The Conflict in Gaza and the Truth about Hamas

I’ve received a variety of emails and input about the conflict going on right now in Gaza.

Let me say right off the bat that I am saddened any time I look at pictures of children that are involved in a conflict, regardless of who is at fault. The look of surprise and terror on their faces just crushes me, the site of a little lifeless body just brakes my heart.

Let’s look at the reality of the situation. In 1967, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan attacked Israel in what became known as the Six Day War. Israel won a very decisive victory, capturing and retaining four different areas including the West Bank and Gaza. There have been a variety of actions by Israel to deal with this ‘acquisition’ over the years, both good and bad. For the past decade, and really going back nearly 20 years, Israel has been pursuing a strategy of land for peace. They would release land that they had captured, retreating back to their original borders, in exchange for a halt to suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and other terrorist attacks such as the school that was set upon by gunmen less than six months ago. They pulled out of their settlements and gave up the land they promised, only to find that they were now being attacked from that same land. Since the Camp David Accords the territories have been allowed to govern themselves. At the most recent elections(2006), a significant number of Hamas candidates were chosen and shortly after forcefully took over Gaza (where were the reporters then?) murdering a lot of the existing PLO faithful. Mideastweb has more on their take over here, including that, “Hamas ousted Fatah forces from Gaza in a bloody coup, throwing Fatah members off the roofs of buildings after shooting them in the knees. At least one Fatah member was sliced into steaks that were sent to his family.” Remember, these are their fellow Palestinians that they were doing this to.

Since that time Hamas has been firing dozens of rockets into Israel on a daily basis. At first they were home made rockets and mortars with very short ranges. Recently they have become more technologically advanced as they smuggle better and better rockets made in Iran, through tunnels that they have dug to hide their nefarious activities. In the current confrontation, Israel estimates that they have destroyed approximately a HUNDRED of these tunnels that have been used for smuggling weapons.

Once operations began, Israel used the database that they had created of Palestinian families in Gaza and began a process of notifying civilians ten minutes before a Hamas target in their area was to be hit. They have been doing everything they can to minimize civilian casualties. Unfortunately Hamas has been doing the opposite. Acting contrary to international law, Hamas has been committing war crimes by intentionally drawing civilians into the conflict by launching attacks from school yards, urban centers, heavily traveled roads, and possibly even a UN aid station. Their hope and goal is not to necessarily hurt Israel militarily, but rather through the spectrum of public opinion, and the sad and disgusting thing is that they are willing to sacrifice innocent women and children to accomplish their goal. Watching images on T.V. it is hard not to blame the Israeli defense forces for the innocent who have been killed, but what you are seeing is parents willing to throw their children out into on-coming traffic and then having the nerve to blame the unfortunate drivers for their loss.

It is sick.

Some people would say that the Israeli response is ‘disproportionate’. What would be more appropriate then, lobbing missiles at random into their cities (equal to what Hamas has done)? The real discrepancy here is the quality of the weapons and the accuracy with which they are used. Israel is not looking for a tit for tat war, they are looking to knock out the capabilities of the enemy so that they can keep their own people safe. This is not war for war’s sake. Israel has proven that they can and will live at peace with those around them if given the opportunity. Their peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt have served all three countries well. The original charter for Hamas says that their entire purpose for existing is the destruction of Israel, as stated, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” To this end Hamas has launched over 7000 rockets into Israel and continues even now.

What other choice does Israel have? They are in a situation where they either watch as the enemy becomes more and more sophisticated and eventually smuggles a nuclear bomb through one the tunnels and takes out Tel Aviv, or they strike back and eliminate the capabilities of those who don’t seek land, money, or power, but rather the complete annihilation of the Israeli people. Fortunately for the innocent in Palestine, Israel has not acted on a mission ‘proportionate’ to this aim.