The BMJ- “The Maiming Fields of Gaza”

The Maiming Fields of Gaza

By Dr. Derek A Summerfield, Dr. David Halpin, and Dr Ang Swee Chai,

Since 30 March 2018, Palestinians civilians living as refugees and exiles in Gaza ever since they were driven out from Palestine have been gathering in mass, unarmed demonstration about their right of return to the homeland they lost in 1948. Confronted by the Israeli army, including 100 snipers, the toll of dead and wounded Palestinian civilians is mounting at a shocking rate as we write.

There is a background to this. Firstly, there is the ongoing impact of the 12 year long Israeli blockade of Gaza on the care and health of her people, and the degrading of its health services. The violence and destruction inflicted by Israeli military action in Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 marked a distinct turning point in the pauperization of Gaza, against a backdrop of an ever tightening blockade since 2006.That assault in 2014 killed over 2,200 civilians, a quarter of whom were children, wounded 11.000, destroyed 15 hospitals, 45 clinics and 80,000 homes.(1)

Since 2014 Israel has further tightened the passage of essential medicines and equipment into Gaza, and of the entry of doctors and experts from abroad who offer technical expertise not available locally. Gazan hospitals have been depleted of antibiotics, anaesthetic agents, painkillers, other essential drugs, disposables, and fuel to run surgical theatres. (2) Patients die while waiting for permission to go for specialist treatment outside Gaza. All elective surgery has been cancelled since last January 2018, and 3 hospitals have closed because of medication, equipment and fuel shortages (3). Medical personnel have been working on reduced salaries. Gazan health professionals find it almost impossible to get Israeli permission to travel abroad to further their training.The regular episodic military assaults on Gaza and the current targeting of unarmed demonstrators are part of a pattern of periodically induced emergencies arising from Israeli policy. The cumulative effects of the impact on healthcare provision for the general population have been documented in multiple reports by NGOs, UN agencies and the WHO. (4).This appears to be a strategy for the de-development of health and social services impinging on all the population of Gaza.

The current systematic use of excessive force towards unarmed civilians, including children and journalists, is provoking a further crisis for the people of Gaza. Since 30 March 2018, snipers firing military grade ammunition have caused crippling wounds to unarmed demonstrators.(5) As of 23 April 2018, 5511 Palestinians, including at least 454 children, have been injured by Israeli forces, including 1,739 from live ammunition according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. As of April 27, the death toll has reached 48 and additional hundreds wounded.

Even the BBC has shown films of the deliberate shooting of people who were standing harmlessly or running away, including children and journalists (6). The sniper-fire is mostly not to the head, with most of the wounds to the lower torso and legs. Dozens have needed emergency amputation of either one or both legs, and a further 1,300 required immediate external fixations which will entail an estimated 7,800 hours of subsequent complex reconstructive surgery if the limbs are to be saved. This is calculated maiming. More may die or incur life-long disability because of the degraded state of health service and the prohibition by Israel of the transfer for the seriously wounded (7). How is Gaza to survive this situation? And meanwhile, the many that have lost non-emergency healthcare because of the ongoing lack of medicines and energy will be joined by many more now that all scarce resources are going to life and limb saving efforts.

Gaza under Siege

Whilst various UN and WHO agencies have condemned Israeli actions, Western governments have not uttered a murmur and thus bolster the impunity Israel seems always to have enjoyed in its treatment of Palestinian society. Others who seek to document and to draw attention to events like this, including in medical journals, are often subject to vilifying ad hominem attacks, as have journal editors (8). These are matters of international shame.

*

Derek Summerfield, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College, University of London.

David Halpin, Retired orthopaedic and trauma surgeon. Member – British Orthopaedic Association.

Swee Ang, Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Barts Health, London

Andrea Balduzzi, Researcher, University of Genoa, Italy

Franco Camandona, MD, OspedaliGaliera, Genoa, Italy

Gianni Tognoni, Mario Negri Institute, Milan, Italy

Ireo Bono, MD, Onncologist, Savon, Italy

Marina Rui, PhD Università di Genoa, Italy

Vittorio Agnoletto, MD, University of Milan, Former MEP, Italy

Notes

(1) 50 days of death and ddestruction. Institute for Middle East Understanding. https://imeu.org/article/50-days-of-death-destruction-israels-operation-…

(2) Emergency Delegation to the Gaza Strip. Physicians for Human Rights Israel.
http://www.phr.org.il/en/phri-emergency-delegation-to-the-gaza-strip-apr…

(3) –https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180213-work-at-main-gaza-hospital-st… February 13, 2018
–http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/palestinians-die-israel-refuses-me…

(4) -Unnecessary loss of life http://gisha.org/updates/8742
-Humanitarian Coordinator calls for protection of Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza alongside support for urgent humanitarian needs –https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-coordinator-calls-protectio…
-Israel/OPT: Authorities must refrain from using excessive force in response to Palestine Land Day protests https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/israelopt-authorities-mus…

5) World Health Organisation Special Situation report- Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory.https://israelpalestinenews.org/who-special-situation-report-gaza-occupi…

6) The Palestinian Day of Return: from a short day of commemoration to a long day of mourning K. Elessi 27 April 2018, Lancet
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30940-1
Civilians, health workers, journalists and children killed and wounded march 30-april 27, 2018
–http://www.msf.org/en/article/palestine-msf-teams-gaza-observe-unusually…
-Horrific injuries reported among Gaza protesters https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/828-horrific-injuries-reported-… Palestinians killed and hundreds injured in Gaza during demonstrations along the fence https://www.ochaopt.org/content/four-palestinians-killed-and-hundreds-in…
-New MAP film from Gaza: health workers under attack
https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/827-new-map-film-from-gaza-atta…
-Adalah& Al Mezan petition Israeli Supreme Court: Order Israeli army to stop using snipers, live ammunition to disperse Gaza protests http://www.mezan.org/en/post/22754/Adalah+%26+Al+Mezan+petition+Israeli+…

(7) – https://www.ochaopt.org/theme/casualties
–https://mailchi.mp/phr/muwsh5pulz-991741?e=19b7f93641

(8) Pressure on ‘The Lancet’ for Gaza letter another example of pro-Israel assault on freedom of expression 11 novembre 2014 |Catherine Baker pour Mondoweisshttp://www.aurdip.fr/pressure-on-the-lancet-for-gaza.html?lang=fr

The original source of this article is The BMJ

Israel, a state established on the mass graves of others

We established a state on the mass graves of others

Palestinian medic tries to comfort a wounded boy at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, July 2014

To my fellow Israelis: We can stop this

By Jonathan Ofir, Mondoweiss
February 08, 2016

An open letter to my fellow Israelis:

This is probably a culmination of nearly a decade’s reviewed study of our history. At some point, beyond the singular stories, cases and arguments, I feel something unequivocal and very generally encompassing needs to be said about our Israeli “miracle”, the manifestation of the Zionist “dream”.

