Time to act in Gaza

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7276138.stm

Being a student of history, I have noted that in the vast majority of cases when the weak take on the strong and say things like "their right to resist, to defend their people, is absolute" what they really mean is, we are happy to continue fighting until we are all dead. And again, in most cases, the strong usually say something along the lines of "fine, have it your way" and kill them all. If an Arab country had defeated its enemies in five major wars, how many of the defeated would still be walking around spouting triumphalist rhetoric?

At some point, the Palestinians are going to need a right good thumping. From an exemplary point of view, it is essential. In every Arab country (and Egypt and Turkey) there are tens of thousands of young men right now with no job, no prospects and no information but government propaganda about the Jewish pigdogs. Now that Hamas and Hezbollah have demonstrated on a number of occasions that they have worked out the strategy and the tactics to make Israel look like a fumbling psychotic butcher, the template is there for other groups to form and take on Israel. Israel will not be stopped by Hamas and Hezbollah, but by the Guardian and the New York Times.

For as long as the perception remains that these groups can act with impunity and any military response by Israel will immediately generate 'holocaust' stories across all of the 'free' world, the new tactics and strategy will be vindicated. But Israel does not really have the luxury of not defeating its enemies. Hanging some dead crows on the fence is an absolute necessity. Hamas, dedicated as they are to the obliteration of Israel, have to be prime candidates for the role. Gaza is a tough environment to fight in- look at the last major Israeli operations there if you need proof- but given that the process of Islamization is still at an early stage there, it must be worth the pain and effort to succeed.

Let it not be forgotten that despite the Hezbollah press releases, Israel was probably 7-14 days from annihilating them as a military force last year (as Hezbollah themselves have admitted). Overestimating your enemy is just as dumb as underestimating him. Although Hamas tactics (learned from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, like Hezbollah before them) are sound, they die just like everybody else. And total Hamas fighting strength must be in the low thousands. It will not look good on TV, thats for sure, but Israel has no choice of battlefields. Hamas will ensconce themselves wherever the most civvy casualties will be caused, but again, Israel have no control of that. Unless they really smash Hamas into the ground, indubitably the rockets will not stop, and that is compeletely unacceptable.

There is no doubt that some of warfare and politics is theatre. And at the moment, Israel looks like a bumbling bear, swatting ineffectually at enemies it can't see. That image must be corrected if Israel wants peace. As President Bush would say, if you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly.