The following is a sort of war diary that I kept during the recent violent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, known in Israel as “Operation Cast Lead.” This text, my own personal protest against the war, was published on my blog in real time during the first few days of fighting, and reflects my experience of the conflict from Tel Aviv. The war, the latest in a long series of traumas experienced by the people of the entire region, contributed to the rise of the extreme right in Israel’s national elections in February 2009.

Day 1 of the Next Middle East War

It’s been in the headlines for a while, and some even predicted that it would happen this weekend. The “big operation,” ostensibly in response to mortar fire from the Gaza Strip, finally came to pass this morning around 11:30, just days after the expiration of an imperfect but welcome ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

According to news sources, a wave of some 60 or so fighter jets followed by another wave of helicopters dropped bombs on 50 Hamas targets within the space of several minutes. Gruesome pictures were broadcast on TV of the corpses of new recruits in a Hamas police academy, strewn lifeless and bloody in a dusty courtyard.

It is now clear that this operation has been in the planning for months. Israel’s military men must be very proud of themselves at this moment, patting each other on the back and offering one another congratulations for a job well done. “A complete surprise” the press is calling it, a tactical success.

I was walking down Yefet Street in Jaffa this afternoon when I heard the news. The city had closed off the street to traffic in honor of the holiday season, and it was full of street performers and craft hawkers. My girlfriend and I were chatting with one of the merchants when we heard about what had happened.

“Whatever you do, just don’t go down there,” the merchant told us, pointing south. Why not, we asked. “Arabs are demonstrating there,” he said. “Didn’t you hear what happened this morning in the territories? 150 people were killed.”

Welcome to Jaffa. I had just moved down from central Tel Aviv, seeking cheaper rent and a change of scenery. This was my second day as a resident of this mixed Jewish-Arab town.

We continued walking south, toward the demonstration that the merchant had warned us about. As we progressed further, we noticed that everyone seemed to be closing up shop in a hurry. “They gave me an order to close up early,” said the guy selling fake brand name sunglasses. “Problems in the territories.”

By the time we reached the demonstration itself, it had already fizzled out. We ran into several activists from the Jaffa Arab community that we had met during the course of an academic project in the spring. They had already been out demonstrating for several hours, they told us. The cable in the new apartment had not been connected yet, and we were apparently the last to hear the news.

*****

Although technically the middle of winter, the weather here is still relatively mild. Saturday was slightly chilly, with clear skies after a rainy and overcast week. Skies clear enough for the Israel Air Force to be sure that it hit all of its targets accurately.

Inevitably, the first associations were with the Second Lebanon War (this is actually the official name recently given to the month-long conflict that occurred in the summer of 2006). When it broke out, I was in Colombia, near the end of a long trip backpacking through South America. I returned that fall to find a different Israel than the one I had left – one less hopeful, and in which everyone’s priorities had seemingly shifted to various forms of escapism and dreams of actual physical escape, from what everyone agreed was a “hollow” government that cared little for the value of human life.

As the afternoon wore on, more associations came up. Like the Second Intifada (funny how in this part of the world every war seems destined to be repeated), in which it became the norm for several buses to explode in a single day. I remember well the feeling of fear back in 2002 that I felt every time I boarded a bus. There were many times when I get off the bus long before reaching my stop, just because I was sure the shifty-eyed passenger a few seats over was really a suicide bomber. Are those days about to return?

In the afternoon, the press was reporting some 150 dead, and another 200 or so wounded. By the evening, 225 dead. In these kinds of events, the number of dead and wounded continues to rise for days. Some of those initially considered wounded are later added to the list of fatalities, and when the number of dead finally becomes clear it is always significantly higher than the initial reports indicate.

Who are these dead? If you ask the politicians, they’re terrorists. Slightly more sober political commentators will tell you they are Hamas “activists” (a very broad term that apparently applies to everyone associated with Hamas in the Strip). At this point, the press is saying very little about civilian casualties. Haaretz military affairs reporter Amos Harel mentions tersely that “little to no weight was apparently devoted to the question of harming innocent civilians.”