I will not write this in Hebrew, although that would probably have been the most direct idiomatic tool to reach your minds. I will not do so, because I have had enough of dirty laundry recycled amongst us “self-understanding” Israelis. Whilst I write to you, my hopes of change coming from within us Israelis have regrettably declined in the years – and thus, I am also, if not more so, placing my bets upon the involvement of the international community – whose help we need so badly – not for more cash, weapons, or apologetic “understanding”, but rather for its intervention in what we are apparently unable, and mostly unwilling, to fix. The attitude which I thus exhibit here is an extremely unpopular one in Israeli and Jewish culture. It is the vein of the “moser” – the one who “snitches” against the “Jewish nation” towards the goyim.

Well, get over it. There are far more serious issues at hand.

I have to tell you first that our evaluation of Israeli history omits so much atrocity from our side. Indeed, much of it is still classified – even back to 1948. Yes, you may have heard about the Deir Yassin massacre, it is often taught in school books, yet portrayed as an aberration, perpetrated by “extremist”, “rogue” factions before the Declaration of Independence (although the leaders of those extremist factions became our Prime Ministers).

But what of the dozens of other massacres perpetrated by – us – in 1948, indeed by the very IDF? Have you read about Al Dawayima, which was apparently worse than Deir Yassin? Yair Auron just wrote about it in Haaretz, I translated and put it out here and on my Facebook page. Go and read. It’s a letter which is out for the first time in full, but it’s no secret as such – excerpts of it have been out for decades – as have many other testimonies and documents, for those who care to seek and look. [see below]

When you sum up the systematic mass executions, the many gang-rape cases (which have been slow to be uncovered, because they involve shame on both fronts), the crushing of children’s skulls with sticks, the ripping out of foetuses from their mothers’ wombs – all, and many more, perpetrated by “us”, the “good guys”, the “cultured elite” – often in situations which presented no danger, just out of pure gratuitous sadism and hate for the “Arabs” – then you may begin to realise, that Israel is not in a war of survival, a war of an elite and advanced culture in a “bad neighbourhood” of backwards Arab sub-culture.

Soldiers looting Palestinian cultural objects. Photo by Fred Chasnick, Haifa, April 1948, Jewish National Fund Archive.

Let me put it out there, clearly and directly:

We have been acting like animals, with barbarism of a degree which indeed could be, and should be, and has been, compared to those whom we love to hate – the Nazis – whose cruelty is supposed to exonerate ours. As Golda Meir told MK Shulamit Aloni: “After the Holocaust, Jews are allowed to do anything.” NO. Damn well not. We’ve used this excuse, with those words or others, together with a systematic cover-up of our own cruelties, since the start. And because we have largely succumbed to our own propaganda in this, we have failed to perceive the historical trace, which, if followed honestly, will show us that we are essentially AT THE SAME PLACE as before – still subjugating, still massacring, still torturing.

This is not a chain of events forced upon us as an inevitable consequence of trying to “survive”. This is nonetheless a predictable outcome of our inherent state-religion – which is not Judaism, as many mistakenly think – but rather Zionism.

We were brainwashed to think that Zionism is our saviour. That as Jesus died on the cross for the Christians, our soldiers have died for our country. No – they died primarily for Zionism. “Our country”, as is mostly perceived by us, is not really “our country”. It is the country of so many others, whom we have not only expelled with unfathomable brutality, but whom we also now keep locked up in cages of various forms, shapes and styles, as well as under horrendous Apartheid regime in various degrees – in order to maintain our sacred “demographic balance” – whilst we continue, rather unabated, in our expansion over the “promised land”.

One of six mass graves in Jaffa of Palestinians killed in 1948, discovered in 2013.

Our occupation did not begin in 1967, neither did our cruelty and crimes. We have established a state on the mass graves of others. This was not forced upon us. Just as Begin said in 1982, concerning the 1967 war “we must be honest with ourselves…we decided to attack.” So must we be honest with ourselves about all of our other portrayals of “self-defence”. Indeed, the whole Zionist venture is essentially portrayed as a “struggle for survival”, a “struggle for self-defence”.

Had we not hidden our crimes so well, so deep, and with so much propaganda “deterrence” rhetoric, it would perhaps be easier to believe our sincerity. On the other hand, when those crimes are exposed for what they are, it also becomes impossible to justify our moral righteousness. Indeed, as the world media became much more instantly transparent, the reality of our crimes became impossible to hide – so we put an extra focus on propaganda – to twist it all into “self defence”. We indiscriminately shelled houses and levelled neighbourhoods in Gaza, for “self-defence”. We torture children, for “self-defence”.

Let’s just say it outright: We torture and terrorize the hell out of Palestinians in order to deter them and make their lives so miserable so they will want to leave – or to revenge, which will justify our next blow.

We have created a monster. Who on earth would want to “survive” if this is how “survival” looks? How vile is this “survival” which maintains itself upon the death and destruction of “others”? Indeed, who are those “others”? Are we not really the “others”, who came with our “better knowing” culture to “make the desert bloom”? And as this desert “blooms” with yet another settlement, another fictitious “military zone”, another “expansion” – the people who are there, the “others”, are gradually removed, encircled, or killed.

We Jews have thus created a violent legacy to last for centuries, even if it were to stop now. If all stories were now revealed, all archives declassified (1948, 1967 and all others), it is certain that this Zionist venture would constitute another shocking and substantial chapter of barbarism and cruelty in the annals of world history.

But it is not over – for worse, but also for better. We have the ability to stop it now. No, this does not mean our annihilation, as the propagandist Zionist hysterics would reflexively profess. It is an option, standing before us – to relinquish the reign of exclusivity, to separate the Jewish from the State, and to live in peace, with all the challenges that may face every human and every state.

