Hamas and the equilibrium of fear policy

The continuing resistance and the Zionist regime’s inability to stop rocket fire into Israeli towns show that Hamas is now calling the shots in the conflict.

In military terms, if the aggressors do not achieve their set military goals in a short period of time, they will eventually be the ultimate losers, and this defeat will prove even heavier for Israel than the 33-day war against Lebanon in 2006.

This is because the Zionist regime and Egypt, Gaza’s only Arab neighbor, have imposed a blockade on Gaza for over 18 months, and Cairo is even blocking the shipment of humanitarian aid to the territory.

In this lopsided war, Hamas is rapidly increasing the range of its missiles, and many analysts believe that they can now threaten Tel Aviv since Hamas has fired Grad 1 and 2 missiles, which are capable of hitting targets within a range of 55 kilometers, and may go on to use their newest missile to target Tel Aviv, which is only 70 kilometers away from Gaza.

The Dimona nuclear facility, located in the Negev Desert, also provides an easy target for Palestinian missiles. However, Hamas has shown great patience in not attacking Dimona in order to avoid a major humanitarian catastrophe.

What has become clear in this unequal war is the capability of Hamas to handle a long guerrilla war against the Israeli army, and they have clearly located the Zionist regime’s Achilles’ heel.

In the political dimension, the conflict has demonstrated that compromising Arab states have made miscalculations with regard to the Zionist regime, since it does not want lasting peace with the Palestinians but only seeks to ensure its own security.

Israel has always been the intractable side in all international decisions and its security is the red line in all international bodies.

Thus, while Israel has perpetrated numerous criminal acts and used unconventional weapons against Palestinian civilians, the UN Security Council and other international bodies, which are dominated by the United States and the European Union, remain silent.

Some compromising Arab states in the region have even bought into the belief that Israel’s security must always be prioritized in all plans and resolutions, which was evident in the recent proposal for a truce put forward by Egypt, the country that has always advocated the elimination of Hamas to guarantee Israel’s security.

After nearly three weeks of savage attacks against the defenseless residents of the Gaza Strip, a serious rift has developed between the people and officials of the compromising Arab states, which bodes ill for the future of these regimes.

And finally, the latest reports from Gaza show that Israel is on the brink of another historic defeat, which will greatly affect the political and security equations of the region and force the Zionist regime to come to terms with a new phenomenon called the equilibrium of fear.  

(Jan. 17 Tehran Times Opinion Column, by Hassan Hanizadeh)

SL/HG

END

MNA