Operation Guardian of the Walls was another round in the asymmetric conflict between Israel and Hamas. This asymmetry also applies to the operation’s goals. While Hamas’s objectives were political and cognitive, Israel’s objectives were military. It was proven again that there was no magical solution that would have a lasting, substantive positive impact on the situation in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the option of an arrangement with Egyptian mediation – a long-term ceasefire and the return of the Israeli...
China identified the crisis between Israel and Hamas in Gaza as a political opportunity to bolster its national interests, particularly in the context of Xinjiang, through vehement opposition to the United States policy towards Muslims. As rotating UN Security Council president in May 2021, China sponsored a statement calling for an immediate halt in the violence against the Palestinian Muslims, while accusing the United States of thwarting a joint declaration through its one-sided support for Israel. At the same time, China claimed...
As in every kinetic military campaign against Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip, the cognitive aspect was embedded from the very beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls, and its importance increased as the campaign progressed. The integration of the cognitive campaign with the kinetic is essential for the realization of military achievements in order to then reap political gains. For Israel, the first cognitive achievement required is a deep engraving in the minds of Hamas commanders and their associates, as well as in the...
Israel hit Hamas hard, but the Israeli public was frustrated by the ongoing rocket fire, the IDF’s inability to prevent it, and the lack of a decisive and unequivocal Israeli victory. This dissonance is the outcome of three surprises experienced by the Israeli public in the course of the campaign: the fact that the political echelon chose (yet again) to deter Hamas and not to vanquish it; the inability of the IDF’s offensive operations to stop the rocket fire; and the military’s difficulty in explaining and demonstrating...
Ten days of fighting in the Gaza Strip have again illustrated the dilemma of when, how, and under what conditions the campaign should be ended. While Hamas achieved the goals that it set for itself at the outset of the campaign – positioning itself as the defender of al-Aqsa and Jerusalem and leading the Palestinians in the struggle against Israel – Israel has not freed itself from the logic that guided its actions in previous rounds of conflict with Hamas, centering on strong deterrence. The strategic objective that the Israeli...
The State of Israel is engulfed in a multi-front event: religious-nationalist tensions in Jerusalem, rioting in mixed Jewish-Arab communities, ongoing fighting with Hamas and the Gaza Strip terrorist groups, and violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border. To deal with this complex event most effectively, a multi-front and multi-disciplinary strategic outlook is required to serve as a means of planning and managing the respective fronts, relating both to the present and to the future. The flames in Israel’s mixed towns must be lowered....
“If I forget thee O Jerusalem” might seem to some to reflect the interest of the Arab-Palestinian public in the city more than the interest of the Jewish public. There are significant gaps between the various communities living in the city, leading to a great deal of friction and tension. The recent escalation and the clashes on the Temple Mount, in Sheikh Jarrah, and at the Damascus Gate between the police and hundreds of young Arabs are evidence of Jerusalem’s potential for volatility and its position at the heart of the...
This memorandum describes the context and background of the Annapolis process of 2007—2008 for a permanent status agreement between the State of Israel and the representatives of the Palestinians—the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. The authors, who held key positions in planning, organizing, and conducting the negotiation meetings, describe the interactions and events in public and behind the scenes, in a concerted effort to depict the “golden path” between the competing interests and opposing positions of the parties to reach a...
Efforts by Abu Mazen and senior Fatah leaders to prevent divisions in the movement before the May 2021 Palestinian Legislative Council elections have failed. The movement split into three separate lists following multiple disputes, power struggles, and anger directed at the leadership. These splits challenge the status of Abu Mazen, who over the past 16 years was the sole, unchallenged leader of the Palestinian national movement. They cast a shadow over Fatah’s hegemony in the Palestinian theater, accelerate the inheritance...
At a time that the Palestinian issue appears increasingly sidelined on the Israeli agenda, current efforts at rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas are particularly noteworthy. These efforts accelerated following the “deal of the century” presented by President Trump; Israel’s intention to annex portions of the West Bank; and the normalization accords between some Gulf states and Israel. The agreement of the two organizations on elections for Palestinian Authority institutions, along with a prevalent sense in the...
The leaders of the major members of the European Union could sigh with relief upon hearing President Biden’s first statements on foreign policy. His remarks indicate that the United States is resuming its central role in the international arena, with a renewed emphasis on diplomacy, multilateralism, universal human rights, and the rule of law. Cooperation between the United States and the European Union, which waned during Trump’s term in office – thereby eroding their ability to deal with shared challenges – is now...
On February 5, 2021, the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled, in a majority opinion, that “Palestine” can be viewed as a state whose territory comprises all of the “territories occupied since 1967” for the purpose of determining the jurisdiction of the Court. The decision gives a green light for opening an investigation into all activity in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip starting on June 13, 2014, including IDF actions in Operation Protective Edge and against the Palestinian...
