Israel, Hamas Both Claim Victory After Cease-Fire in Gaza Strip
Israel, Hamas Both Claim Victory After Cease-Fire in Gaza Strip
Israel and Hamas are both claiming victory in the 22-day conflict in the Gaza Strip that left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Israeli officials declared they had succeeded in their main objective of limiting Hamas’s ability to fire rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. Hamas announced that sheer survival constituted success after the onslaught by sea, land and air by Israeli forces.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed Israelis on television hours before yesterday’s 2 a.m. unilateral cease-fire, saying the army’s goals “were more than fully achieved.” In Gaza City, mosque loudspeakers along Omar Mukhtar Street broadcast the news of a “gorgeous and great victory” by Hamas that forced Israel to “stop its crimes.”
Both sides will now seek to demonstrate to their own constituencies that the battle was worth fighting. At stake for Israel is the ability to deter further attacks by Hamas and other enemies, such as Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia. Hamas needs to show it still has the muscle to rule Gaza and begin reconstruction.
The Israeli assault killed hundreds of Hamas militants, including some of the group’s top leaders, and reduced Hamas security facilities and government buildings to rubble. The number of rockets fired by Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union, fell to 20 a day at the end of the campaign from 70 at the beginning, according to the Israeli army.
‘Exorbitant Price’
“We had to dispel the myth that there’s no way to stop a terrorist organization from firing rockets at our civilian population,” said Dan Schueftan, deputy director of the National Security Studies Center at Haifa University. “What we accomplished was to levy such an exorbitant price that those rockets weren’t cost-effective anymore.”
The conflict may also influence the outcome of the Feb. 10 Israeli election, in which former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party and Defense Minister Ehud Barak of the Labor Party are running to succeed Olmert, who bowed out to defend himself against corruption charges. Netanyahu argued Israel should have gone further to crush Hamas.
“Every one of the candidates is going to be judged on the outcome of the war, but it’s early and the perceptions are still being formed,” Schueftan said. “Right now it looks good for Barak and Livni, but Netanyahu may benefit if it turns out that the results of the war are not so great.”
Many of the rockets fired at Israel had been smuggled from Egypt into Gaza through tunnels under the border. Israel got a commitment from the U.S. and European states to help prevent arms smuggling into Gaza.
‘Strong Success’
That commitment, along with low Israeli casualties and the blow sustained by Hamas, point to “a pretty strong Israeli success,” Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, said in a telephone interview.
Steinberg contrasts the Gaza fighting with Israel’s 33-day assault on Hezbollah in 2006, which failed to stop the firing of rockets by the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia into the north of Israel. A government-appointed commission criticized political leaders for mismanaging the war and “found serious failings and flaws in the quality of preparedness, decision-making and performance” by top commanders.
In Gaza, Israel “showed it absorbed the lessons of the war, and even when it made some of the same errors -- the friendly fire incidents, reported incidents in which civilians were killed -- the army didn’t blink this time, and that was the difference,” Steinberg said.
Public Support
In a poll commissioned by the Ma’ariv newspaper, 93 percent of Israel’s Jewish population expressed approval of the assault on Gaza. The telephone survey of 800 adults was conducted by the Teleseker organization and published Jan. 16. The margin of error wasn’t given.
Hamas can also claim victory because its refusal to surrender strengthened its standing among Palestinians in Gaza, said Yoram Meital, chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba.
“I’m not sure the massive use of force taught Hamas or anyone else in the region the lesson that Israeli decision makers wanted it to do,” Meital said. “Rather than weakening Hamas, the fighting made it a more legitimate body because it spoke for the Palestinians and faced down Israel.”
Low-Level Fighting
Low-level fighting, including occasional rocket attacks, will continue as long as Israeli troops occupy the Gaza Strip, Palestinian observers say. Once the Israel army leaves, Hamas will probably turn to reconstruction to show the Gaza public it is in charge.
“For Hamas, it’s important to be visible and demonstrate it can cope with the damage,” said Omar Ismail, director of Pal-Think Institute for Strategic Studies, a Gaza-based research group.
Ismail said that Hamas is operating in the shadow of Hezbollah, which quickly dispatched teams to assess damage, hand out money to repair homes and rebuild its militia after the 2006 war.
“Hamas has a difficult act to follow,” Ismail said in a telephone interview. “Gaza is still closed to the outside world, Hamas doesn’t have the money Hezbollah has and, frankly, it’s not as efficient as Hezbollah.”
At the root of Hamas’s political concern is its rivalry with the government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who favors peace talks with Israel. Hamas expelled forces loyal to Abbas from Gaza in a 2007 power struggle, leaving Abbas in control of the West Bank.
“Abbas showed no urgency in trying to get Israel to stop attacking Gaza,” said Khaled Amayreh, a political analyst and commentator in the West Bank city of Hebron. “I can’t see how they can kiss and make up.”