But WE are not a state. A state is not “people”. A state is a regime, a paradigm of governance. A state may belong to its citizens – but then neither “we” nor Israel constitute a real state. For the State of Israel is the state of those who hold Jewish Nationality – which supersedes their citizenship. And I refuse to be a part of this “we” if that means some ethnic-religious-national mishmash superiority. Does that necessarily mean divorcing Judaism? No, of course not. It simply means divorcing the ostensibly inextricable tie that Zionism has made between itself and Judaism, in monopolising Judaism, using a mafia-style coercion of all those who speak against it, with the (too often) applied ultimate rhetoric WMD– of “antisemitism”.

This is a scare tactic that needs to be fought. If we do not rise above the intellectual atavism that this ideology submits us to, we will continue to be committing grave crimes and exonerating them as we go, in the name of this “religion”.

There is a future. Zionism, nonetheless, is a dead-end. I realise that saying these things today, is far, far from consensus, and is in no uncertain ways a recipe for societal exclusion. I’ll take that. I’m already resolved to it. But this is not some prophetic martyrdom that I submit myself to. It is actually the only right path that I see. If you want to hope for a good future with Zionism, at least do the minimum to really see what it has meant for Palestinians. That is, surprisingly, perhaps the easier part. The harder part is to look the horrors in the eye, and then look yourself in the mirror, and see what Zionism has done to you.

---

The remains of Al-Dawayima, photo from Zochrot

al-Dawayima

By Zochrot

District: Hebron
Population 1948: 4300
Occupation date: 29/10/1948
Military operation: Yoav
Occupying unit: 8th brigade
Jewish settlements on village\town land before 1948: None
Jewish settlements on the built-up area of the village\town after 1948: Amatzia
Jewish settlements on village\town land after 1948: None

The village of al-Dawayima was spread along the top of a wide rocky ridge on the western side of the Hebron Mountains. It overlooked Wadi Qubaya to the north and commanded the view of higher mountains to the east. A secondary road connected al-Dawayima to the village of Idna, to the northeast. Yet another secondary road led from al-Dawayima to al-Qubaya, to the northwest, and this in turn was linked to the al-Faluja-Bayt Jibrin highway. It was situated 18 km west of Hebron.

Al-Dawaymima was captured by Israel’s Eighty Ninth Battalion (commanded by Dov Chesis) which was part of the 8th Armored Brigade led by the founder of the Palmach,Yitzhak Sadeh, after Operation Yoav on 29 October 1948, five days after the start of the truce. It was the site of the al-Dawayima massacre in which 80 to 100 civilians were killed including women and children.

The following are excerpts of a description of the massacre in the Israeli daily ‘Al ha-Mishmar : “The children they killed by breaking their heads with sticks. There was not a house without dead (…). The commander ordered a sapper to put two old women in a certain house (…) and to blow up the house with them. The sapper refused (…). The commander then ordered his men to put in the old women and the evil deed was done. One soldier boasted that he had raped a woman and then shot her.”

In December 1948, during a general discussion of atrocities by an Israeli ministerial committee, the issue of al-Dawayima was raised again. Morris writes that Agriculture Minister Aharon Zisling was probably reacting to a letter he received about the massacre when he said : “This is something that determines the character of the nation (…). Jews to have committed Nazi acts.” Although he complained that the investigation was not proceeding as it should, he agreed with other ministers that Israel should admit nothing outwardly, in order to preserve its image.

The settlement of Amatzya, founded in 1955, was built on the ruins of al-Dawayima

Tracing all that remains of the destroyed village of al-Dawayima, Palestine. Video from Palestine Remembered, 4mins, 22secs.

The site has been fenced in. A cowshed, a chicken coop, and granaries have been built at its centre (which has been levelled). The southern side of the site contains stone terraces and the remnants of a house. The eastern side is occupied by the residential area of the moshav. Cactuses, together with many carob and olive trees, grow on the site’s slopes

Gaza Ceasefire: Hold the Cheers by Stephen Lendman

by Stephen Lendman

On Monday, both sides agreed to open-ended ceasefire terms. Peace talks will resume in Cairo within a month.

Terms agreed on include opening border crossings, "enabl(ing) the rapid entry of humanitarian aid," as well as construction supplies for rebuilding.

Monitoring will ensure reconstruction is solely for civilian purposes.

Effective immediately, coastal fishing waters will expand from three to six nautical miles. They'll gradually increase to 12 miles by yearend.

Israel agreed to halt targeted assassinations. Days earlier, Netanyahu called Hamas leaders legitimate targets. 

Israeli hardliners want Hamas and other resistance groups entirely crushed. They reject peace out of hand.

Terms largely replicate how both sides ended Israel's November 2012 Pillar of Cloud aggression.

Hamas stuck to the letter of the deal. Israel violated it straightaway. It blamed Hamas for its crimes. Expect nothing different this time.

Israel's agenda excludes good faith. Decades of conflict, repression and occupation harshness attest to its dark side. 

Expect no change enough to matter this time. Promises made are broken. It's longstanding Israeli policy. Major issues remain unresolved. 

They include Hamas wanting Gaza's siege entirely lifted, permitting an airport and seaport to facilitate imports and exports, and releasing Palestinian political prisoners.

Israel wants Gaza demilitarized. It wants resistance groups defenseless against certain future IDF onslaughts.

It wants overall siege harshness maintained. It largely prohibits Gazan product sales to its two primary markets - the West Bank and Israel. They amount to 2% of pre-2007 levels.

It permits minimal exports overall. It restricts imports. Israeli policy perpetuates dependency on outside aid.

It prevents economic development. It leaves almost half the working-age population unemployed. Youth unemployment tops 60%.

Free movement of people is more myth than reality. Restrictions are unrelated to security.

Exit permits are hard to get. Adults with them can bring children under age six. Older ones are excluded.

Israel's blockade has nothing to do with security. In June 2010, McClatchy newspapers headlined "Israeli document: Gaza blockade isn't about security," saying:

"McClatchy obtained an Israeli government document that describes the blockade not as a security measure but as 'economic warfare' against the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory."

In response to a Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement lawsuit, documents obtained said Israel called blockading Gaza "economic warfare." According to a government statement:

"A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare.' "

Nations may indeed decide whether or not to have relations with other states. It may not interfere in their internal affairs. Doing so violates core international law.

Blockading Gaza is illegal. Doing so is an act of war. It's a crime against humanity. Israel remains unaccountable.

Monday's ceasefire is a temporary respite. Hold the cheers. Expect no substantive change in Israeli policy.

