Despite hailing as a victory the seven weeks of fighting that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and destroyed large swathes of Gaza’s infrastructure, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appears to have emerged as the main political casualty of Operation Protective Edge. In late July, Netanyahu’s approval ratings stood at 82 per cent. Last week, as the ceasefire began, his popularity had plummeted to 32 per cent.
“Israel has many different ways to make life very hard for Palestinians so that they will be driven off their land,” said Dror Etkes, an Israeli expert on the settlements. “But the firing zones are the number one method.”
Military training areas leave villagers in West Bank with stark choice: leave or risk being
Image above: Palestinian Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, left, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in Cairo, Egypt, November 2011 (photo credit: AP/Office of Khaled Mashaal)
Israel’s technical solutions work to an extent. They confine Palestinians to ever smaller spaces: the prison of Gaza, the city under lockdown, the torture cell, or the doctor’s surgery where a feeding tube can be inserted. But the craving for self-determination and dignity are more than technical problems. You cannot force-feed occupation to people to still their hunger for freedom.
