Barely surfacing in the American media is the replay of an annual event where the citizens of Gaza protest against the establishment of the State of Israel and proceed to claim Palestine for the Palestinians. The event entitled “The March of Return” for practical purposes pits Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist organization, against the Sate of Israel lead by Bibi Netanyahu. The demonstration is always billed as being peaceful but it never is. The movie which has played again and again features the following - violence from the protestors resulting in deaths including those of children, accusations of brutality against the Israeli Defense Force, (IDF) and world wide condemnation of Israel emanating from the United Nations. The 2018 rerun of what is called “Nakba”, which translated means the catastrophe of the establishment of Israel, is sadly more of the same.
THE SAME OLD MOVIE IS PLAYING AGAIN
It is all grown so old and the world has grown sick and tired of the futility of it all and the sterile positions of the main dramatis personae.
The facts are - that the event which is supposed to last six weeks with weekly marches ending on May 15 has already, after a few weeks resulted in 30 deaths and fifteen hundred injured; that the demonstrators have moved closer and closer to the border burning tires, throwing stones and molotov cocktails; that the main agitators have been shown to be fighters of Hamas, even occasioning a very rare public appearance of the leader of Hamas, Yawar Sinwar, who exhorted the crowd to march onto Jerusalem; that there have been accusations of the brutality of the Israelis including a video of a protestor being shot in the back and laughter and guffaws at a sniper picking off of a Palestinian; that the reports have been followed up by the IDF igniting investigations, maintaining that this behavior, if true, contradicts the policies of the army; that motions have been mooted by members of the Security Council condemning Israel while Netanyahu repeats that he has the right to defend Israel: and on and on.
Evidence that the Palestinians themselves are tired of the banality of it all is borne out by the fact that the number protesting on the third Friday had dwindled to a paltry five thousand from a disappointing thirty thousand, fourteen days earlier, on the first Friday.
There is enough blame to go around on both sides. What is needed is a rethink by the antagonists who seem stuck in their thinking and destined to continue their policies regardless of the impact that it has on their citizenry.
HAMAS AND THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE
Hamas as a political organization have hit rock bottom. What moneys they have received they have utilized in their terrorist offensive against Israel. In that endeavor they have been thwarted by Israel’s technology, intelligence operations, security blanket and fire power as manifested by the IDF. The tunnels that were a short term success and installed at great expense and utilization of man power have been neutralized. It is not unreasonable to argue that they don’t represent a threat to Israel other than the massive cost of their containment, both politically and economically.
Hamas are at odds with everyone and anyone. The only deal they can get from Abbas and his Palestine Liberation Movement, which controls the West Bank, is that they hand over all administrative and governmental power to it including taxation, in return for bailing them out from their current bankrupt situation. The Gaza territory has degenerated into a humanitarian crisis.
The Arab world has long ago deserted them. The countries that used them as a wedge to delegitimize Israel have for the large part either lost interest, abandoned them or outright oppose them. Egypt have cut off the supplies that used to enter Gaza via their country while Jordan are nowhere in sight. The Sunni Gulf States are de facto allies of Israel in their fight against the Shia countries of Iran and Syria. Iran have bigger fish to fry and are not about to waste their resources on “losers”. So when Hamas come knocking there is no one at home.
All that is left are the United Nations and some non governmental organizations that are still championing their cause. America contributes three hundred and sixty - eight million dollars to the United Nations relief funds and have threatened withdrawal which exacerbates their vulnerability.
So this latest violent protest effort is all Hamas has to offer. All they can do is make Israel’s life miserable and costly to contain - a price Netanyahu is prepared to pay.
NETANYAHU AND ISRAEL’S POSITION
Israel’s political and economic position has never been stronger. The country is booming and the international pressure has lessened markedly. Netanyahu has traded on this reality to do nothing with regard to Israel’s most existential problem - a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. He angers the right by not committing fully to settlement creation and signals to the left what he really feels by expanding existing settlements. That latter behavior has exasperated his greatest benefactor, the American President, Donald Trump, who frustratingly demanded him to answer as to whether he really cares about peace.
