Real Security for Israel Posted by Moran Banai

Moran Banai is the Policy Director for Middle East Progress.

The Israeli raid of the ship the Mavi Marmara, which ended with the deaths of nine protestors, is a potent symbol of why Israel’s current policy toward the Gaza Strip is unsustainable. Right now Iranian ships are on their way to attempt to break the blockade, forcing what could be an ugly confrontation on the high seas between the two adversaries. Whether it will be governments or activists who try to force the situation, the Israeli government will have to decide over and over whether to stop the ships, which could result in similarly violent situations, or let them through, which would effectively break the naval blockade and undermine Israel’s ability to ensure that no weapons are brought into Gaza by sea.

What is now becoming more clear is that Israel’s Gaza policy also does not achieve its stated purposes. Isolating the people of Gaza has not made them less amenable to Hamas. Nor has it weakened Hamas. Nor will it make Israelis secure in the long term. As many people who care about Israel’s security, including President Obama, have begun to argue, the lesson learned from the Mavi Marmara incident is that Israel must rethink its strategy; it must develop a policy that lifts the closure on Gaza without harming Israeli security or accruing too much to the benefit of Hamas. Israel has begun to ameliorate the situation over the last few months in cooperation with the United States and others and it has sped that up further in the past few weeks. Now is the time for the world to build on this progress and work with Israel to change its policy.

Closing off the Gaza Strip allowed Hamas to entrench its power and authority in many ways while weakening the Strip’s middle class. Hamas now boasts a separate governing mechanism to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, taking charge of everything from the meting out of justice to the provision of health care. While the Palestinian Authority continues to pay and employ its own bureaucrats in Gaza not to work, this entrenchment on all levels of the bureaucracy strengthens Hamas’ control of the Strip.

At the same time, the border closure and naval blockade strangles the legitimate economy of the Strip. Businesses around the tunnels on the Egypt-Gaza border now provide most of the goods to the Gazan economy, though they have been harmed by Egypt’s monitoring of the border and construction of an underground wall. Still, this dynamic is rapidly transferring power from the established middle class, a potential moderate stronghold, to a new breed of wealthy individuals who are invested in the tunnels and beholden to Hamas, which regulates the tunnel economy.

Israel ensures there is no starvation in the Strip by allowing for the import of humanitarian assistance, but in undermining the legitimate economy and closing off the access of the people of Gaza to the outside world, it isolates the people of Gaza along with Hamas. The dissemination of information in the Strip is controlled by Hamas. Gazans’ ability to travel is extremely curtailed. Some are occasionally allowed to leave, including a limited amount of students going on exchange programs and businessmen traveling to the West Bank on specific occasions. But overall, the ability of the people of Gaza to interact with the outside world is severely limited.

This policy is in part intended to demonstrate to the people of Gaza that they can choose life like this under Hamas or a better future like the situation in the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. What appears to be happening instead is that the people of Gaza are angry at Israel, they are angry at the United States, and they are angry at the Palestinian Authority. They are also angry at Hamas, but they do not hold it solely responsible for their situation, as the Israeli policy intends.

To be sure, Israel has legitimate reasons to be concerned about Hamas’ control over the Gaza Strip. Hamas continues to defy the three requirements for political engagement asked of it by the Quartet for Middle East Peace (The United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations). Hamas does not recognize Israel, does not recognize previous agreements, and has not renounced violence. It took over the Strip in a violent coup in 2007. It also continues to smuggle increasingly effective arms into the Gaza Strip, posing a real threat to people in wider swaths of Israel as the precision and power of the arms increases. And it continues to hold on to Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in 2006.

During the past year, the amount of rockets fired at Israel from the Strip has been limited compared to the first year of Hamas’ takeover. But it also shrank during the unofficial truce between Israel and Hamas in 2008.

To truly ensure its security, Israel must instead work with the international community, the United States, and Egypt in particular, to continue to open the border crossings while putting in place a mechanism to ensure that weapons are not brought into Gaza by land or sea and all material has legitimate end use. Parts of this mechanism could potentially be modeled on the EU monitoring of the Egypt-Gaza crossing points before the Hamas takeover or the nascent reconstruction efforts under the aegis of UNRWA.

Yes, the opening of the crossings may accrue in some ways to the favor of Hamas. But in the long run, the onus will be on Hamas to show that with the crossings open it is the one that is ensuring that there is no violence, that the people of Gaza’s needs are met, and that it is interested in a political process to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the same time, the growth of the Gazan economy and the reopening of the world to the people of Gaza can work to strengthen the moderation necessary to resolve the conflict.