It prioritizes violence and instability. It excludes peace and good will.

It's just a matter of time before more conflict. Pretexts are easy to invent. Blaming victims is longstanding Israeli policy.

Washington supports its worst crimes. It doesn't give a damn about Palestinian rights. It never did. It doesn't now.

On August 26, John Kerry lied saying Washington is "fully committed…to work with our international partners on a major reconstruction initiative…to ensure (it's) for the benefit of the civilian population in Gaza…"

He turned truth on its head calling Hamas and other legitimate resistance groups "terrorist organizations."

Throughout 50 days of conflict, Washington supported Israel's killing machine. According to Gaza's Health and Interior ministries, one of its many high crimes included murdering 89 entire families.

Israel bears full responsibility for well-planned naked aggression.

Launching it had nothing to do with Hamas rockets. It had everything to do with maintaining business as usual.

On the day both sides halted hostilities, Israeli forces terrorized West Bank and East Jerusalem residents.

Twelve Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) activists were arrested. Their whereabouts remains unknown.

Days earlier, Israeli soldiers targeted Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalida Jarrar in Ramallah.

They ordered her deported to Jericho for six months. They gave her 24 hours to leave. 

Nonexistent secret information claims she "poses a threat to the security of the region, so she must be put under special monitoring."

Jarrar is a senior Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member. She's an Addameer Prisoner Support group board member. 

She's banned from traveling abroad. Freedom fighting comes with a price.

During Monday ceasefire discussions, Israel kidnapped two Palestinians in Hebron, three in Bethlehem, six in Nablus, nine in Jenin, and one in Jerusalem.

Homes were invaded, searched and ransacked. Property was damaged or stolen.

Amjad Abu 'Asab heads the Jerusalemite Family Committee of Palestinian political prisoners. He said Israeli soldiers went on a rampage.

Former political prisoner En'am Qalanbo was arrested for participating in a solidarity with Gaza march.

'Asab expects many arrests following Monday's ceasefire deal. He believes Israel wants Jerusalem and other West Bank Palestinians punished for supporting Gazans and resisting occupation harshness.

According to the Silwan-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center,  Israeli police attacked Palestinians marching for liberation with tear gas, concussion grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets.

On Tuesday, other marches and demonstrations occurred in Shu'fat refugee camp, al-Eesawiyyam, Wad al-Jous, al-Jabal, Silwan, al-Mokabber Area, Hizman and East Jerusalem.

Israeli soldiers and police responded violently. Scores were injured. Arrests were made. Israel prohibits public demonstrations. It calls legitimate resistance terrorism.

On August 27, Maan News said "Palestinian communities in Jerusalem are experiencing the largest upsurge in detentions since the Second Intifada, with a marked increase in Israeli police brutality and the collective punishment of entire neighborhoods, local organizations say."

Since Israel murdered teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir, over 770 East Jerusalemites were arrested.

After three Israeli youths were abducted on June 12, up to 1,000 West Bank Palestinians were detained.

Collective punishment is official Israeli policy. Hamas leaders were unjustifiably blamed for the June kidnapping/murder of three Israeli youths.

Operation Protective Edge followed preemptively.  It bears repeating. It had nothing to do with Hamas rockets. Firing them responded to Israeli aggression.

Jeff Halper heads the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He calls motivation for Operation Protective Edge twofold. 

It was an effort to "get Israel off the hook for massive" human rights and international law violations.

It sought to "help other governments overcome similar ('asymmetrical warfare,' counterinsurgency' and 'counter-terrorism') constraints…against peoples resisting domination."

Israel calls it "lawfare." It followed "notable legal setbacks and challenges Israel incurred" since 2001.

For his involvement in the Sabra and Shatila massacres, Ariel Sharon was indicted. It didn't matter. He wasn't tried.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Israel's Separation Wall illegal. Enforcement didn't follow. Construction continues.

Israel considers civilians legitimate targets. Its policy violates core international humanitarian law.

Israel circumvents it by "creat(ing) new categories of combatants." They call them "non-legitimate actors."

They include anyone Israel calls "terrorists," "insurgents," or "non-state actors." An entire population is held hostage.

Israel claims it warrants no protection and other fundamental rights for resisting repression.

Obama and other Western leaders support Israel's right to self-defense. Victimized Palestinians are denied the same right.

Israel's lawfare strategy considers them villains. It's a "new doctrine of military ethics." It's based on a "Just War Doctrine of Fighting Terrorism."

It bears repeating. Terrorists include adversaries and others legitimately resisting Israeli repression.

Its lawfare strategy uses "new military ethics" to justify lawlessness. 

It's based on the notion that wrongdoing repeated often enough unaccountably will get nations worldwide to accept it or do nothing to stop it.

It lets Israel get away with high crimes against peace. It assures business as usual. 

It's just a matter of time before Israeli rampaging repeats. Expect Palestinians to be blamed for its crimes like always. 

Expect Western leaders to support them. Expect no change in long denied justice. Palestinians remain isolated on their own.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Islamic Jihad went against the tide: Questions to the Resistance and the enemy

Gaza violence: Questions to the Resistance and the enemy

By: Ibrahim al-Amin

Published Saturday, March 15, 2014

In the latest round of clashes between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, Islamic Jihad went against the tide by actually retaliating against the continuous Israeli bombardment. In light of its the operation “Breaking the Silence,” one wonders: were the rockets hitting Israel a direct message to the enemy, or a message to all parties staying silent inside Gaza and the outside world?

Islamic Jihad leader, Dr. Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, said that the retaliation was in response to Israeli aggression while he warned the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah from engaging in a hollow deal brokered by the United States.

Were the rockets hitting Israel a direct message to the enemy, or a message to all parties staying silent inside Gaza and the outside world?

As expected, Shalah didn’t criticize other Palestinian factions involved in the Resistance, making us wonder about Hamas’s true position. In fact, all signs on the ground suggested that Islamic Jihad deliberated with Hamas about the operation. It didn’t seek Hamas’s permission, but it acted reasonably, respecting Hamas’s role as a main partner in the Resistance and its influence inside Gaza. Furthermore, Islamic Jihad was not about to fight the enemy while clashing with other Palestinian factions.

However, Hamas was not being neutral as is often the case with the “disassociation” enthusiasts in other parts of the Arab world. It did take a political position, which was reiterated by the Ezziddin al-Qassam Brigades; however Hamas is quite aware that this is not the right time to wage an open ended war against Israel. Islamic Jihad also acknowledges this fact but the difference between the two is that Hamas is not even interested in getting involved in a single round of clashes, because that would call for an international intervention, while Islamic Jihad can operate on its own.

