Soapbox:

Before more blood is shed

By Sameh Fawzi

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Israel's severe military aggression was officially brought to an end through Egyptian mediation, overwhelmingly supported by the international community. Nobody won. In its unprecedented offensive, Israel targeted children, the elderly, mosques, homes and UN schools; all, according to Israeli leaders, to eliminate the military capacity of Hamas to shower nearby Israeli villages and settlements with rockets. Despite relentless and ruthless aggression, and regional and international outcry, the declared target after three weeks of war was not met. Hamas along with other Palestinian militant factions were launching rockets while Israel's prime minister announced a unilateral ceasefire. On the other hand, Hamas appeared weaker than before and ready to accept terms rejected on the eve of the war. The images of destruction, death, tears and terror are unbearable.

Many lessons have to be learnt. Resistance to occupation, although an unquestioned right, doesn't exist in vacuum and cannot be subject to unilateral decisions or personal acts. Hamas has been strategically and tactically mistaken. All liberation movements known in modern history were unified and operated with a wide-range mandate of their people. This is the only way to independence. In Egypt, South Africa and Algeria, no political party or faction sought power before independence. In occupied Palestine, Hamas was a main player in the current political fragmentation. Refusing national unity, treating the Palestinian Authority as an enemy, insisting on unilateral relationships with the world, and turning to Iran for financial and logistical support are clear symptoms of its bad calculations.

Indeed, Israel never dreamt of such awful Palestinian divisions. Appearing as a crippled peacemaking actor amid this miserable Palestinian situation, Israel has fought on two correlated fronts: diminishing every possibility for peace and justifying its aggression on Palestinians. For the sake of its domination in Gaza, Hamas has taken a powerless people hostage, not only by its unwise actions, but also for a hotly disputed Iranian nuclear programme.

In sum, this is a time for Palestinian reconciliation as the sole way towards tough negotiations with Israel to end its unceasing occupation and confiscation of Palestinian land and resources. Without such reconciliation, Israeli offences will continue in different forms, and Palestinians will sacrifice more blood.

This week's Soapbox speaker is a political analyst.