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| Yes | 50% | 73 votes | Total: 146 votes | |
| No | 50% | 73 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesIsrael's recent incursion into the Gaza Strip, code-named "Operation Cast Lead," was self-defense. Period. It was a military response to a terrorist network that, since the withdrawal of Israeli forces and Jewish settlements three years ago, has grown stronger - powerful enough to literally govern the territory.
The background to the current round of fighting is simple enough, or as simple as things can be within the "never-ending war." In 2005, the Israeli Defense Forces completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip. In early 2006, Hamas won a victory in the Palestinian elections giving the insurgent group, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist and has vowed to use terrorism to destroy the Jewish state, control of the Palestinian parliament. They are now the rulers of the Gaza Strip after a bitter civil conflict with the secular Fatah.
Hamas has used waves of suicide bombings as a tactic in the past, particularly between 2003 and 2004, to wage their unconventional war against Israel. The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, increased their rocket attacks on Israel substantially once Israel withdrew from Gaza.
After Israel conducted an operation to destroy a tunnel being constructed by Hamas on the border with Gaza, most likely intended to make it easier to smuggle terrorists past checkpoints, Hamas called off its recent truce with Israel and once again began to fire rockets into the country. By December, Israel was fed up and decided that they had been shelled and mortared for long enough. They struck back. Hard.
The massive air and ground offensive into Gaza, regardless of its controversial nature, was exactly the right thing for Israel to do. Israel must send a clear message to Hamas that terrorism will no longer be tolerated and that the terrorist infrastructure inside Gaza will be crippled. Israel should have disregarded any and all calls for cease-fires, besides temporarily allowing humanitarian aid into the territory, until it had wiped out Hamas' manpower and substantially wrecked its ability to carry out attacks.
So far, the operation seems to have reaped major successes. Israeli air attacks struck buildings and headquarters utilized by the militants. Israeli Defense Forces ground forces engaged several squads of Hamas gunmen who opened fire from a mosque on Jan. 12. A search of the mosque uncovered a cache of rockets and other munitions. Similar incidents also occurred, leading to the death or capture of Hamas fighters and the seizure of arms dumps.
Recent history has proven that full-scale military attacks on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip yield great, even if only temporary, benefits for the Israelis. From March to May of 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces launched "Operation Defensive Shield" in response to a wave of suicide bombings largely carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The results were impressive. Bomb-making factories were destroyed, major arms caches were seized, and key terrorist commanders responsible for planning attacks and leading the terror infrastructure were detained or killed.
The subsequent and immediate result of Operation Defensive Shield was a major decline in the number of Palestinian terrorist attacks following the operation. In 2002, Israeli fatalities from terrorist attacks peaked at 538 and then dropped sharply to 215 in 2003. 2004 saw the number decline even lower to 127. Clearly, such incursions are not only attractive to the Israeli government, but should be strongly encouraged when the need arises.
The bottom line regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is this: Israel must protect itself and commit every soldier and tank necessary to do so. If it means repeated full-scale assaults on Palestinian territories, then so be it. The successful results are worth the effort. Israel cannot afford to negotiate with Hamas, nor should it have to. The Palestinians elected a terrorist organization, and now they are suffering the consequences.
Learn more about this author, Rory Walkinshaw.
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No
Before we get into the debate whether Israel's invasion of Gaza was justifies or not, lets review what happened during and before the invasion.
According to Reuters after Hamas declared end of six month cease fire on December 18th, Israel launched air attacks on Gaza. This was in response to an attack from Gaza. In the Israeli attack 229 Palestinians were killed. Some were Hamas members, though no one was a high ranking member or in a decision making position. Majority of civilians were killed including women and children.
During the entire period of assault on Gaza, 900 Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians. Israel also suffered casualties but the numbers don't compare a bit to what the Palestinians had to endure.
Israel also fire missiles into an Islamic University, a U.N run school. Their tank shells killed UNRWA relief workers. There also been accusation from medical professionals in Gaza that Israel used deadly phosphorous bombs which are actually banned.
It is not a fun exercise to nitpick when millions are suffering but in Gaza of Israeli assault on Gaza, this is what we have been reduced. Look at the gory details of children found starving along side their dead mothers, parents crying over their dead children and you will realize that what was thrown into Gaza was way beyond "justified response". Israel launched a deadly attack against Palestinians in Gaza and its response was not justified.
It is also important to note here that Hamas is indeed a terrorist organization. It is also to blame for the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The organizations and its leaders have to be held accountable for the way pushed Gaza into a brink of total collapse to gain political mileage. Those who feel for the Palestinian people should strongly come forward and denounce Hamas. But, while denouncing Hamas it is also important to denounce Israel for its use of excessive force.
How can you justify constantly shelling a mass of people who have held virtually captive in a small area who have no national military or security force or a defense mechanism to safeguard its people. The whole world knows Palestinians are not capable of standing up to Israel's military might. And still Israel used its full force to crush the people who are living as refugees in their own land.
I support Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas and other terrorists, its right to exist and prosper but in no way Israel more important than the Palestinian people. It has no right terrorizing and killing a group of people because of the misdeeds of their leaders and some organizations that exist in their midst.
What Israel did in Gaza was truly abominable.
Learn more about this author, Bhumika Ghimire.
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