Anarrkismo.net: Palestine-Israel - The wonders of the desperate gamble that Netanyahu lost

To keep Hamas on its legs again after the Egyptian closure forced it to its knees and to 
compromise with the West Bank Palestinian Authority, Netanyahu started a war that was 
supposed to set Hamas back on its feet, though much weaker than before the closure.
However Hamas - which only a few months ago was in bankruptcy, unable to pay salaries to 
its men, disconnected from its partners (Egypt turned its back on it, Syria collapsed, 
Iran had forgotten it), and pushed to the point where it was willing to sign a 
reconciliation agreement, or rather surrender agreement, with its bitter rival, Abu Mazen 
just to have the option to exist longer - was found to be much stronger than expected. 
---- Netanyahu, the strategic genius that he is, succeeded within three months and thanks 
to two "heroic" operations (Return Brothers and Robust Cliffs) managed to transform Hamas 
into the most powerful and prestigious Arab organization in the Middle East.

This organization manages suddenly to wrap the whole world round its finger: donations and 
funds flow to it like water from Qatar and suddenly it has a chance to lift the siege, to 
receive benefits. Suddenly, there is chance to lessen the closure of the Gaza Strip to a 
bare minimum. The demands for a port and an airport are no longer pipe dreams.

And the Palestinian public? Their anger at Hamas, which had not been paying wages and 
seemed to be in both monetary and political bankruptcy, together with their despair over 
the harsh conditions of life, suddenly turned into a willingness to die for Hamas and the 
resistance.

The genius Netanyahu shoots and shoots and Hamas becomes stronger and stronger. What 
former secret service ("Shin Bet") chief Yuval Diskin said in January 2013 - "Netanyahu is 
the Israeli politician who has contributed most to the strengthening of Hamas" - is 
obvious to all now.

Israel's strategic step of preventing Palestinian unity between Hamas and the West Bank 
Palestinian Authority in order to postpone any peace agreement between Israel and the 
Palestinians that would end the 1967 occupation has resulted in the exact opposite.

These days, "mighty" Israel cannot stop Hamas bombing its villages, towns, and cities. It 
seems that Israel will have to lift most of the siege of the Gaza Strip in order for the 
bombing to stop. And because of internal conflicts within his coalition preventing him 
from compromise with Hamas, Netanyahu will have to involve the UN Security Council, which 
will probably will hasten talks on a peace agreement and an end to the 1967 occupation.

As a "bonus", the prolonged war with Gaza and the pictures all over the world's media have 
hastened the momentum of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanction) movement, which is 
contributing to the development of a slowing down in the Israeli economy and threatening 
the near-unanimous support of most sectors of the Israeli capitalist elite for a 
continuation of the occupation.

Maybe the weekend talks between foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman on a retreat to the 
1967 borders - including the division of Jerusalem - is the first sign of this split.

Ilan Shalif

Related Link: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com/