After yet another humiliating defeat, the once mighty Israeli forces have retreated from Gaza under a whithering bombardment of international condemnation, their mission ending once again in failure.
Operation "Hot Winter" began last Saturday as a limited ground incursion into Gaza but soon escalated as additional forces were called for. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told senior military commanders, "The time has come for action. Hamas is responsible and will pay a price."
Unfortunately for the once vaunted Israeli war machine there does not appear to have been any clear objectives, other than a "tit for tat" revenge for the killing of one Israeli man by rocket fire. This was the first such casualty in the past nine months and
one of only thirteen in the past eight years according to Israeli officials. In comparison the Israeli response is believed to have killed 116 Palestinians, at least half of whom were unarmed civilians and many of those children.
Although Barak had vowed to knock the
Palestinian group Hamas from power and Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai warned the Palestinians that they were facing a
shoah or "catastrophe" (some say "holocaust") the once feared Israeli Defense Force (IDF) instead found itself forced to withdraw because of the worldwide outcry against their ham fisted tactics.
Little David verses
Among the many world leaders that have demanded an end to the Israeli invasion
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Israel for using "excessive" force. The European Union blasted Israel for it's "disproportionate use of force" which they deemed "contrary to international law."
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said of the invasion:
"We told them to solve the issue with diplomacy. However, unfortunately, they did not choose the way Turkey has shown them. This is a matter of identity...it is not possible for us to approve of this inhuman application. Kids are murdered by disproportional use of power. These attacks can not be explained on humanitarian or legal basis. As Turkish government, we condemn the attitude of Israel clearly."
Jewish groups such as the anti-Zionist
Neturei Karta ("Guardians of the City") has
called on the world to "stop the wild beast of the Zionist state from destroying the Palestinian people."
Even Israel's staunchest ally, the US, has called for Israel to end its invasion telling Israel that "The violence needs to stop and the talks need to resume."
Goliath
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has left for the Middle East in the hopes of restarting the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which is led by President Mahmoud Abbas, a bitter rival of Hamas. Despite his party's deep hatred of Hamas, President Abbas has pulled out of the talks in protest against Israel's tactics.
As the Bush administration limps to the finish line there had been hope that they could salvage some sort of "legacy" by helping to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the captive Palestinians but with the failure of this latest Israeli invasion there seems very little prospect of this happening before Bush leaves office.
Martin Indyk, head of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, was once one of the most ardent supporters of the Bush peace process but is now highly critical of its chances for success saying:
"What the administration has managed to do is turn a situation in which it was better-late-than never into a situation where it is too-little-too-late...Across the board, it is very hard to point to anything that has been achieved since Annapolis."
In addition to scuttling the peace process Israels latest blunder has only managed in further unite the residents of Gaza against Israel. It also provoked violent protests in the occupied West Bank where Israeli soldiers around Nablus, Qalqilya, Bethlehem and East Jerusalem came under attack from crowds of Palestinian youths throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Hebron shopkeeper
Hossam al-Bakri, who had closed his store in solidarity with Gaza told reporters:
"They have been negotiating for 15 years and we have gained nothing. Israel is the one that will provoke an intifada. ... Israel has to choose between war and peace."
Gaza residents celebrate the Israeli retreat.
As the Israeli forces pulled out, having provoked world wide condemnation without achieving any of their objectives, Hamas declared victory and underlined the truth of their claim by firing more rockets into southern Israel.
