Operation Protective Edge: Day 29: Israel pulls out

     What a difference a week makes! Just seven days ago this column discussed the difficulties in finding a mutually accepted broker to try to negotiate a temporary cease fire between Israel and Hamas.
      On Monday night, August 4th, Israel and a noticeably crushed Hamas agreed to an Egyptian brokered 72 hour cease-fire starting Tuesday morning at 8:00AM Israel time. According to the agreement, as long as the cease fire holds Israel will send a delegation to Cairo for the talks on a permanent arrangement.
      As of this writing, Tuesday, August 5th at 3:00PM Dallas time the ceasefire has been holding for 15 hours. The IDF, having completed the mission of destroying a total of 32 cross border attack tunnels, has fully withdrawn all ground forces from Gaza, redeploying them along the border in a way that they can swiftly react, with full force, to any attack from within the strip, or from a hitherto undetected tunnel. The Air Force and artillery units are ready to destroy the location of any rocket launch. So far there have been none.
     Assuming that the cease fire holds, there is good reason to believe that it will be extended. That means that the focus now turns to the Egyptian brokered talks in Cairo over a long-term arrangement that will enable both sides to have an extended period of security and quiet.

     Despite the empty claims of victory by Hamas leaders today ("We won," said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, from his fancy hotel room in Qatar, "The image of destruction seen by the world is the proof to the extent of the IDF's defeat and its failure”), Hamas is currently in a much worse situation than it was before it started the war: 

• It has no operational success:
  • After firing over 2,000 rockets and mortars at Israel, there  were no collapsed buildings or mass deaths or injuries. 
  • Several attempts at “quality” terrorist attacks through the tunnels were thwarted. 
  • Several attempts to kidnap Soldiers or civilians failed. 
  • Over 900 Hamas militants, including senior commanders were killed.

• It has lost its two flagship military programs after spending years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing: The rocket launching capability and the tunnels.
• The civilians in Gaza – and many in the Arab world, are now blaming Hamas leaders for the terrible loss of life, property and infrastructure that their actions caused, while they, their families and wealth were hiding out in luxury in Qatar.
• It claims that it has no money to pay government (and terrorist) salaries, let alone rebuild Gaza.
• It has been denounced by almost every Arab and Moslem leader – except Turkey and Qatar.

     So while Hamas is limping to the Cairo talks, Israel is coming from a strong position, with the support of key Arab States: Egypt (which has already told Hamas that it can forget about its demands for an airport and seaport as part of the “arrangement”), Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Emirates, Morocco and more.

     Israel is coming to the Cairo talks with one main demand and one promise. 

1. The demand: Demilitarizing Hamas or any regime in Gaza from weapons and means (rockets, mortars, tunnels) that threaten Israel.
2. The promise – quiet will be met with quiet. And down the road – Requests for help in peaceful economic development, including high-tech and tourism, for the benefit of the Palestinian people in Gaza will be met with open arms and an open heart. 

     By the time you read this either the cease-fire, together with the Cairo talks, will have been extended, which is a good sign, or operation Protective Edge will, unfortunately, be in Day 31…and counting.

       The IDF Chief of Staff, General Benny Gantz, said today that with the unilateral redeployment from Gaza, Israel has adopted a strict “Zero Tolerance” policy on terrorism from Gaza. That means that regardless of what happens in Cairo; from now on any rocket, mortar or other attack will be answered with accurate, lesson-teaching, overwhelming and unambiguous force.

      Now that’s getting back Israel’s deterrence.