Things started happening in Gaza at a faster pace after the incursion by Hamas out of the ghetto and into a Zionist settlement. That is, a lot was happening before that. More exactly, since 1948. Gaza had been transformed into a concentration camp inhabited by the people Israel calls sub-humans.
The Netanyahu cabinet, in response, applied something not new in the Israeli geopolitical doctrine: anybody attacking Israel must lose territory. That is on record. Therefore Gaza must lose territory. The attacks by Hezbollah from Lebanese bases follow the same logic. Lebanon must lose territory to Israel.
This doctrine has been applied since the foundation of Israel, successfully until recently. Now the situation is different, and of course rigid doctrines have a hard time adapting to harder obstacles. Doctrinal rigidity goes against nature itself, for everyone knows that today is different from tomorrow. So, it is not surprising to see Israel in great difficulties to accomplish his own doctrine.
Gaza is not yet completely owned by the IDF, even after it lost several battalions in the attempt to smash Hamas. Lots of civilians were killed, but Hamas is still fighting in Gaza.
And there is a lesson to be learned here. History flows according to social and historical forces, and this flux does not depend much from anyone's desire.
Another way to put it is that in History there is no place for rigid directives, and it is here that Israel commits its biggest mistake. Reading Sun Tzu is enough to see that.
With Hamas unconquered, Netanyahu attacks Lebanon, where Hezbollah is organized. It is interesting to note that Israel is not really attacking Hezbollah in force. Instead, Beirut bears the brunt of the heavy bombs given to Israel by the US. What does this mean?
To answer that question we must go a bit further. The doctrine already mentioned is not the only one adopted by the Israeli leadership. There is another one. Soon after the Hamas attack, Netanyahu promised 'intolerable pain' to the attackers. But the pain was directed against civilians in Gaza, and the survival of Hamas today is witness of the real meaning of 'intolerable pain'.
The pain is collective on the population, and not on the military, as it used to be be in the civilized world before the Nazi era. The occult meaning of this doctrine is simple: pure terror on the population is a legitimate aim of war according to Israeli world view.
Gaza and Beirut are now receiving their dose of civilian pain because the Israeli leadership believes in absolute terror as a means of disorganizing the enemy. The Allies in the WW2 used that against the German population, and result was nil, as we know today. 'Bomber' Harris, father of 'carpet bombing' against German civilians, is today a much reviled character.
For the first time since its foundation, Israel sees its Armed Forces outstretched near the limit in two fronts of war. The invasion of Gaza is still to be completed, and the invasion of Lebanon has been very timid until today. Hezbollah seems to be a force to be reckoned with in South Lebanon, and the IDF is doubtful about a full scale invasion.
To make things worst, the massive use of reservists in the war threatens to paralyse the Israeli economy. The Houthi-induced bankruptcy of the Eilat port further increases problems and serves as example of the new opposition Israel faces today.
The global framework, that is, the context for the Palestinian conflict, helps to better understand the present difficulties of Israel. We live in a time when the American clout in world affairs is diminishing. And it is clear that without US backing Israel cannot exist. Under this light, it is unavoidable to see Israel as the last settlement colony of the West in another part of the world. The great wave of National Liberation started in the 1950s is not yet finished, as French difficulties in Africa show pedagogically. The French difficulties are not very different from the American difficulties with Israel. The US cannot serve Israel indefinitely without sacrificing more important national American interests in the world.
There are other issues connected to National Liberation that have a bearing on the Palestine conflict. The arab population of the region is quite firmly supporting the Palestinians in their quest for their Country. And some arab monarchies are very unpopular in the region. The longevity of these monarchies is very much in doubt today, mainly because they tend to defend their power creating partial alliances with Israel. That is, the arab monarchies fear their own people more than they fear Israel. When those monarchies start to crumble, the wave of anti-zionism in the region will be unsurmountable. Israel will see itself completely surrounded by enemies. And those enemies tend to be connected to China and Russia.
There are those who predict that Israel as it is today, zionist, will flounder, and they are not far from reality. A country spanning from the river to the sea may occupy its place, and jews and arabs will live in peace finally inside that country, whose name cannot be other than Palestine.
History goes on.
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