FOLLOWING ISRAEL'S tank and troop assault on Gaza over the weekend it becomes all the more imperative to redouble the search for a ceasefire. Israel's stated aims are ambiguous and flexible, but certainly include putting an end to the Hamas-inspired rocket and missile attacks on southern Israeli communities.
That involves an effort to eliminate its military capacity and logically its political leadership role as well. The longer such a campaign goes on the more likely it is that this war will deepen and become much more dangerous for Palestinians, Israelis and the Middle East as a whole. Hamas cannot be destroyed militarily in this way.
A ceasefire agreement will be exceptionally difficult but should be attainable. Diplomatic efforts by European Union representatives have been ramped up but were yesterday rebuffed by the Israelis. It is important that they continue, especially in view of the leadership vacuum in Washington between the Bush and Obama administrations. The end of the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire on December 19th and Israel's decision to launch air and artillery strikes on Gaza on December 26th were planned to fill that vacuum and to set out and frame an anti-Hamas and anti-Iranian agenda for the incoming president. Europeans have significant political differences and interests from the US on the Middle East. They should be vigorously expressed with the search for a ceasefire agreement and renewed peace negotiations in coming days and weeks, despite the difficulties in securing a political consensus in the EU.
The military operations by Israel, backed up by an extensive propaganda exercise including a completely unacceptable ban on access to Gaza by Israeli-based international media, are designed to blame Hamas for the crisis and locate that organisation within the global struggle against terrorism pursued by the Bush administration. Mr Obama has different priorities, including a commitment to talk directly to Iran and possibly Hamas. He should not be diverted from that path by such pre-emptive actions, even though his increasingly loud silence sounds to many as if he has been. Never has the advice given by Yitzhak Rabin, former prime minister of Israel who was assassinated in 1996 by an extreme Orthodox Jew, been more apt: "You make peace with your enemies, not your friends".
A ceasefire agreement should address the major issues in this conflict. Israel must have credible assurances, backed up by international monitoring, that Hamas's capacity to acquire, stockpile and launch rockets has been constrained. In return Israel must withdraw all troops and cease military attacks. It must open the Gaza crossings and bring to an end the draconian blockade which has starved 1.5 million Palestinians of food, water, energy, fuel and other essential imports for nearly three years. International efforts to reopen negotiations on a two-state settlement must then be resumed, preferably preceded by new Palestinian elections. Hamas should thereby be given the opportunity to join fresh peacemaking efforts with these objectives.