Opinion | Editorials
Stalemate in Middle East set to continue
Israel refuses to recognise Hamas as a political party, even though it won elections.
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:19 January 26, 2008
The way to end the blockade of Gaza, so Israel assures the world, is simple: Hamas must stop firing its rockets into Israeli territory. It is as easy as that.
Equally, the way to end the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is just as easy: Israel must withdraw to the 1967 borders, in accordance with UN resolutions. It is as easy as that.
However, unfortunately, the likelihood of a cessation of hostilities between Hamas-controlled Gaza and Israel will remain as long the Hamas government remains in power.
Israel, supported by the US and a number of its acolyte nations, refuses to recognise Hamas as a political party, even though the Palestinian electorate has done so.
Therefore, while Hamas remains ostracised from the political scene in the region, but an active and vocal participant, the situation between Gazans and Israel remains a stalemate.
In yet another attempt by Israel to increase the pressure upon Hamas, the Israeli government imposed a blockade on Gaza, thrusting the area into a situation dangerously near death, with the absence of electricity, fuel and even food and medicines.
It is a situation that is all too familiar to those Israelis who are Holocaust survivors. During the Second World War it was the Germans murdering Jews: Is that all Israel learnt from those terrible times? It would seem so.
Gazans, desperate to restore some normality to a desperate state of affairs, demolished the border wall between them and Egypt in a hurried attempt to buy much-needed basics for sustenance.
Israel responded by saying it would no longer have responsibility over Gaza if free access to Egypt continued, for fear of arms being smuggled into Gaza. But if Israel looked more carefully, it would see it was food being taken in.
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