Al-Ayaam, Ramallah, November 15
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Truth and understanding
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The resignation of Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman from office is a pure act of political survival. Liberman did not resign because of strong disagreements he had with the military over how the Gaza crisis should have been handled. In fact, when he released his resignation notice to the public, Liberman did not mention a single word of criticism against the IDF or the Chief of Staff. Instead, he focused his disparaging remarks against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is the real target of this resignation. Liberman hopes to weaken Netanyahu by attacking him at his base: with the conservative right-wing voters. Resigning at this point in time, just days after Hamas fired over 500 rockets at Israeli towns and cities, and accusing Netanyahu of not responding harshly enough to this escalation, is meant to portray Liberman as the “macho” politician in the Israeli political sphere. However, just like Netanyahu, Liberman, too, knows all too well that the only solution to the Gaza crisis is a political one. The recent round of confrontation between Israel and Hamas revealed the latter’s upgraded capabilities, which include an advance missile system that is far more accurate and advanced than it used to be. In addition, Hamas’ strikes against Israel were more coordinated than in previous rounds of fighting, and suggest that directives to its forces on the ground were dispatched from a central command room somewhere in the Gaza Strip. By responding to the massive Hamas rocket fire with nothing more than a few targeted attacks against vacated Hamas buildings, the Israeli political and security echelon essentially admitted to not having a solution to the Gaza situation. Israel is trying to win time and sign covert deals with Hamas through secret back-channels. Hamas, meanwhile, succeeded in getting Israel to come to terms with its power and respect its authority over the Gaza Strip. It also marked a victory over Liberman, who entered office after promising to “exterminate” the movement’s heads, and left office at a time when Israel no longer knows how to deal with Hamas. –Rami Mansour