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Israel targets homes to provoke Palestinians against resistance movements

July 9, 2014 at 2:27 pm

The Israeli army is targeting Palestinian civilians’ homes in an attempt to “incite” the Palestinians against the “Palestinian resistance”, whilst doubting Israel’s ability to achieve its objectives in its onslaught “Operation Protective Edge” which it has launched on the Gaza Strip, two Palestinian political analysts have said.

Both experts, who specialise in Israeli affairs, said that Israel is trying to provoke horror among the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by targeting some of their homes.

The Israeli army launched a series of raids on the Gaza Strip since the military operation began on Monday evening, killing 24 Palestinians and injuring about 200 others, some seriously, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The political analyst and Professor of Political Science at the University of Jerusalem, Ahmed Awad, said: “Israel is seeking, through the bombing of houses, to make a rift between the Palestinian resistance and the citizen, and confuse the Palestinian ranks.”

Awad noted, in an interview with an Anadolu correspondent, that Israel wants to achieve heavy losses in Gaza, after it was clear that it was targeting the infrastructure of the Palestinian resistance. He stressed that what is practiced by the Israeli army is a “war crime against civilians” and unacceptable by international laws and norms.

He predicted that Israel will continue the policy of bombing civilian houses since it perceives it to be an effective lethal weapon to curb the Palestinian resistance.

The Professor said: “Israel is an irrational state which believes that through its targeting of citizens it’s reducing its threats, but in fact what it is doing is the opposite.”

Analyst and columnist Yusuf Hijazi said: “The aim of Israel’s bombing of civilians in Gaza is to incite the people in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian resistance.”

Hijazi told Anadolu: “Israel is mistaken if it thinks that the Palestinian people can abandon the Palestinian resistance.”

With defenceless civilians and infrastructure being bombed in the Gaza Strip, the two previous wars have emphasised the failure of the military in the face of resistance.

Previously, Israel launched two wars on Gaza, the first on December 27, 2008, which it named “Operation Cast Lead”, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and injured approximately 5,000 others, in addition to the massive destruction of homes and infrastructure. The second was in November 2012. This was named “Operation Pillar of Defence” and lasted eight days, killing 90 Palestinians and injuring 1,500 others.

Israel has enforced a siege on Gaza since Hamas won the legislative elections in January 2006. It tightened the blockade after the group took control of the Gaza Strip in the middle of the following year, and the siege has remained despite Hamas abandoning power after the announcement of the Palestinian unity government on June 2.

Hijazi stressed the absence of any military targets and said Israel had targeted civilians which have nothing to do with firing rockets from the Gaza Strip, emphasising that the Israeli army is trying to confuse the Palestinians and invoke fear amongst them.

He explained: “Israel is targeting citizens because they recognise that the citizen is the one who protects the back of the resistance.”

Hijazi pointed out that the military launch of “Operation Protective Edge” against Gaza would continue for days to come, “unless there was Arab or international intervention”.

“There are red lines which if overtaken by the resistance may change the course of the game, and Israel would have an excuse to expand its military operation against Gaza,” he warned.

These lines include the bombing of the city of Tel Aviv, kidnapping Israeli soldiers, and killing large numbers of Israelis.

Among the dead and wounded during Israeli strikes, eight Palestinians were killed and 24 injured, some seriously, in the Israeli bombardment of a house belonging to the family of Kawarei in the middle of the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources.

During its current military campaign, the Israeli army has bombed more than 20 Palestinian homes, totally destroying most of them.

Israeli news reports reported that the Israeli cabinet for security and political affairs yesterday approved calling up 40,000 reserve soldiers in the Israeli army, in preparation for “a possible ground operation” against the Gaza Strip.