The Israeli security cabinet yesterday declared Hamas-controlled Gaza an "enemy entity" (duh) and said they'd cut off electrical power and any other infrastructure beyond what is needed for humanitarian purposes.
I'm not convinced this is such a good idea, for several reasons:
- The obvious one: it's going to hurt (more or less) innocent Palestinians out of proportion to thei culpability or freedom to act
- There is nothing that nurtures resentment among Palestinians more than to be reminded that they're totally dependent on Israel. Adding to the squalor and hardship of the Gazans is to humiliate them, which has proven to probably be a tempting but ultimately counterporiductive tactic.
- It's only going to strengthen Hamas's standing among Palestinians, make the PLO look like appeasers, and will encourage rather than discourage terrorist attacks on S'derot.
Anything Israel does is scorned by European governments and opinion leaders, so that factor should just be ignored.
A better policy, in my mind, would have been to respond to these rocket attacks with military action that is easy on the population but a constant reminder that Hamas has put Gaza at war with Israel. My mental model was to announce ahead of time that precision mortar/artillery/aerial bombing would clear a 50x50 meter area in Gaza, the exact location to be announced ahead of time, every time a rocket falls with 500 meters of any Israeli habitation. Drop a rocket on S'derot? See another 50x50 meter spot in Gaza flatten. Nobody would need to die, as there will be plenty of time to clear the target area. But for the Gazans, the exchange would get old real fast, and it would be a reminder that Israel is exercising restraint.
Meanwhile, Israel and the international community would support economic development in Gaza and the West Bank, Egypt would clamp down on arms smuggling, and there would be overt support for any kind of attempt at civilized engagement from the Palestinians.
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