Fighting for a Cease-Fire

BEIRUT -- The sharp escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli war in recent weeks is just that -- escalation in a war that has been going on for decades. As terrible as it is to see civilians killed in Israel and Palestine, it is not surprising, given the context of existential defensive warfare that both sides believe defines them and their actions.

The attack Thursday against a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem is a sharp reminder that the people who choose to fight Israel have the capacity to strike inside its capital. The latest violence in Jerusalem was done in the wake of two significant recent Israeli actions: the assassination of Hizbullah special operations leader Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, and the Israeli assault on Gaza that left over 120 people dead -- many of them civilians.

The two most significant developments last week from the Palestinian perspective were the attack against Israelis inside Jerusalem and the capacity and will to keep firing small rockets against southern Israel from Gaza. This comes at a heavy cost of many Palestinians killed and severe pain inflicted on the entire civilian population of Gaza due to the Israeli blockade. Palestinians themselves -- in Gaza and elsewhere -- actively debate the wisdom of the armed resistance policy that says Israel must feel the pain of death and terrorized civilians in order to stop its own assaults against Palestine.

British-based humanitarian and development aid groups -- comprised of Amnesty International, CARE International UK, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Médecins du Monde UK, Oxfam, Save The Children UK and Trócaire -- warned in a report released this week that Israel's blockade of Gaza is a collective punishment of the entire Gazan civilian population of 1.5 million. It concludes that the Israeli government's policy of blockade is unacceptable, illegal and fails to deliver security for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Their report, Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion, notes a dramatic deterioration in poverty and unemployment, and consequent drops in education and health services. It said that 75,000 of the 110,000 workers who were previously employed in the private sector are without jobs.

But the reality is that neither side feels enough pain to change its tactics. In fact, the opposite is true: Both Israelis and Palestinians feel that the armed struggle gives meaning to their lives, because in fighting they define their will to live in dignity and ability to survive as free people. A few hundred or a few thousand people will die on both sides, but tens of thousands of others will be born into a context of perpetual warfare.

The Palestinians in particular have clearly absorbed some important technical assistance from allies in the region, and are better able to protect their small rocket launchers or use automatic timers that fire rockets concealed in underground bunkers. It is not clear whether this reflects technical lessons learned from Hizbullah's experience in Lebanon, or simply a new generation of resistance fighters who have absorbed and overcome the mistakes of their predecessors.

The attack inside Jerusalem will certainly elicit a harsh Israeli response, yet Israelis should consider that this is probably precisely what it was intended to do. For Israel to kill more Palestinians and cause greater humanitarian suffering among civilians in Gaza will not stop the attacks against Israel -- as the past 40 years have amply demonstrated. It will only stimulate yet another generation of young fighters who have nothing to lose if they lose their own lives in fighting Israel.

The Palestinian-Israeli war today slowly transforms itself into a classic case of an armed resistance fighting a superior military power, which in most historical cases inevitably sees the resistance ultimately drive out the occupying power. The political talks between President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli government seem rather inconsequential in the face of such determined militarism by the Israeli government and the Hamas-led resistance groups.

The way to stop this, I would guess, would be to correctly acknowledge the aims of those fighting against Israel as forcing Israel to stop its attacks and inhuman punishments, and forge a new political situation in which Hamas is accepted as a legitimate political player.

The way to do this is for both sides to resume the cease-fire that they had observed for some months in 2006-07.

The long-term truce that Hamas has offered Israel should be seen in a new light, because it offers all sides meaningful gains that can halt the current deterioration, while creating a new foundation for possible political breakthroughs. And both sides should welcome that as fiercely as they now fight militarily.

Rami G. Khouri is Editor-at-large of The Daily Star, and Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon.

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Released: 10 March 2008
Word Count: 754

Rami Khouri