Wednesday, 7 January 2009
The international community is aware of different Israeli ways of combattin terrorism. The news agencies broadcast live news worldwide about the ways in which Israel eliminates the menace of “terror” targeted its territory and its citizens. Israeli officials state that Hamas, responsible for the thousands of rocket attacks to Israel, is a fierce radical terrorist organization and definitely have to be eliminated. Statements continue as the organization is in line with Taliban in terms of its ideology and it adopts the methods of Al-Qaeda in its terrorist attacks. According to the Israeli officials, the only way for Israel to protect her citizens and bring peace to its territory is the immediate eradication of this terrorist organization.
To succeed in the above mentioned objectives, Israel should examine the methods of other countries who combat terrorism first. Moreover, Israel needs to do its homework well before transferring it into practice. What needs Israel to do as the first and foremost action is to identify the leading figures of Hamas and direct special task force units through these militants. Thus, making a distinction between the innocent people and the targeted militants will be possible as well.
Israel’s New Method
Think about a success story of an anti-terror operation directed towards the terrorist cells in a city with the population of one and half million. Can you locate air strikes, rocket launching warships or huge tanks in this success story? In general, the use of anti-terror task forces with the support of helicopters, surrounding of the terrorist cells and getting the terrorists with special weapons is expected from such an operation. Nevertheless, Israel has been performing just an opposite way of combating terrorism than what is generally accepted. Why is Israel acting this way?
It is simply because the target was not directly the Hamas militants. From the beginning of the Gaza offense, the number of civilians killed is nearly 600. The numbers prove that this is not a raid towards the Hamas cells and not an attempt to capture Hamas militants. Though, in the tenth day of the offense, the world witnessed the victorious (!) moment of war with bewilderment. After killing almost 600 civilians, Israeli soldiers achieved one of the goals of the operation and captured one Hamas militant. Israel employed all possible visual elements to expose the capture of the militant to the rest of the world; however, inability of its methods in combating with terrorism stood still and became widely known as well.
Israel leaves the elimination of Hamas to the Palestinians. The strategy applied in the blockade of Gaza is actually belongs to the Middle Ages, yet, Israel practices a 21st century version of this old fashioned strategy. According to this strategy, when a crime is committed in a community, the whole community is punished with the expectation of isolation of the criminal by the rest. Thus, the processes of capturing, interrogation and trial proposed in modern world are obviated. As an extension of this strategy, in order to eliminate the Hamas militants, Israel puts blockades to the Palestinians on food, water, health and economy first. Israel expected abandonment and the isolation of Hamas by the Palestinians throughout eighteen months of blockade. Yet, the opposite happened and the Palestinians continued to support Hamas as they did in 2006 elections. As another step of the strategy, Israel used direct military force against Palestinians. Air strikes, rocket launching warships and tanks targeted this small piece of land where one and half million Palestinians live. This Israel way of “combating terrorism” injured 2.800 and killed 600 Palestinians since December 27, 2008.
In accordance with its particular method, Israel is trying to reach its goals through collective punishment instead of capturing the exact criminals. Israel does not change the method, yet, it implements expanded operations in a more intrepid manner. Since, the operation created more than a thousand civilian casualties in contrast with only fifty Hezbollah militants, many analysts regarded the 2006 operation as a milestone. Therefore, most of analysts agreed that Israel’s use of conventional weapons and disproportional force in operations against non-governmental bodies has not only a boomerang effect but it is also inappropriate. As a consequence of the operations Israel became a target of international community because of its human right violations. Moreover, Israel also paved the way of Hezbollah to take root in Lebanon in contrary to what she had expected.
Why This Method?
The use of collective punishment to combat terrorism relies on several reasons. The first and foremost reason is the Israel’s belief that it has the ability to establish of a simulation against the reality. Therefore, Israel believes that with psychological warfare, the world can perceive the issue in a different way from the reality and Palestine can be defeated. From this point of view, the operation began with Hamas’ rejection of the extension of ceasefire, thus, not as a result of a long preparation and detailed plan of Israel. Moreover, there are thousands of rockets that Hamas launched, yet, only seven people were killed by these rockets. With the emphasis on the Hamas rockets, the Israeli experts more or less give the impression that these rockets killed hundreds or thousands of Israelis, yet the reality is totally different.
Indeed, Hamas is an evil terrorist organization. It is in line with Taliban and is certainly needed to be eliminated through an extensive operation. Nevertheless, when the operation is examined, it seems that the target is not Hamas but the Palestinians. The idea of how to catch Hamas militants with air strike and with missiles from warships in a city with one and half million people is omitted from the discussions. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed in the operations but Israel is still setting the agenda with the rhetoric of protection of its territory and its citizens.
Presenting one out of six hundred as a success is very particular case to Israel. All other countries, even in huge operations against one hundred militants, apologize for the limited number of civilian casualties and promise for not harming civilians in future operations. Nevertheless, the power of Israel does not lie beneath killing hundreds of innocent people for just one militant, rather it lies how Israel portrays this ratio. The supporters of Israel from all over the world intensely present same lines instead of the reality and that helps Israel a lot. We can even say that the power of Israel does not rely on the warplanes or warships but relies on the elements of psychological war. This psychological war continues with the help of student associations, internet networks, debate forms, TV channels, newspapers, and intellectual debate platforms.
Israel’s success on the propaganda issue encourages her to use excessive power, violate human rights and pay no attention to the international organizations. Actually, there are mistakes of Palestinians and in fact Hamas is continuing its misguided policies. And of course Israeli state has the duty to protect its citizens and provide freedom. However, Israel has to accept one reality as all other democratic countries accept: No democracy, no free and secure society can be built on collective punishment of others and abuse of others’ mistakes.
There is not a goal reached by competence in killing in the Middle East. Instead of killing, believing in keeping people alive provides a more secure and free Israel. Otherwise abusing the fragmentation of Palestinians, using Hamas as a justification and killing hundreds of Palestinians will not lead Israel to a better end. Instead of manipulating the reality, Israel should face it and develop policies according to this reality.
Conclusion
Israel no longer has the monopoly on the propaganda instruments. There are cameras, television channels, newspapers, internet forums, intellectual circles and voluntary diplomatic representatives in every society for people who want to reveal the reality. Israel has to be aware of this trend. Being against the violations of human rights, war crimes and collective punishments is not about being a supporter of Palestinians or opposing Israel. It is about the necessity to protect the universal values of humanity. Therefore, Israel’s ability to manipulate the reality is losing its base before the people who protect the universal values of humanity and pursue the reality.
Israel-Palestine problem is not limited to these two countries, it has worldwide echoes. In this regard, Israel cannot attain its goals via its particular “combating terrorism” methods. Israel is becoming the prisoner of its own psychological war methods which means the Israeli state’s promises for the secure and free Israel is losing its base. Thus, Israel needs to develop urgent methods to combat with terrorism instead of dealing with Hamas rockets.
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