One wonders how many women, children, elderly and civilian men will eventually be part of the tally. Like the US attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, this attack was carried out from the air. Air strikes are notorious for their high rate of “collateral damage.”

*****

Saturday evening. I headed to the Tel Aviv Cinemateque to participate in a protest against the violence. The day was supposed to be devoted to International Immigrants’ Day at the Cinemateque, and all kinds of film screenings and performances were planned, with the active participation of the large community of foreign workers and refugees that live in south Tel Aviv. Many of the African refugees that I volunteer with were there for the event. The festival however, like the street fair that afternoon in Jaffa, took place under the shadow of the day’s events.

From the beginning, the demonstration at the Cinemateque was tense. A row of uniformed policemen lined up across from the demonstrators, with stony faces and video cameras rolling. Why are the cops videotaping a peace demonstration, taking extra care to capture as many of the demonstrators’ faces as possible? One wonders if anyone actually watches these tapes, or if the cameras are just a calculated scare tactic. Drum circles and anti-war chants in the plaza mixed awkwardly with Latin dance beats coming from the festival, only a few meters away.

The demonstration was planned as a protest march from the Cinemateque, a landmark of tolerance and culture in the city, to the Kirya, the security establishment’s fortified stronghold in the middle of Tel Aviv, from whence the orders go out to the air force bases to scramble the jets.

Along the way – violence. A lone right winger shouting at the hundreds of demonstrators that they are helping terrorists kill Jews. Black-clad cops attempt to drag someone away, presumably one of the leaders of the demonstration. The crowd comes to his defense, and in the process people are injured. I see a person trampled under the hooves of a policeman’s horse. The crowd is screaming at the police to back off, but the cops’ faces betray no hint of emotion.

Lots of people, perhaps a couple thousand, line Kaplan Street, across from the Kirya, shouting all sorts of slogans. “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies.” “In Gaza and in Sderot, kids want to live.” “War is a disaster, peace is the answer.” Knesset Member Dov Khenin addresses the crowd. Chanting in Hebrew, English and Arabic. A small group of Anarchists, shoved up against the barricades, tests the cops’ patience.

After the protest disperses, I wander around the city a bit before returning home to Jaffa. By midnight, Hamas has declared the start of the Third Intifada, while Israeli military figures are telling the public to prepare itself for the “expansion and deepening” of the air attacks. Missiles are already falling on the towns around Gaza, and Hamas promises to hit new targets – the cities of Ashdod and Be’er Sheva.

This is what happens around here when a ceasefire expires, I guess, especially when elections are just around the corner. No one is in any hurry to renew it, and anyway who wants to negotiate with those despicable terrorists the Zionists/Hamas anyway? The result is hundreds dead and yet more clouds of war descending on this weary and exhausted land.

Day 3: More ‘Shock and Awe’

Day three of the war with Gaza, the eighth and last day of Hanukah. Statements coming out of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv indicate that this will not end soon.Ground troops are gathering outside Gaza, and the Israeli Navy has reportedly joined the Air Force in the attack.

In the West Bank, Palestinian protesters clash with soldiers, and protests have erupted across the Middle East and in major European cities. In Beirut, protesters were actually tear gassed by the authorities. In Israel, missiles continue to fall on the south. In one of war’s ironies, the latest Israeli casualties are Arab construction workers at a building site in Ashkelon.

What exactly is going on in Gaza? Despite the absence of Israeli and international media, prohibited by Israel from entering the Strip, the picture seems pretty clear: utter destruction. Palestinians and aid workers, the only voices coming out of Gaza, are reporting scenes reminiscent of Baghdad during the “Shock and Awe” days or European cities under aerial attack during WWII.