In fact, Hamas’s political agenda has changed since 2011; hence the Resistance is no longer its ultimate priority. We are not suggesting that Hamas has given up on the Resistance or that it is ready to settle, but the movement is now paying the price of the confusion it created since it supported the Syrian opposition.

Hamas’s actions are still a debatable issue, but in any case all rational people should keep in mind that the Resistance remains the only mean to restore Palestinian rights.

Today, we ask Hamas: isn't it about time to conduct a comprehensive, transparent and courageous review of the last three years? Isn't it time to redraw a roadmap that serves only the Resistance?

Israel escalated its assault on the Resistance in Gaza in recent weeks as it is seeking to undermine the measures taken to reinforce the Resistance. In fact, officials in Tel Aviv prefer to engage in dispersed clashes along the Gaza border than to commit to an appeasement that the Resistance may exploit to build tunnels and landmines. Meanwhile, Israel doesn't seem interested in waging a full-scale war. In any case, the unfolding events can be explained based on the “waiting game” adopted by the enemy for a while now.

As 150 missiles targeted periphery settlements, Israel was forced to think twice about its current underestimation of Palestinian force.

Israel has exploited the Syrian crisis to break the rules of the game; it raided Syrian targets without anticipating any response from the Syrian side. It recently also tried its luck in Lebanon when it struck a Hezbollah target on the Lebanese- Syrian borders. However, the enemy is now examining the missile attack in the Golan Heights, as well as the bomb blast yesterday that targeted an Israeli patrol in the occupied Shebaa Farms. Israel is considering all these events as a message from the Resistance in Lebanon announcing that it rejects any changes in the rules of the game. A message ought to be repeated if necessary.

Israel believed that Hamas is in “crisis” and cannot afford a clash right now, and it thought that no other Palestinian factions, including Islamic Jihad, could respond. In addition, the current crisis between Egypt and Hamas is affecting the whole Gaza Strip with the destruction of most tunnels on the Egyptian borders and Israel believes it can take advantage of the Gaza-Egypt tension. The enemy even resorted to maritime piracy by blocking an alleged arms cargo carrying Syrian missiles on its way to Gaza and it is now planning to exploit the incident as a way to impose new measures on the ground that go beyond the appeasement agreement of 2012.

However, Israel was shocked with Islamic Jihad’s response, which was not even proportional to the size of the Israeli aggression. As 150 missiles targeted periphery settlements, Israel was forced to think twice about its current underestimation of Palestinian force.

For Israel, the reaction of Islamic Jihad was a lot more than an angry response. The Resistance is ready to engage in a confrontation that goes beyond a minor clash. Also, Israel and other parties need to examine whether Islamic Jihad’s reaction is limited to Gaza or if it’s linked to the Resistance movement as whole.

The latest round in Gaza was a major success for the Resistance; it worried Israel but also raised even more questions about Hamas.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

Related

• Egypt says it destroyed 1,370 Gaza tunnels
• Egyptian gunmen kill six soldiers at Cairo checkpoint
• Partisans of Jerusalem's Founder Killed in Bomb Accident

أسئلة جولة غزة...للمقاومة وللعدو



ابراهيم الأمين

ليس على قاعدة مخالفة السائد، لكن على قاعدة مساءلة المخالف، يُطرح السؤال: هل جاءت عملية الجهاد الاسلامي «كسر الصمت» في مواجهة اعتداءات العدو الإسرائيلي، رسالة الى العدو نفسه، ام الى كل من يمارس الصمت، داخل غزة وخارجها؟

شرح زعيم الجهاد الدكتور رمضان عبد الله شلح البعد المتصل بتوجيه رد إلى العدو، الذي يواصل اعتداءاته دونما رادع. وشرح ايضا الموقف المحذر لسلطة رام الله من التورط في صفقة خاسرة سلفا مع العدو برعاية الولايات المتحدة.

وقال كذلك ما يمكن قوله عن تأثيرات الاوضاع العربية في القضية الفلسطينية.

لكن القيادي الفلسطيني، لم (وليس متوقعا منه أن) يعلن رسالة الى الاخرين. والاخرون هم هنا، القوى المعنية بالمقاومة في داخل فلسطين. ما يجعل السؤال مشروعا عن موقف حركة حماس مما جرى ويجري.

المعطيات الميدانية، تشير الى ان الجهاد الاسلامي لم تتصرف دون التشاور مع حماس. هذا لا يعني انها اخذت اذنا من حماس، لكنها تصرفت بعقل، ربطا بكون حماس تمثل شريكا اساسيا في تيار المقاومة، ثم لها موقعها المؤثر والحاسم داخل القطاع وداخل المعادلة. ثم لان الجهاد الاسلامي ليس بوارد قتال العدو عن طريق قتال آخرين.

حماس نفسها، لم تقف على الحياد بالمعنى الذي ينفع مع جماعات «النأي بالنفس» في اماكن اخرى من عالمنا العربي. وقالت حماس ما يجب ان تقوله سياسيا او على لسان كتائب عز الدين القسام، لكن حماس، كانت تعي تماما، ان الوقت ليس وقت الحرب المفتوحة مع العدو. وهو امر تقر به قيادة الجهاد الاسلامي، لكن الفارق بين الطرفين، ان حماس لا تظهر استعداداً للتورط حتى في جولة واحدة من شأنها تحريض العالم على التدخل، بينما يمكن الجهاد القيام بذلك. والفارق، يتصل بكون الجدول السياسي لحركة حماس، لم يعد الى ما كان عليه قبل عام 2011. اي إن اولوية المقاومة المطلقة، لم تعد الى ما كانت عليه سابقا. هذا لا يعني ابدا، ان حماس تخلت عن المقاومة، او هي مستعدة للمساومة على رأسها، لكن حماس، ومقاومتها، تدفعان ثمن حالة البلبلة التي تواجهها الحركة منذ انخراطها في حراك الاخوان المسلمين في الدول العربية، وتورطها اكثر في استراتيجية الاخوان في مرحلة ما بعد تولي الحركة ادارة الحكم في مصر وتونس، والمشاركة القوية في ادارة دول اخرى.

