Pillar of Cloud over Gaza

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Today an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza may be signed. Hamas and Israel will promise each other to stop any military activity. The guarantor of the agreement will be President of Egypt Muhammed Mursi. Turkey claims to be a mediator. Today a visit by the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutaglu to Gaza should take place. Israeli and Turkish experts and politicians see the situation differently.

Gabi Levi, the former ambassador of Israel in Turkey

We shouldn’t rely on Turkey as a mediator in ceasing missile attacks from Gaza. All statements by Turkey on their readiness to mediate and strive for peacemaking are no more than a propaganda trick. Turkey is interested in Gaza as exaggerating of the theme helps Turkey to improve its status of a new leader of the Islamic world. Normalization of relations with Turkey is impossible under the current administration which has imperial plans. The mediation of Ankara in our conflict with Hamas will not only give no positive results, but also can be harmful for Israel and bring extra points to Turkey in its propaganda campaign. Another case is Egypt. President Mursi who shows himself as an intelligent and rational politician is interested in normalization of the situation and does his best.

Torgul Ismail, A.P. of the International Relations Faculty in TOBB University of Economics and Technology (Ankara)

Turkey shouldn’t be compared with Egypt, as influence of Ankara in the region is much greater. The position of Turkey is clear and principal; it doesn’t require any concessions to Israel. The Israeli authorities provide a tough policy of hawks and they are uncompromising in normalization of relations with Turkey too. Even though I believe that these two states need each other in the region. The best variant is improvement of cooperation between Turkey and Israel. The administrations of two states have to find forces for making a step toward each other. But at the moment it is not happening.

Dorit Golender, Israeli Ambassador to Russia

The operation, which began on November 14, is clearly defined, and its purpose is clearly defined. It is aimed at destroying terrorist bases. It is designed to destroy those launchers that exist in Gaza. It is in no way directed against the civilian population. Israel is doing everything possible to ensure that the civilian population suffers as little as possible in the operation. More than 20,000 calls were made in order to warn people not to be in places that are close to the launch of missiles and ammunition depots. Lots of leaflets were issued. What is happening on the Palestinian side? We see a very different picture when they use people and children as human shields. We always say that for 11 years the population of southern Israel has been under constant mortar and rocket fire. An entire generation of children has grown up with the fact that they were sitting in shelters waiting for sirens. It is an wound that it is difficult to heal. But Israel has developed a very thorough system of logistics, and, probably, someone who follows events, watches videos, sees how everything is organized, and people quickly hide. However, there are some casualties. On the Israeli side today one man was seriously injured after a direct rocket hit. During the operation four people were killed, and there were a considerable number of injuries, including serious injuries. Talk of normalization and of a negotiation for a ceasefire has been going on for the last 48 hours. The representative of Egypt, the Egyptian President himself, actively participates in this. Today, I know, the Foreign Minister and Minister of Health of Morocco are arriving in Gaza, and there are other representatives. At present we do not have a clear understanding of the situation. We want fewer victims, but we know that shelling of Israel should be immediately stopped and the conditions that Israel puts forward should be adopted in order to settle the situation. We are following events. Last night dozens of rockets were launched at Israel. Israel, for its part, has held several operations to pinpoint the elimination of terrorist enclaves, but now we are not witnessing a lull but only talk about negotiations on a resolution of this conflict. The aim is the destruction of the bases of terrorist fighters. We are not talking about the possibility of destroying Hamas completely, we are all well aware of this. We only know that due to such countries as Iran, Libya and others, missiles that are constantly supplied there represent a threat to Israel. Israel could not maintain the position of containment. We left Gaza in 2005, you know very well, hoping that it would develop its infrastructure or restore its economy. But all of the resources are only directed against Israel. Hamas still does not recognize the state of Israel and does not perform the obligations given to the "Quartet". The work of the "Quartet" is between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The question of whether to sit at the peace table has failed in recent years. However, Israel believes that the presence of the "Quartet" is very important, and we shall see its work. If we compare the work of the "quartet" to the situation in Gaza, it should be explained that so far there is no agreement between Hamas and Abu Mazen's party. Abu Mazen, in fact, lost power a long time ago. Abu Mazen has long been considered a figurehead, and all power is in the hands of Hamas. Hamas is quite hostile, as I said, and it wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. And so the work of the "Quartet" on Hamas does not fit the situation. However, Russia's position, we have thoroughly followed it recently, calls on both parties to cease their activities and discuss these issues; the Russian position became not as tough as its first reaction. It is known what is happening to Gaza and its population density, the location of the battle points that exist there is also known. I want to tell you, I have already said in the beginning that 20,000 calls have been made to warn civilians. There are pinpoint eliminations of terrorist enclaves by Israel: they often take refuge in schools, hospitals, day care centers, and, of course, this makes it difficult to implement some operations against terrorists and those places where the launchers are located. When Israel begins such an operation, it should expect and be prepared for any situation. Israel has announced that it is its first duty to carry out the anti-terrorist operation to protect its citizens, and in order to really paralyze the system of Hamas, where there is a constant targeting of civilians, ground forces are needed. A decision on a ground operation is still pending, but Israel is ready for it. We do not want to go back to Gaza, we have no intention of being there. But, if necessary, Israel will take all the steps, I repeat, all the steps, and I quote our prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, in order to protect Israeli civilians from rocket and mortar attacks.