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“Barak’s personal fortunes improved sharply, with 53 percent of poll respondents expressing satisfaction with his performance (compared to just 34 percent about six months ago). A larger number, 38 percent, are dissatisfied with him but that is nevertheless a significant improvement over the 52 percent disapproval rating of six months ago,” he writes. “At this stage, the war bodes well for the three leading parties. Most of the public reportedly believes that in time of war, it’s best to vote for parties whose candidates are experienced, such as former chiefs of staff, prime ministers and defense and foreign ministers.”
2. Avenging the Israeli military debacle in the Lebanon war with Hezbullah in 2006
According to Richard Falk, Albet G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and the UN's special envoy to the occupied Palestinian territories, barely-concealed pressure from Israeli military commanders to seize the opportunity to erase the memories of their failure to destroy Hezbullah in the devastating Lebanese war of 2006 by attacking Gaza reinforced these electoral motivations. The Lebanon debacle both tarnished Israel's reputation as a military power and led to widespread international condemnation for their heavy bombardment of undefended Lebanese villages, disproportionate force, and extensive use of cluster bombs against heavily populated areas.
Neve Gordon, the chairmain of the Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, also expressed similar views when he said, ". . . after its notable humiliation in Lebanon during the summer of 2006, the Israeli military has been looking for opportunities to reestablish its global standing. Last Spring it used Syria as its laboratory and now it has decided to focus on Gaza. Emphasizing the mere three minutes and forty seconds it took to bomb fifty sites is just one of the ways the Israeli military aims to restore its international reputation.”
3. Change the situation on the ground before US President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Through Gaza war, Israel is also trying to set up the conditions for the future policy of the Obama administration. Vice President Dick Cheney went on television Sunday implying that Washington had effectively given Israel a green light to take down Hamas before the Obama Administration could make any changes to US policy in the Middle East. Cheney told CBS’s Face the Nation that he was briefed on Israeli plans during a recent visit.
Not surprisingly, as the Jerusalem Post reported, the Bush administration supplied the Israeli Air Force with "a new bunker-buster missile" called GBU-39 - a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision, minimal collateral damage strikes. Congress authorized 1000 of them in September, and the first shipment arrived in early December for use in penetrating underground Gaza Kassam launcher sites and bombing Egyptian border tunnels in Rafah through which emergency supplies were funneled.
Tellingly, as the Israelis launched a land assault, the UN Security Council failed Saturday to agree on a statement calling for a ceasefire after the United States argued that a return to the situation that existed before Israel's ground offensive in Gaza was unacceptable.
President-elect Barack Obama has maintained his silence on the worsening situation in Gaza in spite of mounting civilian casualties and massive destruction. Obama aides insist that he does not wish to address foreign-policy issues in any way that could send "confusing signals" about U.S. policy as long as President George W. Bush is in office.
Arab commentators pint out, however, that Obama did comment on foreign affairs when he issued a statement condemning the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and that he has given several news conferences outlining his economic proposals. They suggest that his refusal to speak out on Gaza—where at least 500 Palestinians have died, compared with four Israeli deaths from the rockets—implies indifference to the plight of Palestinians or even complicity with Israel.
John L Esposito, Professor of religion and International Affairs at Princeton University, believes that for Obama to remain silent now will be seen as simply condoning Israel's devastation of Gaza and undermine his promise of a new international vision and a new approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “He will be brush-stroked by the failed policies of the Bush administration in the Middle East and lose his credibility before he even comes to office with an Arab and Muslim world that sees his election as one of hope and promise,“ says Esposito.
Complicity of Arab regimes
In the final analysis, the Israeli massacre of Palestinians continues not only with the connivance, acquiescence and approval of the United Nations, Europe the United States but also US client Arab governments. Saudi Arabia and Egypt were informed in advance of the attack, as the daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported in its edition of Sunday December 28th. Tellingly, for days prior to the Israeli assault on Gaza, Israeli newspapers had been reporting the "green light" given by the Arab regimes for the elimination of the main leaders of Hamas.
Egypt’s insistence on keeping its border with Gaza closed during the Israeli military assault is akin to collaborating with Israel. Strengthening that perception is the fact that President Hosni Mubarak met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Cairo shortly before Israel began launching air strikes against Hamas targets on December 27.
Although there have been some protests in Egypt to demand that the border be opened and diplomatic ties with Israel severed, President Mubarak, whose regime is the second biggest recipient of US economic and military aid after Israel, has flatly rejected such popular demands. Mubarak in a televised speech said he would not open the border crossing until (pro-Israeli) Mahmud Abbas, head of the Palestine Authority, once again controls the Palestinian side of the border.
Not surprisingly, the Arab leaders failed to hold an emergency summit to discuss the crisis. One Arab meeting which brought together foreign ministers Wednesday in Cairo, ended with a decision to urge the U.N. Security Council to “issue a resolution that binds Israel to immediately stop the aggression.”
