RAMALLAH: Lethal Israeli operations merely radicalise ordinary Palestinians and weaken moderates like President Mahmud Abbas who advocates a negotiated solution to the conflict, analysts believe.
While Mr Abbas has been up against the wall in tortured efforts to persuade Hamas to agree to a unity government and moderate political platform, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli guns in a week, largely in Gaza.
In particularly strong language, Mr Abbas on Wednesday slammed Israel's “terrible massacres” and accused the Jewish state of single-handedly destroying “all chances of peace” after shells slammed into homes killing 18 Palestinians.
Continued Israeli offensives and the lack of any political efforts on the horizon of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are jeopardising President Abbas's peaceable bent, says political analyst Hani al-Masri.
“For Palestinian moderates, the recent Israeli operations in Gaza, spilling Palestinian blood, indicates that Israel has nothing to offer other than force and that is pushing Abbas to harden his positions,” Masri said.
Israel expressed regret over the deaths and launched an immediate investigation to determine why shells exploded on private homes, but underscored its battle against militants who fire rockets into its territory.
Masri charges that stepped up Israeli attacks against the Palestinians also hinder the emergence of any Palestinian unity government and prevent as a result “any possible renewal of the peace process”.
Israel refuses to have any dealings with the Hamas-led government and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has met Abbas only once, informally at a breakfast in Jordan, since assuming the Israeli leadership last May.
Nader Said, director of a research and polling centre at Bir Zeit University, believes Israeli operations “risk hammering the final nail in the coffin of any peaceable drive of the Palestinian people and its leadership”. These Israeli offensives make the idea of peace and coexistence with the Israelis unrealistic,” added Said.
“The feeling of injustice among Palestinians is heightened by passiveness from the international community over Israeli massacres. Supporters of radicalism and the resort to violence in the Palestinian camp find themselves strengthened,” he said.After the Beit Hanun killings, the armed wings of Hamas and even Abbas's Fatah party called for a resumption of suicide bombings in Israel, almost two years after both groups began observing a de facto truce in such attacks.
Despite his heavy criticism, Abbas has not made any public call for violent retaliation and even reprimanded militants for firing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the main justification for Israeli operations.
“There is no doubt that the Israeli army operations weaken the peace camp among the Palestinians, President Abbas in particular,” agreed political science lecturer Ali Jarbawi.
“Palestinians are asking themselves how long they need to wave the white flag in the hope of getting somewhere through negotiation.
“But the Palestinian leadership has been waving the flag for 15 years without securing any concessions from Israel,” he added.
Only pressures brought to bear by the international community on Israel are able to soften the stance its policy, Jarbawi believes.
“It is clear that Israel does not want a negotiated solution and is looking to impose its conditions by force. Israel won't give the Palestinians anything without international pressure, particularly from the Americans,” he said.—AFP
