ANALYSIS: Hamas outmaneuvers Israel with three quick moves

[bemildred]

In a week when Israeli leaders were boasting about their successful adoption of the conclusions in the Winograd Committee's interim report, which included in their view the attack on Syria, recent events on the Gaza Strip and Egyptian border are raising concerns to the contrary: Perhaps not enough lessons were learned or have been implemented.

This week Hamas checkmated Israel in three quick moves. No less worrying are the problematic developments regarding Egypt. Cairo would like to avoid a confrontation with Hamas and its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a lot more important for Egypt than the angst in Israel. This is a strategic change that will make any future operation by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip more difficult and could make relations between the two countries even more complicated.

These are moments of glory for Hamas, after a long period during which the organization was battered by Israel. It conducted its campaign brilliantly last week, and it seems, so far, with complete success. At no stage did Israel have a sufficient response to the initiatives of Hamas: It did not when the group plunged the Strip into darkness on Sunday, or when it caused the clashes along the border on Tuesday, and certainly not when it brought down the Philadelphi wall on Wednesday. All the while Hamas benefited from an impressive level of Arab support including the Muslim Brotherhood in the neighboring countries and favorable broadcasts on Al Jazeera, many of whose reporters openly promote an agenda favoring the Muslim Brotherhood. While all this was happening, Hamas managed to pay salaries this week to 20,000 civil servants in Gaza, even before the border was turned into an open passage in which people, arms and goods moved freely.

But Hamas did not only beat Israel in this round -Egypt and the Palestinian Authority also lost. The Ramallah-based state is now further and more disconnected from Hamas than ever. With impressive timing that still leaves us guessing whether the breach of the Rafah wall was was preplanned, the group's politburo chief, Khaled Meshal, held a National Palestinian Conference in Damascus on Wednesday. The event was meant as a challenge to the PLO and PA leadership, and to stress that there is an alternative leadership for the Palestinian people.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948098.html

[Vegasaurus]

1. If the wall breach absolves Israel of the responsibility

for the Palestinians, and is considered a win for Hamas, let's all clap.

:applause:

[bemildred]

2. So the rockets are OK now?

Bigger, better made rockets is OK?
:applause:

[Vegasaurus]

3. Sovereign nations can protect their borders

Every other nation on earth is allowed that privilege.

No other nation is expected to babysit and take care of people with whom they are at war.

[kayecy]

4. Sovereign nations again .........

Referring to Sovereign nations is just your way of discriminating one ethnicity from another.

If you think Palestinians aren't humans, don't have any rights and deserve to be occupied, why not just say it?

[Phx_Dem]

5. No one here thinks that about Palestinians

In fact you making an assertion like that is an attempt on your part to dehumanize the pro-israel posters here. Please stop it.

[kayecy]

14. OK, I withdraw that remark. But why do you think.......

OK I withdraw that remark. But tell me, why do you think he keeps harping on about Sovereign Nations?

[Vegasaurus]

6. I said nothing of the sort

I agree with Phx Dem: Stop it.

[bemildred]

7. Babysit? You call it babysitting?

You babysit with jets and tanks? You are just pissed off because you're losing.

[Vegasaurus]

8. Babysitting is having to "take care of"

an entire population of people.

Really, Israel wanted Egypt to take responsibility for Gaza before, and Egypt refused.

Why are the Gazans Israel's responsibility? Why is Israel responsible for providing electricity, fuel, food, supplies, etc? At what point is Israel no longer responsible?

[bemildred]

9. They are right next door. You NEVER get to be irresponsible.

The US has to deal with Mexico, Israel has to deal with the Palestinians.

[Vegasaurus]

10. But so is Egypt, Jordan

They could be a bit responsible as well.

And do you really think the US is as responsible for the Mexicans as Israel is expected to be for Gaza?

[bemildred]

12. Hell yes. Everybody is responsible.

I gather you don't know much about US' relationship with Mexico.

[Vegasaurus]

16. Despite your condescending post

I will again say that the US is in NO way responsible for Mexico, the way Israel is expected to be responsible for Gaza.

[bemildred]

17. Not "for", "to"

You are responsible "for" yourself, or your children, you are responsible "to" others.

Any country has responsibilities "to" it's neighbors. When you arrange to supply 70% of the power, for example, then you have assumed a responsibility for that until other arrangements are made. Is was not the people in Gaza that decided they should get 70% of their power from Israel, it was the Israeli government. Gaza does not suddenly become independent after 40 years of occupation and colonization because Israel suddenly realized what it was doing was stupid. That does not mean Israel cannot eventually disentangle itself from Gaza, up to a point, but it will not be done by some cowardly fiat of the Israeli government. If nothing else, something has to be done about the mutual violence first.

[Phx_Dem]

11. Lets run with that analogy

A militant offshoot of the PAN party in Mexico starts firing rockets into the US at the rate of 1 every 3 hours. What should the US do to stop the rockets?

[bemildred]

13. We would work with the Mexican government to stop the perps.

We would not go bomb mexican cities to make all of Mexico "stop the rockets", and we would not think that starving all of Mexico until "they" do something about it would stop the rockets. As in Gaza, that would just mean more rockets.

Edit: this is not actually a fictional situation, the US and Mexico have lots of "bilateral issues" and extensive economic dependencies. They work on it, they don't bomb each other.

[Vegasaurus]

15. Well, the Mexicans have pretty much given up on the idea

of taking over Texas or Arizona, and they aren't trying to destroy America, or kill American citizens.

Mexico needs America from an economic point of view, and in no way is trying to annihilate the country.

[bemildred]

18. Like I said, you don't know much about US/Mexican relations. nt

[Phx_Dem]

19. The US works with Mexico

in a lot of areas like you said, including the "war on drugs". Much like the situation in Gaza with terrorism though, the Mexican Gov. has demonstrated limited ability to curb the flow of drugs into the US. As a result, barriers were erected, seismograph technology was installed at key parts of the border, surveillance balloons were deployed and security at border crossings was expanded. You might not be aware of this, but it can take 3-4 hours to cross the US-Mexico border in Nogales AZ.

If there were rockets being fired into the US from Mexico, it would not be long before the US had to resort to incursions into Mexico to attempt to stop them, if the Mexican Gov. was unable or unwilling to prevent the attacks.

[bemildred]

20. The point is that it would never be allowed to get to that point.

It is Israel that occupied and governed these territories for these last four decades. Do you really think it will be allowed to just walk away? Can the US walk away from Mexico?

[bemildred]

21. ANALYSIS-Hamas exposes Israeli weakness in Gaza

JERUSALEM, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Hamas has exposed Israel's inability to rein in the Gaza Strip, proving it holds the power to blow open the border and turn a crippling Israeli blockade into a public relations nightmare for the Jewish state.

Israel's stated goal last week in tightening its cordon around Gaza and cutting off fuel to its main power plant was to pressure Palestinian militants to halt rocket attacks that have sowed panic in southern Israel.

---

Danny Ayalon, Israel's former ambassador to the United States, said Israel had walked into a Hamas trap.

"This was a resounding failure, a public relations disaster," he said. "And we've lost deterrence for the next time."

http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL23835571