THE MOUNTAINEER

Edison L. Baddal
Defending territorial integrity
(Second of two parts)

Looking back, Hamas never recognized Israel as a sovereign nation when it won control over Gaza on the heels of its major victory during the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January, 2006.

This unyielding stance unmasked its hideous intention to destroy Israel at whatever cost. Anyway, the destruction of Israel is its staunchest goal when it was organized during the first Intifada that occurred from 1987 to 1993.

Hamas further made no bones of its horrible intention when it refused to renounce violence as its policy even after several nations, including the United States and the European Union, severed direct economic aid to the Palestinian Government in which it is a part. Inexorably, the uncontrolled smuggling of arms into Gaza across its steel-fenced border with Egypt is serving this grim purpose.

It could be contended that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza (which it captured from Egypt in 1967) on September 12,2005, after occupying it for 39 years, could have been a lapse on its part. Even its withdrawal from the west bank (which it captured from Jordan in 1967)in favor of Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Front in 1994 seemed to have been misplaced.

This is because its vision of a land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians is proving to be a flop having failed to create the environment of peace and security for the Israelis. In the case of Gaza, its failure to completely destroy the secret tunnels used for smuggling arms into it even after it continues to exercise control over its air space and sea access to its ports, is proving to be a stab and a prickly thorn on its back.

Fact is, while Israel is prudently giving concessions in every opportunity to the Palestinians hoping for peaceful co-existence with them the latter, notably the Hamas and other militant groups, are bent on eradicating Israel from the map.

While the media is castigating Israel for excessive display of firepower against a recalcitrant enemy, some things should be considered seriously. Putting things into proper perspective, Israel has never been the aggressor in this war and so with the past wars that it fought against the Arabs starting from its 1948-1949 war of liberation.

In the latter, six Arab nations comprising Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iran conspired to destroy Israel. They used their military might as a drag against Israel’s existence after the latter boldly declared its independence as a sovereign nation on May 14,1948.

If anything, the war of liberation in 1948-1949,the 1956 Israeli Suez campaign, 1967 six-day Arab-Israeli War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, 1982 Lebanon invasion to neutralize a nascent Palestinian terrorist attack, 1987-1993 first Palestinian Intifada, second Palestinian Intifada in 2000-2005, Israeli-Hezbollah war in mid-2006 and now the Gaza-Israeli war, all boils down to one thing: the determination of Israel to survive as a sovereign nation hand in hand with its need to maintain and protect its territorial integrity. Needless to say, being a small nation girded by angry and hostile nations bent on its destruction and annihilation, it is its prime duty to do no less.

For the prejudice, discrimination and violence that the Israelis experienced for centuries in every country where they tried to settle down, not to mention the extreme anger and hostility of the Arabs against them, their piece of land is the only land where they feel secure and comparatively at peace. Hence, they cannot just let their small plot of land be grabbed by angry wolves after investing much blood (exemplified by the Nazi holocaust), sweat and tears since the turn of the twentieth century when Jews started migrating to Palestine to create a country of their own at the auspices of the Balfour Declaration.

Jordan and Egypt have recognized Israel as a nation but the fact remains that its people hate the Jews in the same way as that of the Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians and other Arab countries.There’s even a sinister information bandied about some years back that children in West Bank and Gaza are being trained to hate the Jews so that they grow up hating the Jews.

Arabs are known to close ranks and drop their hatred and prejudice against each other once they face a common enemy. This practice is borne out of an Arab saying which goes: “My brother and I will fight my cousin but my cousin and I will fight a stranger.” Right now, the recent rocket attacks from Lebanon into northern Israel is believed to be from the Hezbollah, another terrorist group based in Lebanon bent on destroying Israel. This threatens to open another front in Israel’s current war just like in 2006 when Hezbollah struck at Israel while the latter was battling Hamas.

It is widely believed that the Hezbollah attack is meant to show league with the Hamas militants being its brother in terrorism, anti-semitism and racism. Anyhow, Israel has already withstood such kind of challenge in its previous wars. This was most exemplified by the 1973 Yom Kippur War where it simultaneously battled Syria in its northern border and Egypt in its southern border and won over both with a resounding victory.

Also, its experience in battling Arabs simultaneously on six fronts during its 1948 war of liberation comes in handy if and when it fights Hezbollah again in its northern border while dealing with the Hamas in its midwestern border.