In the past five years Israel has mounted three major assaults on the
1.8 million Palestinians trapped behind its blockade of the Gaza
Strip. Taken together, Operation Cast Lead (2008-9), Operation Pillar
of Defense (2012), and Operation Protective Edge (2014), have
resulted in the deaths of some 3,700 Palestinians. Meanwhile, a total
of 90 Israelis were killed in the invasions.
On the face of it,
this succession of vastly disproportionate attacks has often seemed
frenzied and pathological. Senior Israeli politicians have not
discouraged such perceptions, indeed they have actively encouraged
them. After the 2008-9 assault Israel's then-foreign minister, Tzipi
Livni, boasted, "Israel demonstrated real hooliganism during the
course of the recent operation, which I demanded."
However, as Norman
G. Finkelstein sets out in this concise, paradigm-shifting new book,
a closer examination of Israel's motives reveals a state whose
repeated recourse to savage war is far from irrational. Rather,
Israel's attacks have been designed to sabotage the possibility of a
compromise peace with the Palestinians, even on terms that are
favorable to it.
Looking also at
machinations around the 2009 UN sponsored Goldstone report and
Turkey's forlorn attempt to seek redress in the UN for the killing of
its citizens in the 2010 attack on the Gaza freedom flotilla,
Finkelstein documents how Israel has repeatedly eluded accountability
for what are now widely recognized as war crimes.
Further, he shows
that, though neither side can claim clear victory in these conflicts,
the ensuing stalemate remains much more tolerable for Israelis than
for the beleaguered citizens of Gaza. A strategy of mass non-violent
protest might, he contends, hold more promise for a Palestinian
victory than military resistance, however brave.