The United States is fully committed to the security of Israel. It should continue the work it has already been doing with the Israeli government to open up the Gaza crossings in a way that ensures Israel’s security. Ultimately, the goal of the international community should be the resolution of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians through the negotiation of a two-state solution, with one Palestinian state composed of the West Bank and Gaza, living next to a secure Israel. Working with Israel to implement a changed policy toward Gaza would be a step in that direction.

Comments

[TıkLa-SohbeT]

Sesli Sohbet siteleri arasında ekol bir adres sestonum hemen sohbette başlamak icin sestonum 'tıklayınız..! seslisohbet ve seslichat adreslerinin gözdesi hemen tıklayarak sohbet yapmaya başlaya bilirsiniz..!

sestonum
seslichat
seslisohbet

[Morton Nadler]

There is much to discuss in this article but on one point I must really amplify. The author writes ". It took over the Strip in a violent coup in 2007." Gaza was elected in a free election insisted on by the US and Israel. The violence was defensive, against efforts of the PLO and Fatah to annul the results of the election.

[david singer]

I am amazed that neither the UN or the Red Cross has proposed evacuating the civilian population from Gaza until the political issues between Israel and Hamas, Hamas and Egypt, and Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are resolved. Ending the suffering of the civilian population can immediately occur by evacuating those Gazans wishing to leave to temporary safe havens that could be established within member states of the UN particularly the 57 countries comprising the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Evacuation could be facilitated through Egypt. Instead of wringing their hands and futilely calling for an end to the blockade, the UN and the Red Cross can be proactive immediately in ending the suffering of Gaza's population. If Hamas refuses to allow its civilians to evacuate then action might have to be taken to force them to do so. Failure to attempt to evacuate the population would surely make the UN and the Red Cross complicit in failing to end the current crisis caused by the blockade.

[MeLiSSa]

Merhaba seslisohbetsestonum AiLessi SizLeride Aramızda Görmekten MutLuLuk Duyarız..! seslisohbet ve seslichat sitesinde farkını Ortaya Koymuş bir site..![ sestonum
seslichat
seslisohbet

[TıkLa-SohbeT]

Sesli Sohbet siteleri arasında ekol bir adres sestonum hemen sohbette başlamak icin sestonum 'tıklayınız..! seslisohbet ve seslichat adreslerinin gözdesi hemen tıklayarak sohbet yapmaya başlaya bilirsiniz..!
sestonum
seslichat
seslisohbet

[wholesale cheap lingerie]

Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Your website is very useful. Thanks for sharing.

[monday]

This super video converter for mac is developed by Emicsoft Studio, it is currently the best video converter running under Mac os x, comparied by isqunite, Visualhub and other Free video converter for Mac, This video converter for Mac is more stable in converting video files and support more video formats.
thank you for sharing the post!it is good !
Convert VOB to AVI MAC
Convert FLV to AVI MAC
Convert MOV to AVI MAC
Convert WMV to AVI MAC
Convert MP4 to AVI MAC
Convert 3GP to AVI MAC
Convert MPEG to AVI MAC
Convert M4V to AVI MAC

[Fisher]

People who are curious, please come with me, I will bring you different feeling!
http://lotusugg.blog.com/

[Tiffany Jewelry]

captured by the Nazis WASHINGTON — Enlisted by members of the House and Senate, presidential aide Rebecca Tandy brought a copy of the international climate-change treaty to President Bush's Monday and asked him to sign a birthday document for a Paloma PicassodeskJapanese dignitary

named "Kyoto Protocol."A man appears before St. Peter at the pearly gates. "Have you ever done anything of particular merit?"

St. Peter asks. There is a new virus. The code
Return to Tiffanyname is "WORK." If you receive WORK from your colleagues, your boss, via e-mail, or from anyone else-do

not touch WORK under any circumstances. This virus wipes out yourTiffany 1837 private life completely.During WW II a British fighter
Tiffany keys pilot was shot down over Germany

captured by the Nazis. ,Tiffany Notes so the

German doctor amputated his left arm. He requested that they drop his arm over his base in England. So the Germans did.A

Missouri pickup, Tiffany Somersetdrove

several miles to a neighboring farm and knocked on the farmhouse door. A young boy about 12 opened the door.An elderly man

was at home, dying in bed. He smelled the aroma of his favourite chocolate chip cookies baking. He wanted one last cookie

before he died...

[sesli sohbet]

Ultimately, the goal of the international community should be the resolution of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians through the negotiation of a two-state solution, with one Palestinian state composed of the West Bank and Gaza, living next to a secure Israel. Working with Israel to implement a changed policy toward Gaza would be a step in that direction.
seslisohbet
seslichat