s border with Israel. Ten of the dead are well known "activists" of Hamas, Jihad Islamic, etc.
This is the first in a series of mass protests that the Palestinians have planned from now until May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s establishment, which the Palestinians refer to as “the Nakba", or "catastrophe", and that will also coincide this year with the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
The growing excitement triggered by continuous incitement led groups of Palestinian youths armed with Molotov cocktails, hand grenades and knives to infiltrate Israel’s border at least four times. A limited example of what Hamas would like to reproduce on a massive scale, i.e. the invasion of Israel, as its top leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar repeatedly stated in their speeches yesterday. It’s no coincidence that in the days before the mass protest Hamas conducted military exercises with rocket launches and fires on fake tanks, as well as pretend kidnappings and killings, which set off Israel’s anti-missile Iron Dome system, sending thousands of Israelis rushing into bomb shelters.
Hamas sent a clear message: march to the border, we’ll protect you with arms. Yet their terroristic intentions are hidden within these mass protests, as is their routine cynical use of the civilian population, which includes women and children, as human shields. The choice is smart: a protest march by civilians is indisputable according to Western public opinion. But the implied intent is to exploit the civilian crowd in order to violate Israel’s sovereign border and to undermine the IDF’s strict rules of combat, which found itself once again caught in the usual dilemma posed by asymmetrical warfare: it's very hard to use soldiers in uniform against enemies in civilian clothing who threaten you?
This question has tormented the IDF’s Chiefs of Staff all along the wars with Gaza, when, always, women and children have clearly been used as a provocation. The army confirmed that a seven-year-old sent in front of the mass protest toward the soldiers was fortunately identified in time before being overwhelmed by the clashes. And in the evening, Israel bombed three Hamas sites in Gaza with tank fire and an air raid in response to attempted shooting attacks against its soldiers.
The Hamas protest - which comes on the eve of the Pesach festival, the Jewish Easter - has several goals: the first is linked to the internal situation in Gaza. Hamas is in trouble with its own population. The use of international funds for military purposes has caused the blockage of goods and therefore of the economy in Gaza. Life is miserable for its inhabitants. With the march, Hamas has increased its deadly competition with Abu Mazen’s Palestinian Authority that has cut funds to an increasing hostile Gaza. Hamas tried to kill its Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah just a few days ago. Now, as a weapon of distraction, Hamas shouts as loudly as it can its hate against Israel, something on which the Arab crowd, even in those countries that today have better relations with Israel like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, supports.
The title "March of Return" means that for Hamas there can be no resolution on the basis of any peace agreement: "return" means millions of Palestinians to the Jewish state, so to lead to its destruction. These Palestinians include the millions of grandchildren of the initial 1948 refugees, a portion of which were expelled and another who chose to leave voluntarily, sure that they would soon be back on Arab bayonets.
Israel tried in vain to prevent any killings in yesterday’s demonstrations. No sovereign state would accept thousands of demonstrators led by an organization that is dedicated only to its death to cross its borders. Let's not forget that the aim of Hamas is the destruction of Israel, the killing of the Jews: it repeats this aim in any speech, in any paper, in any terrorist act of these years. Hamas has killed thousands of innocent Israelis on the busses, in the cafes, in the streets. These are the "marching" people. Hamas will use the new "martyrs" in order to propagate its thirst for death in the name of Allah and against Israel. Of course this does not create greater trust in Israel towards a future peace.
Translation by Amy Rosenthal