Peace prospects look bleak

Posted By: Ibrar Khan
Date Posted: 28/12/2008

Only a few days ago I wrote of my wish that people in Palestine would be able to enjoy a peaceful Christmas. The events of the last few days have cruelly trampled over this wish, replacing it with a vision of horror and despair, as the Israelis launched the biggest air assault on Gaza since 1967.

At the time of writing nearly 300 people have been killed including innocent women and children. The bombs that have poured down on innocent civilians have been compared to Deir Yassin. And the Sabra and Shatila massacres. In some densely populated areas where missiles struck, children were leaving school.

Bodies are lying on the streets. Hospital morgues are full. The dead are piled on top of each other outside. The word ‘atrocity’ barely begins to describe these devastating air strikes.

I can only hope that the Israelis do not follow up these air strikes with a ground assault. World leaders, including our own Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have called on Israel to meet their humanitarian obligations and immediately stop this terrible air assault.

Will they listen? It’s hard to tell, especially as the Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is battling to outdo the even more hawkish Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the rightwing Likud party, in February’s elections. It is blunt, blundering politics at its worse. Collectively punishing a whole people for the actions of a few.

Even more stupidly, the massacre that the Israelis have launched with the intention of wiping out Hamas will probably only enhance Hamas’s popularity and act as an effective recruiting sergeant for their cause.

Aside from being a cowardly war crime on the people of Gaza, this overbearing military action will also be counterproductive. The last time that Israel launched such an aggressive military attack on territory from which rockets had been fired at Israel – in Lebanon in 2006 – it did nothing to enhance long-term security for the Israeli people.

The faltering inch-by-inch progress towards the possibility of a two-state solution could be shattered if Israel continues its aggressive escalation of hostilities. In this climate of bloodshed and anger it will be harder for Barack Obama to move forward on establishing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. A number of commentators have already stated that Israel is nervous about how the new US administration will react to Israel’s military action when Obama is appointed President on January 20, and they are not comfortable with this.

I seriously hope that Israel is not trying to tie his hands to prevent a real peace deal getting some early momentum.