The Beginning of the End of Gaza

Striking in the morning, and not at night as many Hamas leaders expected, Israeli Air Force attacked strongholds of Hamas terrorist organizations in retaliation for the endless rocket attacks on Israeli border towns during the leat several months. The half assed truce brokered by Egypt has finally collapsed just as the new U.S. administration prepares to take control of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government…   Coincidence?  We think not… Hamas has brought this upon itself and may have deluded itself into thinking that the new administration in Washington is going to somehow control Israel in support their cause.

Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) — Israeli aircraft attacked police and security installations across the Gaza Strip, killing scores of people in the deadliest raid since the occupation of the coastal region ended in 2005, security and medical officials said.

As many as 200 people were killed and 750 injured, including women and children, Mu’awia Hassanien, a Palestinian medical-services official in Gaza, said today. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, called the air strike a massacre and said it would retaliate. At least 30 rockets were fired from Gaza today, Israel Radio reported, killing a woman in Netivot.

Israel’s strikes started at 11:30 a.m. and in two minutes hit more than 30 targets, most of them security compounds run by Hamas, said an official of the movement who declined to be identified. They came after a week in which dozens of Qassam rockets were fired into Israel following the expiration Dec. 19 of a six-month cease-fire with Hamas.

“Israel expects the support and understanding of the international community as it confronts terror,” Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said. The government ordered the strikes on Hamas only after it saw no other way to stop rocket attacks on its southern towns. The attack comes amid an election campaign in Israel, with the ballot scheduled for Feb. 10.

“The operation will be continued, expanded and intensified as much as will be required,” the Israeli army said in an e- mailed statement. The Israel Home Front Command warned people within 20 kilometers of Gaza to stay close to air-raid shelters.

U.S. Urges Restraint

Destruction in Gaza

In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in an e-mailed statement from President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, that “Hamas’s continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop.” He also urged “Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in a statement that he “condemns the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip and blames Israel, as an occupying force, for the victims and the wounded.” Egypt ordered the Rafah terminal on its border with Gaza to be opened so that the wounded could be treated in Egyptian hospitals, the statement said.

Hamas ruled out renewal of a six-month cease-fire with Israel as the conflict started to escalate last week, with Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli border towns and retaliatory air raids on Gaza.

Trade Restrictions

Hamas leaders blamed Israel’s refusal to remove restrictions on the flow of food, medical supplies and other goods through Gaza border crossings, and Israeli military operations, for the failure of the cease-fire. Israel says the restrictions on trade with Gaza and its air strikes were in response to Palestinian rocket attacks.

Israeli and Hamas officials agreed to the cease-fire through Egyptian mediators in June without negotiating directly. Hamas canceled meetings in Cairo planned earlier this month that were aimed at renewing the truce.

Israel tightened restrictions on the passage of goods into Gaza after Hama seized control of the seaside enclave 18 months ago. Hamas and the Iranian-supported Islamic Jihad group are classified as terrorist organizations by Israel, the U.S. and European Union.

Hamas, which is committed to Israel’s destruction, won parliamentary elections in January 2006. Israel has said it will not speak to the group unless it recognizes the Jewish state, ceases all attacks and abides by past agreements signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. — Bloomberg News

What to expect next? Expect the end of restraint on the part of Israel. Also, expect an increase in the price of oil and gold as tensions in the Middle East begin to boil over and return to their normal powder keg status quo spooking the world markets even further. You can also expect the Obama administration to begin to posture itself in alliance with any U.N. led position statements in an effort to show that his new administration will work in conjunction with the wishes of the U.N. should Israel take even more proactive measures against Hamas. U.S. alliance with U.N. calls for restraint will then signal very clearly to Israel that they will need to act on their own to protect themselves in the future from an ever threatening Iran and Syria.

Israel will have no choice but to re-occupy Gaza which will be the beginning of the end for both  a Hamas led Gaza and any hope for lasting peace in the region without a major end game move by the world’s super powers. The question will be to what extent will an Obama administration support pre-emptive strikes by Israel as an extention of the Bush Doctrine of the past eight years?

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