The New Middle East
By Neal AbuNab

This past week, Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, did a lot of “photo op” stops in Beirut, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Rome which demonstrated that the Bush administration is fully engaged in the latest conflict. She marketed an old project with a new label called the “new Middle East”. The new American vision is serious and it is about creating a linkage between Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. President Bush referred to this emerging vision in a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki. He lumped the war against all of these “terrorist” forces in the Middle East as one war between good and evil. Of course, Israel and America stand on the side of “good” and people who oppose this will stand on the side of evil. The US and Israel are absolutely determined to crush “totalitarian” organizations in the new Middle East (how about the Saudi regime?). There will be no resistance to the idea of Israel in their new Middle East.



President Bush threw Al-Qaida, the Iraqi Baathists, Hizbollah and Hamas all in one basket. He called them “the enemies of democracy”-without mentioning that Hamas and Hizbollah were democratically elected- and claimed that they were only interested in creating totalitarian theocratic regimes in the Middle East. This large umbrella can provide Israel with international legitimacy to continue its ethnic-cleansing of Lebanon from the forces of “evil.” But the US administration is doing more than that. It is actually pushing Israel to score a clear military victory in Lebanon which it could not get in Iraq. It rushed to Israel 500 laser-guided bunker busting missiles that went straight into the neighborhoods of southern Beirut seeking the political leadership of Hizbollah.



In the battlefield, Hizbollah has sustained more beating than anyone ever expected. Israel has never faced an Arab enemy like Hizbollah. In the 1967 war, Israel crushed Egypt, Jordan and Syria in less than 6 days. Spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Mark Regev, admitted this week that a military solution for the current conflict is virtually impossible. He is countering American claims that Hizbollah can be eliminated. America is pushing Israel beyond its capacity to win this war. Even Shimon Perez, Israel’s deputy Prime Minister, acknowledged how critical this war is when he said: “this war is a matter of life and death for Israel.” Crushing Hizbollah will guarantee Israel another 20 years of uncontested life.



Rice went to the Middle East to sell the American-Israeli plan of disarming Hizbollah and occupying most of southern Lebanon by an international force. She armed herself with UN Resolution 1559, which called for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon- which it did last year- and for the disbanding of all militias. The rest of the world that met in Rome asked for an immediate cease-fire and for discussions to follow at the UN. But Rice insisted on a “sustainable” cease-fire that disarmed Hizbollah before ending the Israeli offensive. She wants the international community to hold Hizbollah down while Israel punches it to death. This diplomatic escalation is a direct reaction to Hizbollah’s strength on the ground. Shimon Perez estimated that Hizbollah’s force was no more than 7,000 fighters. The Bush administration can not comprehend how such a tiny force is standing up to Israel’s mythical military might.



America will agree to a cease-fire only when Hizbollah is ready to surrender. The conditions of this cease-fire will form the basis of a unilateral disengagement plan with Lebanon and Syria. Israel wants to eliminate the need for negotiated solutions with the Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians. The new game plan is to have its security guaranteed by United Nations resolutions.



In Beirut, Rice proposed the terms of this agreement to members of the Cedar Revolution, like Walid Jumblat and Amin Gemayel. They agreed that Hizbollah must be disarmed and that the southern half of Lebanon will become a buffer zone guaranteeing Israel’s security. Lebanese Speaker of the House, Nabih Berry, called it “a recipe for internal conflict and civil war.” Fouad Siniora, Lebanese Prime Minister, went to Rome to undo some of the damage inflicted by Rice in Beirut. He proposed a 7-point plan that reflected the common view of his coalition government. He is trying to hold on to a very fragile consensus that the US is working so hard to break. Victory for Israel is not possible unless the unity of the Lebanese people is broken. It is the same story at the Palestinian front.



Rice accepted in essence the exchange of prisoners and the return of Shebaa farms to Lebanon. But she rejected point number one: an immediate cease-fire. Turkey and others accepted Rice’s argument as long as Hizbollah agreed to disarm voluntarily. This implied direct negotiations with Hizbollah, Syria and Iran, which Rice rejected. The new Middle East that she carries in her womb does not care about the interests of Syria or Iran, and does not negotiate with “terrorists”. She wants to give birth to a new Middle East that readily accepts and applauds unilateral disengagement plans conceived by Ehud Olmert.



