Assessing the Israeli aggression against Gaza in terms of gains and losses, the number of the people killed and wounded or in terms of the caused destruction is nonobjective as this assessment serves the Zionist enemy’s interest. The more logical assessment is that which takes into consideration the unequal balance of powers and the political and military achievements of both sides. The political observer sees that the result of this assessment comes in favor of the Palestinian resistance and its supporters topped by the people of Gaza themselves who confronted the Israeli war machine with great determination and faith.
The victory, achieved by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, can be noticed in two main points; the first is that the Zionist enemy and its allies are the parties who sought ceasefire following a state of political emergency which had prevailed among them, particularly the US State’s Secretary Hillary Clinton who paid an urgent visit to the region to meet Zionist officials before leaving to Cairo to hold a crisis meeting aiming basically at controlling the situation, saving the Zionist entity from an inevitable defeat and trying to steal the victory of the resistance by talking about negotiations between the two conflicting sides so as to reach an agreement on ceasefire, and this is exactly what happened.
The second point is that the enemy forces have refrained from carrying out a military operation the Israeli leaders had repeatedly threatened of and even prepared for by summoning the Israeli army reserve.
Nevertheless, the main questions to be asked, from our viewpoint, are: has anything changed in the region’s strategic environment after developments in the past two years and the talk about “Arab Spring”? Is there any change in resistance stances following the Syria events, the attempts to target Iran and the repercussions of regional developments on Lebanon?
Analyzing stances away from political and ideological convulsion, we can say that the Zionist enemy and its American allies have reached some conclusions; the first is that nothing has been changed in the Egyptian stance in the strategic sense, as Egypt has played the role of the mediator between the Palestinians and the Israelis without being biased to resistance, and this was the same Egyptian stance adopted four years ago during Israel’s aggression on Gaza. The only change in Egypt’s role as a mediator is that in the past Egypt used to convey messages from Israel to resistance, but now, it is conveying them from resistance to Israel particularly in the presence of Mrs. Clinton?!!
The Second and more importantly conclusion is the cohesion of the whole resistance front and the support of freedom-loving forces to resistance. These forces have been adherent to their firm and principled stances on supporting the Palestinian resistance in Gaza with all financial, military and political means. This was what had been stressed by some key resistance leaders in the media during the war on Gaza and after reaching the ceasefire agreement.
These firm stances have strongly shocked the Zionist entity leaders and their regional and international allies who thought that cracks and weaknesses will hit the resistance body after the region’s dramatic events and changes backed by Israel and its allies to serve their interests.
The aggression on Gaza has uncovered the limited capabilities of the Zionist entity and its continuous need for foreign protection. It has also refuted Israel’s claims of having strategic deterrence abilities through which it used to threaten some countries in the region, since, possessing weapons is something and the ability to use them responsibly is something else.
This is the most important lesson one can get from the results of the Israeli barbaric aggression on Gaza, and that is what must be taken into consideration by our region’s policies maker and implementers who are still obsessed with the illusion that the Zionist entity is an undefeatable force.
Dr. Khalf al-Muftah
Translation: Hamda Moustafa