Fuelled by history and hatred
Rockets target Tel Aviv, Israel calls up reservists as conflict intensifies in region
As the Israeli- Hamas conflict escalates, we take a look at the roots of the strife and why it’s erupting now.
As Israeli and Palestinian forces traded high explosives Friday — and for the first time in decades a rocket reached the holy city of Jerusalem — the escalating violence seemed to confirm long- standing fears that open conflict would return to the region following a devastating Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip four years ago.
Hamas rocket squads on Friday took aim at targets in Tel Aviv — showing that their explosive reach had expanded a great deal from previous conflicts — while at the same time Israel called up of thousands of reservists, a measure seemingly designed to show that the Jewish state is prepared to send its troops into the Palestinian- controlled territories.
The tit- for- tat exchanges of rockets and airstrikes erupted this week with little warning, driven by Hamas’s ambitions to make its mark on a changing Middle East and an Israeli government reacting to a public outcry over rocket attacks just weeks before national elections.
Obama expresses regret
U. S. President Barack Obama spoke separately to the leaders of Israel and Egypt on Friday night, expressing his regret for the loss of life on both sides of the conflict and underscoring the importance of resolving the situation as quickly as possible.
According to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Obama to provide an update.
Netanyahu expressed appreciation to Obama and the American people for U. S. investment in the Iron Dome rocket and mortar defence system, used to defend Israel against rocket attacks, officials said.
In a separate call, Obama called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and praised Egypt’s efforts to ease tensions in the region, the White House said. According to officials, Obama expressed hope that Egyptian efforts would be successful.
The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is a clash of wills driven by wildly contradictory narratives nurtured over the years by two deeply antagonistic societies with little in common save a sense of historical grievance and victimization.
Air raid sirens sounded in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, which — unlike population centres in Israel’s south — had not been exposed to rocket fire from Hamas- ruled Gaza before the current round of cross- border fighting. No injuries were reported, but Hamas’s latest attempts to hit Israel’s heartland could push Israel closer to sending ground troops into Gaza.
Airstrikes target Hamas
Over the past three days, Israel has relentlessly pounded suspected rocket- launching sites and other Hamas targets in Gaza with scores of air strikes, while Hamas has fired more than 450 rockets toward Israel. The overall death toll rose to 30 — 27 Palestinians and three Israelis. Netanyahu huddled with his emergency cabinet on Friday night. Israeli media reported the meeting approved a request from Defence Minister Ehud Barak to draft 75,000 reservists.
From Israel’s perspective, the fact that it withdrew from Gaza in 2005, pulling out all soldiers and settlements after a 38- year occupation, should have been the end of its troubles with the 1.6 million Palestinians there. The continued rocket attacks are seen as an outrage that justifies extreme measures. No country, Israelis argue, could be asked to tolerate a decade of rocket attacks.
Israelis feel their Zionist movement was fundamentally a return home from two millennia of exile but that it was met from the beginning by Arab rejection and violence. The Holocaust further fed the sense of victimization accompanied by a distrust of the world and an obsession with self- reliance.
Hamas, on the other hand, rejects any Jewish connection to the Holy Land and views Israel as a colonial outpost in the heart of the Islamic world that must be destroyed. And among Palestinians, the Gazans’ specific sense of victimization stems most directly from the miserable living conditions in a crowded, besieged and impoverished coastal strip a few kilometres wide. Israel’s soldiers and settlers may be gone, but Israel continues to seal off its border with Gaza, blockades its sea coast for fear of weapons imports, and controls the airspace — and that, they reason, means that Gaza remains “occupied” and therefore “resistance” retains legitimacy.
That narrative aligns with a seething hatred of Israel fed
The tit- for- tat exchanges of rockets and airstrikes erupted this week, driven by Hamas’s ambitions to make its mark on a changing Middle East and Israel reacting to a public outcry over rocket attacks.
by the fact that roughly threequarters of the strip’s population are refugees or descendants of refugees who lost their homes in what became Israel in 1948. For many, the current predicament is one chapter in a long story that will end with the restoration of historical Palestine to Arab and Muslim control.
In this context, the current historical moment takes on particular potential for instability and escalation.
Hamas was badly bruised during its last full- fledged confrontation with Israel four years ago that ended with an informal truce, although rocket fire and Israeli air strikes on militant operations continued sporadically. The Islamic militant group appeared better prepared this time with a more powerful arsenal.
Israeli troops at border
Just a few years ago, Palestinian rockets were limited to crude, homemade devices manufactured in Gaza. But in recent years, Hamas and other armed groups have smuggled in sophisticated, longer- range rockets from Iran and Libya.
Hamas said the two rockets aimed at the two Israeli cities Friday were made in Gaza, a prototype the militants call M- 75, and have a range of about 80 kilometres.
Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem after the start of the Jewish Sabbath in the holy city, claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as a capital and located about 75 kilometres from Gaza. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the rocket landed in an open area southeast of the city.
Earlier Friday, Gaza militants fired toward Tel Aviv and an explosion was heard in the city, but no injuries were reported. Hamas had first targeted Tel Aviv on Thursday, an unprecedented achievement for the group.
“We are sending a short and simple message: There is no security for any Zionist on any single inch of Palestine and we plan more surprises,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Hamas militant wing, said of the rockets aimed at Israel’s two main cities.
In Israel, military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said no decision has been made yet on a ground offensive but all options are on the table. Dozens of armoured vehicles have been moved to Israel’s border with Gaza since fighting intensified Wednesday, following Israel’s assassination of the Hamas military chief.
She said 16,000 reserve soldiers were called up Friday, and the army could draft an additional 14,000 soldiers. She did not say where the reservists were being deployed.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak asked the cabinet at a special meeting Friday night for authorization to activate additional soldiers.
In Europe, reaction to the fighting was mixed. Germany held Hamas responsible and urged Egypt to pressure the Islamists to halt the violence, while Britain cautioned Israel against launching a ground offensive.
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Ottawa supports Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks. He called on all sides to spare innocent lives.