One group that remains in Gaza is the United Nations, whose various bodies are charged with meeting the basic needs of the population there. They are trying to keep track of the casualties, who continue to pour into Gaza’s lone, overloaded hospital. According to the UN’s count, by Sunday afternoon some 51 of the over 300 dead were civilians, and the wounded numbered around 1,400 people. CNN reports that the bombings are now targeting individual families inside their homes.

Last night, another protest. This one much smaller, held in the center of Tel Aviv. The protesters were mainly the hard core of the extreme left, seasoned veterans of the protests against the separation fence in the West Bank. In fact, they had spent that afternoon at a protest in the West Bank. One of the photographers among them is looking through his shots from the event – horrible pictures of wounded and bloody protesters. Apparently, one of the protesters there was shot and killed. Now the activists are preparing for his funeral.

Standing at the corner of Bograshov and King George streets, in the very heart of liberal, open-minded Tel Aviv, this small demonstration is exposed to all the fervor of those who support the war. Passersby hurl abuse at the demonstrators, people yell and beep aggressively at them from passing cars, an egg is thrown.

Some of the passersby yell words like “lesbians” “stupid leftist idiots” “homos” “traitors” “draft evaders.” A young French couple walking by asks me in English what the protest is about. “Against the war in Gaza,” I tell them. The man turns up his nose and snorts, and they walk away.

A group of sturdy young men approach the protesters with hostility. After being sent across the street by the cops (who are present but in smaller numbers and visibly less on edge than the previous night), they return with an improvised sign that reads, “Way to go IDF! Proud reserve soldiers.” The protesters responded by chanting “Brave pilot – why are you bombing children?”

A couple blocks away, life in Tel Aviv continues as usual. There are no Palestinian missiles falling here (yet?), and the usual pace of life continues as if nothing was out of the ordinary, even as the country’s leaders declare “all out war.” It is the last night of the holiday, and religious groups are driving around, giving out menorahs and lighting candles with anyone who is willing. In Dizengoff Square, a loud candle lighting ceremony is being held for the city’s children. I consciously avoid the scene.

Quite strange how public celebrations can be held in the midst of so much death and destruction, but Israelis have developed the ability to carry on in all sorts of circumstances as if nothing unusual was going on – a survival mechanism that is very specific to this country.

*****

In response to Misha, who commented on my last post about the war, the protests are not just against the Israeli air raids. Supporters of peace, like myself, believe that violence, regardless of which side it comes from, will achieve absolutely nothing. The demonstrations that have been going on for the past few days are against violence aimed at people on both sides, and this is clear from the slogans chanted.

No one from the peace camp supports the bombing of Jewish towns and villages in the south, which has been going on for some 8 years (and which, by the way, the Israeli government has done nothing effective to stop). There is no question that the negligence and stupidity of the official leadership on both sides has turned civilians on both sides into victims of their own governments.

However, we in Israel are responsible for holding our own government, which we elect to govern us, to account. Protests are not about letting off steam, but sending a message to our leaders that they cannot do whatever they like.

The current attack, which one BBC anchor compared to a sledgehammer in response to pinpricks, is out of all proportion.

It is clear that, like in Lebanon in 2006 and in the West Bank in 2002, Israel’s strategy is not to respond in proportion to provocations. Israel is out to crush Hamas (and destroy Gaza along the way), just as it did in Beirut and in the Jenin refugee camp. The overblown response is meant to restore Israel’s lost deterrence. And let it be clear to everyone: there is no plan for the day after.

Let’s assume, for a second, that Israel succeeds in destroying Hamas completely. What then? The obvious next move would be to install a pliable leadership to match that in the West Bank, perhaps restore Fatah to power. But what long term prospects for peace could we expect to have with a population whom we have crushed and terrorized so effectively? Who in Gaza will even be interested in peace with us now? The real result of this attack could be a whole new generation of rabid, determined, murderous resistance to Israel in the Strip. Are we destroying Hamas, our terrorist archenemies, only to aid in the birth of an even more venomous adversary?

