2014-09-10. Gaza: David vs. Goliath
After the Pyrrhic victory of the Palestinians in Gaza, the next day is unclear for both the Palestinians and Israel. The acceptance of the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel constitutes a success for Hamas, which set this lifting as a necessary condition for the cessation of hostilities. As the celebrations in Gaza show, the morale of the Palestinians remains high despite their enormous losses, mainly in the civilian population and infrastructure. For its part, Israel, maintaining a mild communication tone, has its own strategic benefits from this war: the destruction of a large part of the underground tunnels and a small part of Hamas's missile potential. However, it seems that the aforementioned successes of the Israeli army do not cover the fact that it was involved in a protracted war with a strategic impasse for Tel Aviv: after invading with ground forces, it would have had to choose either to reoccupy the Gaza Strip or to withdraw in an ugly way. It partially chose the second option. Much effort for essentially nothing, since Hamas has kept its arsenal intact and is preparing to rebuild its underground communication channels with the outside world with building materials that will be imported for the reconstruction of the above-ground Gaza.
The lifting of the blockade is expected to create multidimensional chain reactions. The strategic relationship between Israel and Egypt will be tested in the Sinai Peninsula with the level of security being compromised once again. The opening of the southern borders of Gaza will strengthen Hamas' relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt with all that this implies for the military leadership in Cairo. Therefore, it is expected that in the coming months we will see in practice what operational scope and variety of products the lifting of the blockade of Gaza will have, as well as how long it will last.
The main stake of this peace, however, is the implementation of the declaration of political unity of the Palestinians. Fatah and Hamas are called upon to demonstrate political maturity and to increase the level of cooperation and consensus among themselves despite the anxious and omnipresent eye of the occupier. The reconstruction of Gaza is a first-class opportunity for achieving Palestinian political unity. It is important that those stabilizing political, economic and technological forces of the Palestinians are already active, which, regardless of ideological shade, are ready to invest and contribute operationally to improving the standard of living of the inhabitants of Gaza. And this constitutes an important step for the unity of the Palestinians, truly reflecting political maturity. Without this maturity, the Palestinians will not be able to claim in practice the establishment of an independent Palestinian State based on UN resolutions and the parallel lifting of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Is it possible that the political unity of the Palestinians is also their "slingshot" in their duel with Goliath?
