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Palestinians Bogged Down in Policy Contradictions

(Now-Lebanon) Hussein Ibish - Hamas has been trumpeting a great victory against Israel, but as the dust settles, the shine seems to be wearing off with public opinion. The reality is that, with winter approaching, the amount of devastation and lack of housing in Gaza as a consequence of the war is going to become a very serious humanitarian issue. And for all of the talk of PA security forces replacing Hamas militia at the Palestinian side of the border crossings, there is no sign of any Palestinian agreement whereby that could happen. Abbas has toyed with the internationalization route for a long time, but in truth, it's another dead end. The international community is not going to be able to pressure Israel, particularly not without the cooperation of the U.S. Getting the UN Security Council to impose a deadline for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank isn't going to be possible given a U.S. veto, and if the General Assembly did so it would be meaningless. Even if the Security Council did impose such a deadline, Israel certainly would ignore that too. Joining the International Criminal Court and attempting to bring war crimes charges against Israeli officers and officials is a lengthy and complicated matter. There are numerous hurdles, most notably getting the court to recognize that the PA has practical sovereign control of Gaza, which would probably be necessary for any prosecution to go forward.
2014-10-17 00:00:00
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