Day 5: No End in Sight

At least Hamas keeps its word. They told us they would hit Ashdod and Be’er Sheva, and now they have. Ofakim and Rahat, a “development town” and a large Bedouin city, both northwest of Be’er Sheva, have also been hit. How long before Tel Aviv is within range of their rockets?

Four Israelis and several hundred Palestinians have been killed. Who knows how many on both sides have been wounded. The French government proposed a 48-hour “humanitarian” cease fire. The Israeli government discussed it, but rejected it as “unrealistic.”

An aid to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Haaretz:

“There’s no such thing as a ‘humanitarian cease-fire’. Gaza is not undergoing a humanitarian crisis. We’re constantly supplying it with food and medications, and there’s no need for a humanitarian cease-fire.”

Here in Tel Aviv, the protests continue, and so do the counter-protests. Yesterday, the police reportedly arrested someone for throwing eggs at an anti-war demonstration. In Jaffa, leaders of the Arab community were taken for interrogation by the internal security services and the police after organizing an anti-war demonstration. One of them was Omer Siksik, a member of the Tel Aviv – Jaffa city council.

In Gaza, there are no more hospital beds to treat the wounded, and tomorrow there will be no more bread either. The labyrinth of tunnels that allowed for the movement of goods and people (and yes, weapons) under the Gaza-Egypt border was bombed, and Egypt is doing its best to prevent Gazans from crossing that border above ground. Israel is dropping fliers from the air, telling Gazans to evacuate their houses ahead of a possible ground invasion. How’s that for psychological warfare?

Gaza has been crushed and Hamas all but obliterated. Israel and all of its petty politicians can claim victory if they like. After such a ferocious attack, nobody will want to mess with Israel, right?

But what happens next? Military victory is worthless if not leveraged into political victory. Brilliant tactics are worth nothing if not used as part of a broader strategy.

In the short term, perhaps Hamas, what’s left of it anyway, will be persuaded to declare a ceasefire out of sheer survival instinct. Maybe the rockets coming out of Gaza will even stop for a while. And maybe Olmert, Barak, Tzipi and Bibi will even manage to spin the war to their advantage ahead of the elections in February.

What then?

If we ever hoped for any shot at any kind of peace with the people of Gaza over the longer term, we just blew it. Don’t expect them to want peace with us in this generation. Those police cadets who were bombed while standing at attention were very young men, about the age of Israeli soldiers, who were trying to make a decent living for their families. Their brothers, sisters, cousins, children – none will forget what happened to them. By the time this war is over, I doubt if anyone will be left in Gaza who has not seen a relative or friend killed by Israel. Once their struggle to stay alive during the fighting ends, and the mourning over the dead is over, their desire for revenge will flare up.

(The same could be said about the Israelis living on the other side of the fence. After eight years of living under the threat of Gazan rockets, very few of them are kindly disposed towards those on the opposite side. You’ll find few peaceniks there. Many are no longer interested in the complexities of the situation, and have long pushed for an all-out assault on Gaza. Violence breeds more violence. Their opinion of the Israeli government, which has done nothing to stop the rockets all these years, is not very high either, by the way.)

And, as if determined to prove their own ineptitude, our esteemed leaders are not even expecting to bring back Gilead Shalit, the kidnapped Israeli soldier who has been in Hamas captivity for 920 days now.

Back in early 2006, when Ehud Olmert was Acting Prime Minister campaigning for the elections that would make him Prime Minister until today, Ha’aretz interviewers asked him to fast forward to the end of his term in office and describe what he saw. Here’s what he told them, just for a bit of emphasis:

‘It will be a different country,’ he replied swiftly. ‘In different borders. It will be separate from the vast majority of the Palestinian population. It will be a country with less external violence and more personal security. A country that is dealing more effectively with the social ills,’ and here he takes a short break. ‘It will be,’ he says, ‘a country that is fun to live in. That people will not only love it, but will also love to say they love it.’

So much for that, eh Olmert?

Some vivid and shocking images of the war were compiled by The Big Picture here and here.