Enabling Gaza's Deterrence

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Israel continues its bloody aggression against the Palestinian people, and I do not see it stopping. Its latest aggression against Gaza is merely one link in a chain of rounds already past and others yet to come, and anyone who imagines that Europe and the Arab regimes will stop it and close the file on this killing and criminality is deluding himself. Beyond that, the Palestinians and Arabs now busying themselves on the international stage, making contact with Europeans, Americans, and Israelis to halt the Israeli air strikes, are themselves conspirators against Gaza, and they will find no rest unless they see Gaza collapse, worn down by bombs and drowned in blood. Those who bomb Gaza, and those who say in the media that they are working to restore the wretched calm, form a single camp arrayed against the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people.

Palestinian factions fire rockets at the Zionist settlements, causing some damage and occasionally hitting people, but these remain rockets that irritate Israel rather than deter it. Firing these rockets fills a military gap, gives a morale boost to the Palestinian people, and forces the settlers to stay in shelters, reminding them that they have no security so long as the Palestinian people has none — but it is not enough to force Israel to think twice before launching an attack on Gaza or anywhere else.

…around us nothing but a few statements cursing Israel and patting the Palestinian resistance fighters on the back.

Real protection for the Palestinian people requires weapons capable of deterring Israel, and whoever wants this people to stand as an equal in the face of Israel must supply it with arms and empower it militarily, rather than rushing breathlessly to the United Nations, the European Union, or Israel’s representative office in his own country. Deterrent weaponry can be supplied today only by Hezbollah and Iran, and it is these two parties who bear the responsibility of providing the Palestinian resistance in Gaza with the deterrent weapons it needs. If anyone objects to this, let him bring his own rockets to Gaza, or bring his own out of hiding, or launch F-15 jets from their bases. The emasculated Arabs who maintain relations with the Zionists, and who move only with American permission, are of no benefit either to the Palestinians or to their own peoples — they are a burden on the nation, not an asset to it.

The faction leaders in Gaza should not hesitate to build relations with Hezbollah and Iran, and it is important that they understand fully that the Arabs who push them toward hesitation cannot possibly stand with Arab rights, since they are mere tools who draw their continuation in power from their masters in Washington and Tel Aviv. It is also the duty of the Palestinian factions to develop their scientific and technical capabilities so that they become able to manufacture weapons that will stop Israel at its limits. Challenge is the foundation of creativity.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “تمكين غزة من الردع” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.