“Who is Responsible for the Suffering in Gaza?”

In 2005 Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, after a 38 year long military occupation, and Military administrative rule over several thousand Israeli families who lived there for decades.When PM Ariel Sharon came to explain to his staff his reasoning for his shocking announcement of his plan to pull out of Gaza, (spring of 2002), he gave 3 reasons for it:

* An immediate relief to the heavy burden on the IDF, defending 9,000 Jewish civilians.

* Obtaining a solid and broad International support from the USA and EU, once we leave Gaza and end the “occupation”.

* Rolling the pressure on the “Palestinian Authority”, to reciprocate to a historic Israeli gesture, and compromising on their 50 year long outrageous demands. The PA, said Sharon, will have to accept the “two state solution”, and bow to the International pressure that they will be exposed to.

While I still have tremendous respect to Ariel Sharon and his monumental 60 year long career serving our nation, there is no doubt that this move turned to be the most echoing fiasco of his career.

Today, 9 years after the disengagement, we can see the total failure of each and every parameter of his goals:

* The IDF, in the past 9 years, invests humongous resources in defending Israel from the largest nest of terror in the world. Not only the passive defense became the most condensed military zone anywhere on the globe, but Israel had to engage over 3 times in intense “mini-wars”, to put a cap on Hamas military threats on Millions of Israelis.

* The International community did not move one bit towards Israel, on the Palestinian issue. No country of relevance, has ever put any pressure on the Palestinian Authority, to change their demands towards Israel, or to stop the venomous incitement against Israel, amongst Palestinian youth, children, and mainstream Palestinian Media.* Although 90% of Palestinians live under Hamas or PA rule, ( 45% under PA in Judea and Samaria, since 1993 Oslo    agreements,  and another 45% under Islamist and murderous Hamas rule in Gaza), Israel is still blamed to be, or perceived as being, an “occupier” in its’ own land.

The present day offensive in Gaza, was imposed on us deliberately by Hamas. They chose the timing and they chose the intensity. Israel waited 10 very long days, with over 4-5 Million Israelis running to bomb shelters 5-20 times a day, until it started responding by a massive aerial attack. Then, even that did not deter the Hamas, which forced us to enter with ground forces, for the past 12 days already.

The “diplomatic clock” started ticking seriously, only 5-6 days ago. The USA’s response to the events, literally prolonged this whole thing. Instead of the USA strengthening Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, (and … Israel…), the US decided to embrace America’s strongest haters, giving undeserved clout to Erdogan and Qatar. “Go figure”, as they say. Kerry’s’ people say in the past 24 hours, that Kerry did not make any proposals, “he only shared ideas”. Wow, huge difference. Instead of providing insulting explanations, Kerry should have told Hamas that they are in no position at all to ask for anything in return for a ceasefire.

The inevitable conclusions of all those events, and the “to do” list on Netanyahu’s’ desk, should be obvious. The operation in Gaza should continue, full force, for another 15-20 days at least. The IDF must have ample time to achieve 3 key objectives at this point:

*Destroy all tunnels of all kinds that we know of.

* Confiscate and demolish all Hamas infrastructure we have access to, in the 13-18 day range. Rockets, rifles, explosive storages, bunkers, communication channels and equipment, and metal workshops that manufacture mortars and rockets.

* Catch or eliminate, a meaningful number of Hamas field commanders and leaders.

Once those goals are reached, and they will can all be reached in 13-18 days without a doubt, Israel should leave the Gaza, unilaterally, and without any ceasefire agreement. We need to leave them a note on the fridge, “We had a great time, call us when you want us to come back”. Any effort to reach an agreement now, will be a terrible mistake. A ceasefire, will never be honored by Hamas, it will only be used for re-arming and reloading. It will also turn Israel and USA haters, to benefit from an imaginary “brokerage” of a diplomatic hoax no one believes in. Who needs it? We can leave without a ceasefire “agreement”, it will look exactly the same, only with benefits to Israel, and nothing for Hamas.

And last but not least. Once this is over, Israel should send a senior defense official to have a personal cup of coffee in Qatar, with the Emir of Qatar,  His Trillionnaireness, Mr. Al Thani. We should tell him in person, that if Qatar will continue to fuel the rockets from Gaza, life in Doha, will be very different. If they think they can put Tel-Aviv in bomb shelters with their money, we can make it clear to them, that they are very wrong. Without going into details, Israel can send this message clearly, and it will not go unnoticed. It will also never be challenged or doubted. It’s as easy as that. The Emir of Qatar will not want to see one of his cousin’s Rolls Royces suddenly blow up in his la-la land country, and have his rule over that insanely wealthy principality,  start shaking by unclaimed “events” in Doha’s’ finest restaurants and shopping malls.

A comprehensive offensive Israeli attitude for only the next 3-4 weeks, can make a huge difference on the timing of the “next round”. We can not decide when it will be, we can only make clear what the ramifications are.

Raanan (Rani) Levy, Israel
(Former Adviser to Prime Minister Sharon)
Publish freely with credit to Author.

For additional reading & videos on exactly how Hamas is hurting the Palestinian people in Gaza, click here: http://www.idfblog.com/

Isaiah 62:1 (NLT) “Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch” 

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt 

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
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