ثمة نقاش سوف يظل مطروحا بمواجهة حماس، وعلى العاقلين هنا، التصرف انطلاقا من كون الاسئلة تتصل بكون المقاومة ستبقى هي الخيار الوحيد لاستعادة الحق الفلسطيني، وهو امر لا مناص من العودة اليه كل لحظة. والسؤال الموجه الى حماس اليوم وغدا وفي كل حين: الم يحن اوان المراجعة الشاملة والشفافة والجريئة لمرحلة السنوات الثلاث الماضية، واعادة رسم خارطة طريق تخدم طريق المقاومة، وفقط المقاومة؟

اسرائيليا، كانت الصورة اكثر وضوحا. ما دفع العدو الى رفع مستوى الاعتداءات ضد المقاومة في غزة، لا يتصل فقط بما يجري في القطاع من انشطة تخص تعزيز قدرات المقاومة، ولا سيما أن في تل ابيب من يقول إن العدو يفضل مواجهات متفرقة على الحدود مع غزة، على هدوء يمكّن المقاومة من تحويل شريط الحدود مع غزة الى شرك كامل من المتفجرات والانفاق، لكن اسرائيل نفسها، لا تبدو معنية بصراع كبير. اما ما حصل، فله تفسير متصل بلعبة التقدير القائمة لدى قيادة العدو منذ فترة.

اسرائيل التي استغلت الازمة السورية، نجحت في كسر قواعد اللعبة بحيث تشن غارات جوية على اهداف سورية دون توقع رد فعل سوري. هي جربت حظها مع لبنان أخيرا. عندما قصفت هدفا لحزب الله على الحدود اللبنانية ـــ السورية. واسرائيل تعاين جيداً القصف الصاروخي على هدف في الجولان، وتعطيل محاولة زرع عبوة على حدود الجولان، وتفجير عبوة امس داخل المناطق المحتلة في مزارع شبعا. وهي تدرس كل هذه الاحداث على انها رسالة من المقاومة في لبنان لرفض تغيير قواعد اللعبة. وهي رسالة سوف تتكرر إذا ما تطلب الامر.

في فلسطين، تعتقد اسرائيل ان حماس في «مأزق»، وأنها لا تقدر على الدخول في مواجهة. وهي قدرت ايضا ان لا امكان لاي قوة فلسطينية اخرى ـــ على راسها الجهاد الاسلامي ـــ للتحرك ايضا. ثم هناك الازمة القائمة بين مصر وحماس، التي تنسحب على كل قطاع غزة، واقدام الجيش المصري على تدمير عدد هائل من الانفاق، وقد وجدت فيها اسرائيل ما يوسع هامش المناورة امامها ايضا. ثم جاءت عملية القرصنة البحرية التي اوقفت «شحنة نوعية» من الصواريخ السورية المرسلة الى غزة، لأجل حث إسرائيل على القيام بما تراه مناسبا لفرض وقائع ميدانية تتجاوز اتفاق التهدئة الذي قام عام 2012.

لكن اسرائيل صعقت برد الجهاد الاسلامي. لم تجد فيه اصلا ردا تناسبيا مع حجم اعتداءاتها. وجدت في صليات كثيفة بنحو 150 قذيفة وصاروخا على مستوطنات الغلاف لتفرض اسئلة جديدة. رد الجهاد فهمته اسرائيل على انه يتجاوز رد فعل غاضبا، بل هو مندرج في سياق تظهر فيه المقاومة استعدادا للذهاب الى ابعد من تراشق محدود. ثم اضطرت اسرائيل كما قوى اخرى، إلى فحص جوانب اخرى، تتصل بما اذا كانت حركة الجهاد الاسلامي تدرج ردها في سياق يتجاوز حدود القطاع، وان يكون هناك ما يتصل بتيار المقاومة ككل.

جولة غزة الاخيرة، مثلت نقطة اختبار ناجحة لقوى المقاومة. ومثلت عنصر قلق لاسرائيل، لكنها زادت من حجم الأسئلة الموجهة الى حركة حماس.

Behind the Scenes: Military Surprises Await Israeli Occupation in Gaza

Local Editor

• It is expected that resistance movements in Gaza have prepared a series of military surprises that will put Israeli occupation into shame and defeat in case it ventures to escalate the situation or attack the strip. It is equally estimated the resistance is capable of engaging the Israelis for long months as well.

• Syrian government officials and foreign observers agree that the balance has shifted in a major and complete way to the interest of the Syrian government in the ongoing battle in Syria. They expect major achievements soon in many fronts in both political and military spheres.

• US officials have stepped up their efforts and mounted pressure against Palestinian Authority to dictate conditions and enforce certain settlement that would drop the right of return for big amount of compensation that will be financed by Gulf countries.

Source: Al-Manar Website	13-03-2014 - 10:47 Last updated 13-03-2014

’Israel’ Recognizes Failure to Expect Gaza Rockets fired onto the Zionist settlements

’Israel’ Recognizes Failure to Expect Gaza Rockets

Local Editor

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot mentioned that the Zionist army is investigating the "failure" in expecting the Palestinian rocketry attack which targeted all the settlements which are close to Gaza strip. The Israeli military sources pointed out that the rocketry attack lasted 20 minutes and the Zionist army failed to detect the logistic movements and the communications among Islamic Jihad fighters. Israeli military analysts said that the reason may be the bad weather, yet noted that it is still early to settle the issue now.

Source: Agencies 13-03-2014 - 15:55 Last updated 13-03-2014

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Egypt brokers ceasefire after Israel bombs 29 sites in Gaza

Israeli occupation forces patrol at Gaza border on March 13, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Jack Guez)

Published Thursday, March 13, 2014

Updated 3:00 pm: An Islamic Jihad leader said on Thursday that Egypt had brokered a ceasefire aimed at ending a two-day flare-up between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

"Following intensive Egyptian contacts and efforts, the agreement for calm has been restored in accordance with understandings reached in 2012 in Cairo," Khaled al-Batsh wrote on Facebook, referring to a truce that ended an eight-day Gaza war two years ago.

There was no immediate word from Israel, but a senior Defense Ministry official said earlier in the day he expected the fighting to die down soon.

Israel had bombed 29 targets in the Gaza Strip late Wednesday, the occupation forces said, after Palestinian fighters in the coastal territory fired 60 rockets over the Gaza frontier in the heaviest such barrage since 2012.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military "to take any action necessary to restore calm" to cities in the proximity of Gaza's rocket fire, and that "if there is no quiet in the south then it will be noisy in Gaza, and that's an understatement."

