Israel's Asymmetric Strikes against Gaza and the US' War against Hamas

Israel struck hard at Gaza and Hamas' power infrastructure. The current total--which will certainly rise--is around 280 with approximately two to three times injured. As expected,various states and members of the quartet spoke out separately and urged cessation of attacks. So far in the news, the relationship of cause and effect is muddied and hardly transparent.

In other words, this isn't as simple as Hamas attacking Israel, thus forcing Israel's hand. (Nor is this about religion, which is an unsophisticated response to these attacks. Islamism is recently popular because of secular failure and American-backed authoritarian governments, not because everyone over there are Mooooslums and they hate our freedoms.) Hamas' rocket attacks have low lethality and accomplish little collateral damage. Certainly, one could respond that fear of rocket attacks generates a pervasive siege mentality and convinces one that death from above is seconds away on a daily basis. And I think there's some truth to that, but I don't believe it justifies such an overwhelming response.

Further, if you want to play the terror card, it's only fair to reckon with Israel's, the West's, and (it should be noted) Egypt's embargoes on life in Gaza. Gazans encounter the following on a daily basis: severe food shortages, interruption or nonexistence of basic services, few job opportunities, and armed guards patrolling borders. If you want to see what inspires rocket attacks, it's irresponsible to neglect the extremely poor quality of life in Gaza. In effect, you can't marginalize or ignore the suffering of one group by privileging that of another.

I thought Rice and the DoS response would be a bit more measured, but it's hardly surprising considering the US' policy toward Hamas. (See an explanatory post regarding democracy and American policy under the foreign policy label.) Sarkozy, thus far, offered a decent response, but I hoped for some humanity from the Bush admin rather than its obdurate response.