The war continues and there is no victor, but Israel is gradually pulling most of its troops out of the Gaza Strip in a sign that in the course of a weekend, it decided to take a completely different tack in its war with Hamas.
After four attempts at a humanitarian cease-fire over the past few weeks, including a much vaunted one on Friday that was supposed to last for 72 hours but instead collapsed after two days, Israel decided that it was no longer pursuing a truce with Hamas. Instead, it opted for a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, save a new buffer zone it is carving out along the border, in the belief that there was more to be gained from walking away from what had begun to seem like a merry-go-round of failed cease-fires.
On the one hand, the decision is a stunning reversal from what many had begun to expect from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose more hawkish Cabinet members have been calling for a reoccupation of the Gaza Strip. On the other, the decision to pull back ground troops while declaring, as Netanyahu did Saturday, that the operation continues, is a formula for the blood-soaked Israel-Hamas war to plod on
while the world watches the death toll in Gaza rise and international diplomats grow increasingly befuddled by the question of what to propose next.
This game of cat and mouse by Israel continues to play havoc on the lives of ordinary Gaza citizens, over 1800 of them have been declared dead as of today. Israel reserves for itself the rights of judge, jury, and executioner, summarily killing thousands in retaliation for the murder of three Israeli youths. They deny most Palestinian Arabs the most basic rights while constricting their freedom to move and lead healthy lives, which would also emancipate them economically. They arbitrarily draw borders, constrict freedoms, humiliate and kill Palestinians, all the while denying them their right to have a state.
But what gives them that right? What right does Netanyahu, or for that matter any Israeli government has to either give or restrict the right of Palestinians to have an independent state? Whether Palestinians have the right to statehood is a matter of international matter. Why recognition has to be obtained from Netanyahu — the Prime Minister of Israel. Palestine is not a colony of Israel. By asking the Palestinian leaders to negotiate with Netanyahu is insulting for the Muslims of Palestine. We do not understand why the Muslim countries enjoy being humiliated?