The rocket fire, which police said resulted in no casualties, was claimed by the Islamic Jihad group in retaliation for the killing of three of its members in a Gaza air strike the previous day.

A military spokesman said 60 rockets hit cities "in a simultaneous coordinated attack," and five landed in built-up areas.

Commenting on Wednesday's barrage, Islamic Jihad said it had fired 90 rockets towards Israel and named the operation "Breaking the Silence."

Israel bombed 29 militant targets in response, he said.

Israeli occupation forces fired tank shells at what the spokesman described as "two terrorist locations" in Gaza.

Israeli warplanes bombed five military training camps, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.

There were no immediate reports from the Palestinian enclave of any casualties.

Hamas personnel, including its military wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, had earlier evacuated all their bases, Gaza security sources said.

In response to the Israeli attacks, Gaza fighters launched more rockets on Thursday. An Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP that militants had fired five rockets but only one struck Israeli territory, causing no harm or damage.

Earlier, an AFP photographer on the Israeli side of the Gaza border said all was quiet at daybreak.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas demanded that Israel halt its "escalation" in Gaza, his spokesman said.

The Palestinian leader called on Israel to "put an end to its military escalation in the besieged Gaza Strip," Nabil Abu Rudeina said Thursday.

"We condemn all military escalation, including rockets," Abbas said

Palestinian officials said that after the rocket strikes, Israel had informed them that it was closing the Kerem Shalom crossing, through which goods pass into the besieged Gaza Strip, until further notice.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to reoccupy Gaza, from which Israeli withdrew all troops and settlers in summer 2005.

"Following an attack like this – a barrage of more than 50 rockets – there is no alternative to a full reoccupation of the entire Gaza Strip," he told private Channel 2 television.

In Gaza, Islamic Jihad's armed wing the Al-Quds Brigades issued a statement saying its bombardment would continue in response to Israel's "aggression" in Tuesday's air strike.

Hamas warned Israel against escalating the confrontation.

"We hold the occupation responsible, we warn of the consequences of any escalation and we reiterate that resistance is the right of the Palestinian people to defend itself," said Ihab al-Ghassin, a spokesman for the Islamist movement Hamas, which governs Gaza.

(Reuters, AFP, Al-Akhbar)

"Al-Quds Brigades" Launches "Silence Breaking" Operation, ’Israel’ Vows Respons

Local Editor

"Al-Quds Brigades" which belongs to the Islam
ic Jihad announced, Palestinian Rockets, in a statement, that it launched onto the Zionist settlements dozens of rockets, in response to the Israeli aggression.

The Zionist enemy declared injuries and extensive material damages as dozens of rockets targeted the Israeli settlements.

"Al-Quds Brigades" asserted that the rocketry attack responds to the recent Israeli aggressions that claimed three of Islamic Jihad fighters.

The statement added that any Israeli aggression against the Palestinians will be faced forcefully.

Israeli media mentioned that the rockets were launched from the entire Gaza strip and that Israeli army ordered the residents of the southern towns and the cities of Beersheba, Ashkelon as well as their to take to the basements.

The Israeli occupation army held emergency meeting to discuss developments in Gaza Strip and decided to respond, considering the rocketry attack as the most serious since two years.

The sirens were launched in the Zionist settlements of "Netivot," "Sderot," and "Shaer Negev" and "Eshkol."

The Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed tough action after the rocket salvo from Gaza.

Source: Agencies	12-03-2014 - 18:35 Last updated 12-03-2014

Islamic Jihad fires dozens of rockets over Gaza frontier

Mourners carry the body of Shaher Abu Shanab (C), one of three Palestinian fighters from the Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, who were killed in an Israeli air strike, during his funeral in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 11, 2014. (Photo: AFP- Mahmud Hams)

Published Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Dozens of rockets fired from the besieged Gaza Strip struck towns in occupied Palestine on Wednesday, Israeli police said, a day after Israeli forces killed three Palestinian fighters in the enclave. More

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فلسطين | سرايا القدس تكسر الصمت



صواريخ في غلاف غزة... ودويّها في تل أبيب

توعدت حركة الجهاد بتوسيع نطاق الرد في حال استمرار العدوان الصهيوني (أ ف ب)

قطاع غزة على حافة عدوان واسع. هي الخلاصة الأكثر ترجيحاً من خلال تطورات يوم أمس. ليس أمام الاحتلال، الذي فوجئ بجسارة المقاومة الفلسطينية وقوة ردها، إلا هذا الخيار. في النهاية، إمراره للضربة الفلسطينية يعني قبوله بفرض توازن ردع. ومن قبل من؟ من الطرف الذي يعتبره الأضعف في محور المقاومة

إيلي شلهوب

ما حققته المقاومة الفلسطينية، يوم أمس، إنجاز بالغ الأثر على المستوى الفلسطيني، وتداعياته لا شك في أنها ستطاول المنطقة ككل. عملية نوعية مدروسة بعناية وذات رسالة واضحة جاءت رداً على عدوان متواصل أوقع خلال الأيام الماضية 15 شهيداً، ثلاثة منهم سقطوا أول من أمس.

العملية عملت ميزتين أساسيتين: الأولى كثافة الصليات الصاروخية، والثانية منطقة الاستهداف التي بقيت ضمن غلاف غزة، أي المنطقة الملاصقة للقطاع. رسالة قوية بسقف محدود. قوة الرسالة بالـ 170 صاروخاً، وهو البعد الردعي فيها. أما السقف المحدود، فيقول بعدم رغبة المقاومة في الانجرار إلى حرب كبرى، إلا إذا ما فُرضت عليها.

بدا واضحاً من خلال تعامل الاحتلال مع ما جرى أن قيادته فوجئت بمستوى رد الفعل ونوعه. في النهاية، ما قامت به إسرائيل، سواء تصفية مقاومي سرايا القدس قبل يومين أو باقي الاعتداءات من قتل واستيطان وانتهاك للمقدسات، يُعتبر بالنسبة إليها عملاً روتينياً لم تتوقف عنه يوماً. المقصود أنها لم تقم، من وجهة نظرها، بعملية نوعية، على غرار اغتيال شخصية استراتيجية، تبرر ردّ فعل كهذا. لم تكن، برأيها، أكثر من عملية إحباط لعمل عسكري كان يُعد للتنفيذ ضدها. «يبدو أن إطلاق الصواريخ جاء رداً على عمليات مكافحة الإرهاب التي قمنا بتنفيذها أمس (الثلاثاء)، ونحن سنواصل إحباط وضرب الذين يريدون إلحاق الأذى بنا». كان هذا تعقيب بنيامين نتنياهو.

