Israel and Palestine: the most uneven of battles
Hamas’s low-tech response to Gaza siege is effective but comes with big risks, writes
Israel is escalating its response to kites and helium balloons launched from the Gaza Strip, with calls growing to eradicate the flaming low-tech devices seen in Israel as a new and perilous form of Hamas terrorism.
But the group has come to view the flimsy kites, bearing fuel-soaked rags, as a resistance tool against Israel’s 11-year siege of the coastal enclave, and it seems unlikely to easily abandon their use any time soon.
How far Israel escalates and how Hamas, which has ruled the territory since 2007, responds could determine whether war erupts for what would be the fourth time in a decade.
Each side has its reasons for avoiding conflict. Israel wants to focus its attention on Iran’s presence in Syria, and Hamas is anxious to avoid another Israeli onslaught that could lead to it losing power.
But tensions in the conflict have been high in recent months. Israeli snipers have killed 132 Palestinian protesters and wounded thousands in weekly demonstrations along the Gaza border. Israel says Hamas uses the protests as cover for attacks and that Palestinians pose a threat to border communities.
Last week, the UN General Assembly voted to condemn Israel for using “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate” force at the border.
Concerns rose on Monday as the Israeli air force struck Hamas targets in Gaza for the first time with the explicit purpose of deterring kite arson, which is bedevilling the Middle East’s most sophisticated military with its F-35s and Iron Dome missile defence system. The kites have caused no casualties, but have sparked daily fires and greater apprehension near the Gaza border.
Gazans thought not to be affiliated with Hamas, but allowed by the group to act, responded to Monday’s air strikes by firing three rockets at Israel.
The risk of an escalation to war over the kites is very real, says Galia Golan, a political scientist at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. “Assuming Israel goes on doing what it’s doing, at what point does Hamas feel it must respond with rockets and you get a full-scale war? I can’t say.”
The kites can be assembled with an incendiary device at a cost of about US$2 (Dh7.34), according to youths who prepare them. They say their tactic is a response to Israeli aggression and an effort to break the siege.
In recent days, Israeli planes have fired warning shots near groups launching kites. But that strategy is insufficient, according to hard-right Education Minister Naftali Bennett. “We need to stop shooting next to the target and start shooting at the target,” he said on Monday.
The government is also under pressure from leaders in border communities to use more force. They say Palestinians recently upped the ante by sending kites equipped with explosives, not just flaming ones.
Ofer Liberman, agricultural director for Kibbutz Nir-Am, which lost part of its citrus groves in a blaze on Saturday, has been one of those to voice his anger. “The fact that this is continuing shows that not enough is being done. It has to stop.”
Kites and balloons have caused more than 430 fires since the end of March when the rallies began, according to Yigal Zohar, commander of the Ashkelon regional fire station. Almost 1,500 hectares of Israeli land has been destroyed, he said. Israeli authorities estimate the cost of the damage at $2 million.
But Israel’s military told residents that if it responded with even greater force, a new round of conflict would be in the works. “The alternative to kite terror is war,” an army spokesman told residents. “If we respond too strongly it could lead to escalation.”
Observers say that the kite launches will continue despite Israel’s action. Hamas has no interest in stopping them because they focus attention on Israel, according to Mkhaimar Abu Sada, a political scientist at Gaza’s Al Azhar University.
“Hamas knows that at the end of the day if the [public’s] feeling is not directed against Israel, sooner or later it will be against Hamas itself.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly said in closed meetings that it is better to put off an all-out confrontation until after Israel completes the building of an underground wall to thwart Hamas’s cross-border tunnels.
Gazans are similarly cautious about the struggle over the kites erupting into war. “There could be another escalation like we saw three weeks ago, but it could be brought under control by third parties,” such as the Egyptians, said Mr Abu Sada. “It seems war is not the solution.”
But Israel’s high-tech response to the low-tech threat belies how much it has unsettled the security elite.
“This needs to be seen as terrorism in every way. The destruction it sows is very substantial,” said Shaul Shay, former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council.
If the Israeli government’s cautious message is ignored then “the steps will have to be much sharper”, he says, including “hitting those who send the boys to launch the kites”.
That response could make the path to a new Gaza war very real.