MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Andrei Murtazin) - Israel started a sweeping antiterrorist Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to destroy the military structure of Hamas, a radical Islamic movement ruling in Gaza.
In the first two days, intense bombing razed all police stations and Islamic strongholds, killing hundreds of Palestinians. The Israeli Defense Ministry said the operation would last several weeks.
It has sparked mass protests in Arab countries, and this fury is justified. Over 300 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded in Gaza during the first two days of bombing. There were women and children among the casualties.
Demonstrations have been held in some Arab capitals, notably Beirut, to protest not only against Israel, but also against "the ruling Arab regimes collaborating with Zionists."
Emotions are boiling over, but people do not always agree with their leaders. Far from all Arab governments have denounced "the new Israeli aggression." The response would have been different several years ago.
Even Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian National Authority, has condemned the Israeli action but said Hamas could have prevented the slaughter had it prolonged the six-month truce with Israel, which expired on December 19. Instead, on December 25 the Islamists showered adjacent Israeli territory with high-trajectory Qassam missiles.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he had appealed to Hamas more than once to prolong the truce with Israel, but they refused saying they want their hands free.
Paradoxically, it is not only Israel who needed the current invasion of Gaza to protect its citizens from Islamic fighters. The Hamas leaders, who have been at loggerheads with Abbas, whose powers expire in January 2009, will also benefit from the attack.
The Hamas leadership in Gaza and the movement's spiritual leader Khaled Meshaal, 45, who is living in exile in Damascus, are ready to sacrifice thousands of their compatriots to strengthen their power in Gaza and their influence on Palestinians in the West Bank controlled by the Abbas administration and Israel.
Israel will not eradicate Hamas's ideas. Even if it invades and occupies Gaza, this will only strengthen the surviving Palestinians' belief in Hamas and hatred for "the Zionist enemy." This is exactly what the Islamists need.
Only Syria and Iran have unconditionally denounced Israel's actions. Syria has said it will terminate the indirect talks with Israel, whereas Iran has said the Israeli leaders must be tried in the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
But the Gulf countries have reacted differently. Saudi King Abdullah has said in a telephone conversation with President George W. Bush that the United States must interfere to stop the Israeli attacks in Gaza.
The other Arab monarchs keep silence because they have always known that standing behind Hamas are Iran and Syria, which do not need a separate peace between Palestinians and Israel on any conditions.
Iran wants to remain the regional superpower, while Syria wants to prevent a separate solution of the Palestinian problem by the U.S.-Israel-PNA trio. Syria also wants to force the U.S. to act friendly in order to resolve the problem of the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied during the 1967 war.
Several days ago Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called on the Gaza residents to be staunch and to resist the Israeli aggression. Speaking to the residents of the West Bank, a region controlled by the Abbas administration, the Islamic leader called on them to start a third intifada to support the "Gaza brothers."
Intifada means an uprising, and Palestinians have had two intifadas. The first uprising began in December 1987 and lasted until 1993. It resulted in the signing of a Palestinian-Israeli agreement to set up the Palestinian National Authority in Gaza and the West Bank. By different estimates, the death toll during the first intifada was 1,200 Palestinians and 170 Israelis.
The second intifada began in September 2000 after Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel's right-wing bloc Likud, visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the three holy places for the Muslims, along with the Kaaba and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, is situated. Arabs claimed Sharon's visit desecrated the shrine. The second intifada ended with the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004, although nobody has stopped it officially. The death toll as of late November 2008 is estimated at over 5,300 Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis, both military and civilians, as well as 64 foreigners.
Hamas has called for a third intifada. Will the Palestinians do their leader's bidding?
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