أكثر من ذلك. يبدو واضحاً أن الخطأ في تقدير الموقف على مستوى قيادتها تجاوز بكثير البعد العملياتي. كانت ـ لا شك ـ تُقدّر أن المقاومة الفلسطينية ستتحمل الاعتداءات المتواصلة من دون أن تأتي بأي رد فعل، بفعل الأزمات العربية التي تشغل كل دول المنطقة عن القضية المركزية. وهي أخطأت في تقدير تأثير عداء الحكم المصري الحالي لحركة «حماس» على قدرات المقاومة وسلوكها. ألم يكن عاموس جلعاد من قال إن السلطات المصرية أغلقت 95 في المئة من الأنفاق، وهو ما لم يحصل في عهد حسني مبارك؟

«إطلاق وابل الصواريخ على إسرائيل يُعَدّ خرقاً لقواعد اللعبة وانتهاكاً صارخاً وخطيراً للتفاهمات الموجودة مع حركة حماس في القطاع، والجيش الإسرائيلي حالياً ينظر في طبيعة الرد»، لسان حال «مسؤول أمني رفيع»، كان كريماً كفاية للاعتراف بفشل منظومة «القبة الحديدية» التي لم تنجح إلا في اعتراض ثلاثة صواريخ من أصل 170.

استعادة سريعة للحراك الإسرائيلي خلال الأشهر الماضية يكشف بجلاء كم سعت الدولة العبرية إلى الاستفادة من تداعيات ما يُعرف بالربيع العربي وانشغال دول المنطقة بمصائبها الداخلية لتصفية القضية الفلسطينية، عبر العمل، بمعية «الراعي» الأميركي إلى محاولة فرض شروط للحل لم تكن لتخطر على بال أي من استراتيجييها في أوج ازدهارها.

اللافت أن الضربة الفلسطينية، من حيث توقيتها، تزامنت مع بلوغ الرهان على فشل مفاوضات التسوية ذروته خلال اليومين الماضيين، بدليل تصريحات بنيامين نتنياهو ومحمود عباس. توقيت يعطي، في بعده السياسي، معنىً واقعياً لاسم العملية «كسر الصمت» العربي وحتى الفلسطيني على العدوان الإسرائيلي المتواصل. سيكون من المثير سماع نبرة صوت جون كيري خلال تعليقه على التطورات الميدانية في القطاع، التي تأتي قبل أيام من زيارة رئيسه باراك أوباما للسعودية، وفي خلال وجود رئيس وزراء بريطانيا ديفيد كاميرون في الدولة العبرية.

وعليه تكون سرايا القدس قد أفلحت في إيصال رسالة سُمع دويها في تل أبيب، عنوانها: إلى هنا وكفى. محاولة لفرض توازن ردع يضع الاحتلال أمام خيارات جد محدودة. بل ليس أمامه سوى خيار واحد: توجيه ضربة تكسر التوازن الذي يحاول الفلسطينيون فرضه. الغارات التي نفذت على رفح وبيت لاهيا ليلاً خير مؤشر. ما سرّبه الإعلام الإسرائيلي ليل أمس يعزز هذه الفرضية: جلسة تقدير وضع برئاسة نائب رئيس الأركان غادي ايزنكوت انتهت بطلب تنفيذ ضربات واسعة النطاق ضد حركة الجهاد الإسلامي. وبحسب القناة العاشرة العبرية، «أوكل إلى سلاح الجو تنفيذ تلك الضربات بالتنسيق مع شعبة الاستخبارات، إلا أن الأحوال الجوية السيئة تعرقل ذلك كما هو مقرر، الأمر الذي يستعاض عنه بالقصف المدفعي ﻷهداف مختارة من قبل الاستخبارات».

هذا في الأسباب والملابسات والتأثيرات الداخلية الفلسطينية. لكن عملية «السرايا»، لا شك، ستصدح ارتداداتها في الجولان ولبنان. مؤشر يفهمه الإسرائيليون جيداً. العاجز عن فرض معادلات على شعب محاصر، منهك، مغلوب على أمره، عن أضعف حلقات محور المقاومة، لن يستطيع أن يتفرعن على عمقها القومي ولا الإسلامي.

وكانت سرايا القدس، الجناح العسكري لحركة الجهاد الإسلامي، قد أعلنت في بيان مقتضب أنها «ترد على العدوان (الثلاثاء) برشقات من الصواريخ». وأضافت أنها «ستوسع نطاق الرد في حال استمرار العدوان الصهيوني وأنها جاهزة لتقديم التضحيات في سبيل الله مهما كلف ذلك من ثمن».

وأعلن المتحدث باسم «الجهاد» في غزة داود شهاب أن «الجهاد لم يكن معنياً بالتصعيد، لكن إسرائيل ارتكبت انتهاكات كبيرة... إلى حين وصلت هذه الانتهاكات إلى مستوى تنصل إسرائيل من البند الذي يلزمها بعدم العودة إلى سياسة الاغتيالات». وأضاف: «كان يجب أن تصل رسالة مفادها أن إسرائيل إذا ما استمرت بسياسية الاغتيالات، فإنها ستقابل برد فلسطيني قوي»، معتبراً أن إسرائيل «هي من تقوض التهدئة الآن».

أما حكومة إسماعيل هنية، فحمّلت إسرائيل مسؤولية «التصعيد» في غزة، محذرة من «تداعيات» هذا الأمر.

وقال المتحدث باسمها، إيهاب الغصين، في بيان، إن «الفصائل الفلسطينية فصائل حكيمة وتبحث عن مصلحة الشعب الفلسطيني وتنطلق في قراراتها من هذا المنطلق وترى أن التهدئة مصلحة والاحتلال يقوم باختراقها».

وطالبت «حماس»، في بيان، بـ«وقف هذه التهديدات الإسرائيلية ووقف أي عدوان على قطاع غزة». كذلك طالبت «المقاومة الفلسطينية والأذرع العسكرية بإدارة الميدان بحكمة ووعي وفهم واقتدار وبما يضمن الحفاظ على دماء أهلنا ومصالح شعبنا».