Israel and Hamas are both claiming victory in the 22-day conflict in the Gaza Strip that left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Israeli officials declared they had succeeded in their main objective of limiting Hamas’s ability to fire rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. Hamas announced that sheer survival constituted success after the onslaught by sea, land and air by Israeli forces.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed Israelis on television hours before yesterday’s 2 a.m. unilateral cease-fire, saying the army’s goals “were more than fully achieved.” In Gaza City, mosque loudspeakers along Omar Mukhtar Street broadcast the news of a “gorgeous and great victory” by Hamas that forced Israel to “stop its crimes.”
Both sides will now seek to demonstrate to their own constituencies that the battle was worth fighting. At stake for Israel is the ability to deter further attacks by Hamas and other enemies, such as Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia. Hamas needs to show it still has the muscle to rule Gaza and begin reconstruction.
The Israeli assault killed hundreds of Hamas militants, including some of the group’s top leaders, and reduced Hamas security facilities and government buildings to rubble. The number of rockets fired by Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union, fell to 20 a day at the end of the campaign from 70 at the beginning, according to the Israeli army.
‘Exorbitant Price’
“We had to dispel the myth that there’s no way to stop a terrorist organization from firing rockets at our civilian population,” said Dan Schueftan, deputy director of the National Security Studies Center at Haifa University. “What we accomplished was to levy such an exorbitant price that those rockets weren’t cost-effective anymore.”
The conflict may also influence the outcome of the Feb. 10 Israeli election, in which former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party and Defense Minister Ehud Barak of the Labor Party are running to succeed Olmert, who bowed out to defend himself against corruption charges. Netanyahu argued Israel should have gone further to crush Hamas.
“Every one of the candidates is going to be judged on the outcome of the war, but it’s early and the perceptions are still being formed,” Schueftan said. “Right now it looks good for Barak and Livni, but Netanyahu may benefit if it turns out that the results of the war are not so great.”
Many of the rockets fired at Israel had been smuggled from Egypt into Gaza through tunnels under the border. Israel got a commitment from the U.S. and European states to help prevent arms smuggling into Gaza.
‘Strong Success’
That commitment, along with low Israeli casualties and the blow sustained by Hamas, point to “a pretty strong Israeli success,” Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, said in a telephone interview.
Steinberg contrasts the Gaza fighting with Israel’s 33-day assault on Hezbollah in 2006, which failed to stop the firing of rockets by the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia into the north of Israel. A government-appointed commission criticized political leaders for mismanaging the war and “found serious failings and flaws in the quality of preparedness, decision-making and performance” by top commanders.
In Gaza, Israel “showed it absorbed the lessons of the war, and even when it made some of the same errors -- the friendly fire incidents, reported incidents in which civilians were killed -- the army didn’t blink this time, and that was the difference,” Steinberg said.
Public Support
In a poll commissioned by the Ma’ariv newspaper, 93 percent of Israel’s Jewish population expressed approval of the assault on Gaza. The telephone survey of 800 adults was conducted by the Teleseker organization and published Jan. 16. The margin of error wasn’t given.
Hamas can also claim victory because its refusal to surrender strengthened its standing among Palestinians in Gaza, said Yoram Meital, chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba.
“I’m not sure the massive use of force taught Hamas or anyone else in the region the lesson that Israeli decision makers wanted it to do,” Meital said. “Rather than weakening Hamas, the fighting made it a more legitimate body because it spoke for the Palestinians and faced down Israel.”
Low-Level Fighting
Low-level fighting, including occasional rocket attacks, will continue as long as Israeli troops occupy the Gaza Strip, Palestinian observers say. Once the Israel army leaves, Hamas will probably turn to reconstruction to show the Gaza public it is in charge.
“For Hamas, it’s important to be visible and demonstrate it can cope with the damage,” said Omar Ismail, director of Pal-Think Institute for Strategic Studies, a Gaza-based research group.
Ismail said that Hamas is operating in the shadow of Hezbollah, which quickly dispatched teams to assess damage, hand out money to repair homes and rebuild its militia after the 2006 war.
“Hamas has a difficult act to follow,” Ismail said in a telephone interview. “Gaza is still closed to the outside world, Hamas doesn’t have the money Hezbollah has and, frankly, it’s not as efficient as Hezbollah.”
At the root of Hamas’s political concern is its rivalry with the government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who favors peace talks with Israel. Hamas expelled forces loyal to Abbas from Gaza in a 2007 power struggle, leaving Abbas in control of the West Bank.
“Abbas showed no urgency in trying to get Israel to stop attacking Gaza,” said Khaled Amayreh, a political analyst and commentator in the West Bank city of Hebron. “I can’t see how they can kiss and make up.”