I cite from the Economist article entitled "Pummelling the Palestinians" which looks at how this war in Gaza can perhaps drastically configure the election outcome in February.
Some interesting data:
in the past year, it notes, "before the latest onslaught, 420-plus Gazans had been killed in Israeli raids, at least a fifth civilian, according to B´Tselem, an Israeli human-rights lobby."
it goes on to add that in the first four days of "Operation Cast Lead", four Israelis were killed by Palestinian rockets, bringing the total number of Israeli civilian deaths at the hands of Hamas in 2008 to five.
Another piece of info I found revealing: more than half of Gazans (1,5 million) are refugees or their descendants.
The article also draws a parallel to the attack on Hizbullah in Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Did their attack weaken Hizbullah? I guess Israel has learned its lesson in this month long war and has therefore prevented international journalists into the Strip?
Which party stands to gain most from the attacks in Gaza? The article notes that if Hamas does stop firing rockets, Mr Barak´s standing could rise although he and his Labour Party are "trailing well behind the foreign minister Tzipi Livni and her Kadima party".. this is how the article ends: "If Hamas´ rockets are silenced, albeit for a while, Israel´s voters may warm to those harsh qualities (meaning Barak´s campaign of declaring himself "not nice, not cuddly, not trendy").
Once more, this brings to mind the idea that war is politics by other means.
(The Economist, Jan 3rd, 2009)
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