Gideon Levy takes a scathing look at the Israeli Leadership's deep denial that Israel needs to work seriously on a comprehensive resolution to the smoldering decades long conflict.
Israel hasn't grown up since the last Gaza war
By Gideon Levy
Now they split: One hand fires Qassam rockets at Israel, the other turns to the United Nations. Israel crushes both of them. In between, the Palestinian people also try nonviolent protest, and are met with rifle butts to the face, rubber-tipped bullets and live fire. And again, nothing. The Palestinians try three different approaches, weapons, diplomacy and nonviolent resistance, and Israel says no to all three.
What do Israelis want? Nothing. They want calm. They want the occupation to continue without disturbing their interminable siesta time. Nearly all Israeli politicians say there is no solution, and anyway we shouldn't go there. There are no Palestinians, no terror attacks and no problem. We left the Gaza Strip, the West Bank is quiet, we have proclaimed our support for a two-state solution. What is the Israeli offering the Palestinian? Sit quietly and don't do anything. But the Palestinian people wants to be free of the occupation. Life is like that sometimes.
Israel arrived at the current round of this endless cycle of bloodshed at yet another peak of denial of the existence of the Palestinian people. From Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid and Labor Party chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich, they all tried to bury our heads in the sand and claim that the issue does not exist, that the problem is not a problem - until a Qassam comes and blows up in their faces.
We have grown up a little since Operation Cast Lead, it's true. Richard Goldstone deserves the thanks for that, even though we'll deny it. The Israel Defense Force has not killed 250 Palestinian police officers in one day, and (at least for now ) the current, relatively surgical operation pales before the crimes of its predecessor. The rhetoric, too, is slightly less diabolical. The politicians and the generals are hitting the radio and television studios again, competing against each other for the title of most bloodthirsty, but to a lesser degree.
Since the residents of Gaza are mostly women and children we can expect most of the Gazans the IDF kills are likely to be civilians, never mind how "surgical" the IDF claims its extensive bombardment of Gaza is.