Netanyahu is a static, his sole objective is to remain in power. Added to his woes is that he is under a criminal cloud that everyone is waiting to burst. His behavior is responsive to pressure from his coalition partners. He backpedals on every issue of principal. He welched on a deal as to the future of Somalia political refugees in the country. He agreed that the Ultra Orthodox had to participate in the army only to back down. He backed a deal with the American Jewry, who aren’t orthodox, to provide them access to the Western Wall and then bowed to pressure to his coalition Religious partners and put it on hold.
He has repeatedly been at odds with his Generals who for generations have held the IDF to a high ethical standard and disagree with him on his political assessments. While there are several examples of this clash between Bibi and the army brass, the saga of Elor Azaria who shot a wounded defenseless Palestinian terrorist serves to make the point. The IDF wanted him to face the full weight of the law. Netanyahu joined the right wing chorus that wanted Azaria pardoned and called Azaria’s parents to offer his support and sympathies. The IDF establishment won out on principle but have to believe that Azaria’s sentence of only eighteen months had to be some sort of a compromise.
The acid test will come on the issue of the authority of the Israeli Supreme Court which his right wing coalition partners want to legislatively reign in. If the Premier caves on this issue he will lose the right to continue bragging to the world about Israel being the pillar of Western democracy in the Middle East.
Netanyahu deflects any criticism of him as an attack on the State of Israel and even as some of his supporters claim “anti - semitism”. His hubris came to a head this month when dual American - Israeli citizen Natalie Portman refused to accept the million dollar Genesis prize to a jewish citizen, “who serves as an inspiration… and is representative of Jewish values”. Portman, who is an Oscar winning entertainment sensation has name recognition of the same order of the Premier. The attack lead by the Premier reached hysterical levels with allegations of treachery and anti semitism being leveled at Portman who made it quite clear that her withdrawal was as a result of her abhorrence of the award ceremony’s keynote speaker, Premier Netanyahu. She further clarified that she was a great supporter of the State of Israel and did not, as alleged, support the Boycott, Sanction and Disinvest movement which has been struggling to gain traction.
So Bibi has none of the leadership and flexibility of a Ben Gurion, a Begin, a Peres or even a Barak. Rather than being a transformative Premier he is a paranoid operator whose only objective is political survival.
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
The crisp choice that Israel faces is either they go through the process of a creating a two party solution or they carry on as they are and settle with a single Israeli state with three large constituencies that oppose their existence to a lesser or greater extent. They have yet to come to real terms with the internal Arab - Israeli population which represents twenty percent of the eight million population. They will then have two areas within their boundaries which will have disenfranchised populations that will need constant policing and the presence of walls and fences to contain them. Is this what they formed the State of Israel to effect? It sounds eerily like Verwoerd’s Bantustan apartheid policy.
However, now is the time for leadership. Never have circumstances been more favorable for Israel to effect a two state agreement. Hamas is on its knees and everyone has had enough of them. The European Union have offered to payroll their economic recovery if they give up terrorism. While Trump is still around Netanyahu has an ally in his negotiations who can dangle lots of carrots. If Hamas makes peace Abbas is no longer a sell out if he joins in….
Both sides have to forget their grievances. The fact that Sharon already gave Gaza what they now probably aspire too and that Arafat and Abbas had attained everything they demanded and then unleashed the second intifada is history as is the Palestinian claim that Ben Gurion chased them off their lands. After seventy years it is time to move on.
Concessions will have to be made on both sides. The law of return is a deal breaker on the one side and a failure to do some land consolidation is a no - no on the other. There is a ton of vacant land on the West Bank which can be cobbled in a compromise. Security will have to be guaranteed by the deal makers like the USA and Russia. The holy sites will be shared, hopefully in a more conducive atmosphere than they are today. Russia has suggested that they will back West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the East will need hard negotiation, bearing in mind that the Arab population in East Jerusalem is not budging.
However the ball is in the Israeli Premier’s court. He has the backing of nearly his whole military, intelligence and security brass. He will face angry opposition but he has claimed that he wants his legacy to be that he kept Israel secure. He is deluded if he does nothing about resolving the Palestinian issue. His legacy will be that he missed a golden opportunity to increase Israel’s future for his children and grandchildren and passed the buck.
A solution to this issue has taken on some urgency with the rise of anti semitism throughout the world. Israel needs to remain a safe haven for the oppressed and not in a war that is unsustainable and has them labelled as the oppressors.
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