09 Jan 2009 |
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Being a bit of a political junkie, I'm often asked for my take on what's happening in the news. While I generally pride myself on my ability to come up with some sort of potential solution to most problems, I have completely given up on trying to find solutions to the Israel-Palestine situation. Why is it that whenever there's a peace negotiation, reporters get overly optimistic and tell us that there's actually a chance of peace this time? Do they really believe this stuff? Do they not remember that they said the same thing before the last round of peace negotiations, which inevitably ended in violence? However, now that the peace talks at the Middle East summit are a distant memory, we are no longer facing this situation. We're now back to the violence part of this vicious cycle, with a bloody war being waged in Gaza. A war with no clear objectives and no clear exit strategy. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) official objective is to "strike a direct and hard blow against Hamas while increasing the deterrent strength of the IDF, in order to bring about an improved and more stable security situation for residents of southern Israel in the long now term." Read: end the rocket attacks being launched from Gaza and destroy the tunnels that allow the militants to resupply. Yet, it's unclear how Israel hopes to achieve these objectives. This is why there's increasing speculation that the IDF's true objective is to topple the Hamas regime (see analysis here, here, here, and here). While Hamas has a multitude of members and supporters in Gaza, making it a hard goal to achieve, this may be the best solution, at least in the short term. As bad as the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been as a trustworthy negotiator in the peace process, Hamas has been worse. Hamas's stated goal is the destruction of Israel and they have no qualms about making that fact known. As long as Hamas is in control of Gaza, there is absolutely no chance of achieving a viable Palestinian state and there is little chance that the people living in Southern Israel will ever feel completely safe. Of course, removing Hamas presents its own set of problems. Namely that without someone to come in and fill the power vacuum, the potential for another group, that is equally as repressive and violent as Hamas, taking power is quite high. It would appear as though Israel has three options in this situation: reoccupy the Gaza strip, allow for an international peacekeeping force to come in and try to deal with the situation, or hand power back to the Palestinian Authority. Of these options, returning power to the PA would seem to be the best. Despite the PA's history of terrorism, they do represent the best chance to fulfil the aspirations of the Palestinian people by allowing the peace process to continue. While I would like to see a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside the State of Israel, as I said earlier, I believe this is a no-win scenario. And how do you beat a no-win scenario? Kirk was the only cadet to ever beat the Kobayashi Maru. "I changed the conditions of the test. Got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose," said Kirk. We need to change the conditions of the test, alter the parameters of the game. That, of course, will take some original thinking. I'm no longer offering solutions to this one. Do you have any ideas?
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Tags: Israel Hamas Gaza The Wrath of Khan Middle East peace war Israel Defence Forces IDF Palestinian Authority PA
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end the Israeli occupation of palestine. all "solutions" to the conflict flow from there.