Faced with Sderot and Gaza Cutting off Gaza utilities illegal, counterproductive

Haaretz Editorial, 06/07/09. Communities in the western Negev are now enduring their seventh year of rocket attacks. Israel's inability to halt these attacks stems from fear that the cost of a military operation in the Gaza Strip, which the Israel Defense Forces left two years ago, would be higher than the benefits: Many soldiers would be hurt or killed; there would also be Palestinian casualties; international understanding of Israel's need to defend itself would evaporate; and in the end, the operation would turn out to have produced only a lull before the next battle between Israel and the Palestinian organizations - which use various means against it, and not only rockets.

The distress of Israel's government, which is responsible for defending its citizens, periodically gives rise - and with greater force than usual this week - to desperate ideas. One such idea, which is being advocated by Minister Haim Ramon and, more guardedly, by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, is hitting Gaza's water and electricity networks. Stopping the flow of water and electricity is a painful and punishing step, but ostensibly not a fatal one. Its goal is to cause the Palestinian public to pressure Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop the fire.

This idea is complete nonsense. Factually speaking, cutting off water and electricity can kill. Moreover, there is no proof that making the Palestinian public suffer would make Hamas take pity on it and embark on a cease-fire. On the contrary: Hamas consistently sabotages the flow of essential goods through Gaza's border terminals. What is being presented as a way to avoid war is counterproductive, immoral and illegal.

This last fact is well-known to proponents, who are careful to append footnotes to their proposals regarding the need to obtain legal advice. It is hard to believe that serious people would mouth off first and consult the lawyers only afterward. In reality, they understand that there is no chance of getting legal approval for deliberate harm to civilians at a time when countries, officers and ministers are facing war crimes charges in The Hague. Barak, who as IDF chief of staff during Operation Accountability, drove the population of south Lebanon to flee northward in order to exert pressure on Beirut, surely noticed that last year, the Bush administration forbade Ehud Olmert's government from damaging Lebanon's national infrastructure.

Just a month ago, the cabinet was in an uproar because the High Court of Justice was considering forcing it to honor its commitment to reinforce schools in Sderot. Now, the politicians want the jurists to save them from themselves.

Public posturing will neither solve the problem of the Qassam rockets nor protect the children of Sderot. The current defense priority is "Syria first." Until the danger of war in the North has passed, and in light of the many vacation days during the upcoming holiday season, the government should transfer classes from communities within Qassam range to those farther from Gaza - something it would have to do anyway in the event of a major military operation against the Qassams. It should also warn Gaza's Hamas government that if it does not exercise its responsibility to stop assaults against Israel from the Strip, Israel - at a time of its choosing, and without taking any steps that would necessarily harm civilians - will wage war against all those who attack it from there.