Such plans do not tolerate opposition, resistance or negotiations. These plans will be dictatorially imposed on the Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Iranians; in the name of all peace-loving democratic nations. Olmert’s plan is simple with all of Israel’s neighbors; security buffer zones in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. These plans are perfectly suited for the Bush administration’s policy in the war on terror. The idea is to prevent real peace from ever taking root in the Middle East while at the same time giving a false sense of security to Israel.



Israel was created in the Middle East to keep tensions alive and to keep Arabs divided. The US does not want Israel to have real peace with its neighbors or to have thriving democracies in the Middle East. The role of Israel is to keep war alive. Rice even alluded to that in Ramallah when she said: “the real problem is that there has not been a sustainable peace in the region.” She was trying to lay the blame on everyone else but the United States. No one holds the key to peace in the Middle East except the United States. History did not start two or three weeks ago when a couple of Israeli soldiers were captured.



The purpose of Rice’s trip was to tighten the grip on Hizbollah, within Lebanon and outside. She paved the way for an upcoming UN resolution that blames Hizbollah for the current war, calls for disarming it, and provides a mandate for the Israeli army to invade and occupy southern Lebanon. The current thrust is to define to the world that Hizbollah is the problem and not Israel. Discussions at the UN will focus on these questions: was Hizbollah justified in capturing the two Israeli soldiers? Was Hizbollah trying to save Hamas or did it have the interests of Lebanon at heart? Is Hizbollah to blame for the utter destruction of Lebanon? Hizbollah’s rockets to north Israel; is that a terrorist action?



All of a sudden Israel has become so keen on implementing the will of the international community as stated in resolution 1559. What happened to all the other resolutions like 242, 338 and so many others that called on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories and to allow all refugees to return to their homes? How about deploying an international force in Gaza and the West Bank?



Arab League Secretary, Amer Mousa, has the right idea. He called for declaring all peace initiatives in the Middle East as dead. He wants all the Arab countries to go back to the United Nations and simply ask for the implementation of UN resolutions passed.



We are thankful for America’s humanitarian assistance to Lebanon. The US has already floated the idea of one billion dollars in re-construction aid once this war ends. How about saving American taxpayers some money by sending fewer bombs to Israel! It makes you wonder if these career politicians ever use the logic of common people. We spent billions of dollars on missiles that destroyed Baghdad and now we’re wasting tens of billions more pretending to repair that damage. We spent billions in building the Palestinian infrastructure and its authority and now we give billions to Israel in the form of bombs to destroy all of it. The Lebanese borrowed billions of dollars to rebuild their nation and now we rush laser-guided missiles to Israel to bring all these buildings down.



At this rate, when Rice is ready to give birth to the new Middle East; other Arab capitals like Damascus, Amman and Cairo will have followed in the glorious footsteps of Baghdad, Gaza and Beirut.

Israel drags America to hell
By Neal AbuNab

We told America not to go into Iraq because it would be fighting Israel’s war with the Arabs, but no one listened. Now, we tell America do not be a cheerleader for Israel as it destroys every living thing in Lebanon. But America has become deaf and it only hears the gospel coming out of Tel Aviv. If you think the last week in the Middle East lasted forever brace yourself because this war will go on for months if not years.

President Bush has clearly sided with Israel and justified its slaughter as part of his “war on terror.” We have been reminded over and over that Hizbollah is a terrorist organization. Even heads of prominent Arab American organizations, like Nihad Awad of the Muslim CAIR; stated on Fox News that “yes” he considered Hizbollah a terrorist group. Unfortunately, he is scared and his views do not reflect the true sentiments of Arabs and Muslims. I, like the greatest majority of Muslims, do not find a shred of justification to call Hizbollah a terrorist organization. In fact, we consider them the champions of Arab dignity and the few Muslims left in this world with the courage of conviction to sacrifice their own lives for the right thing.

But Nihad Awad is not alone and he joins his apologetic Arab leaders; like Hosni Mubarak and the elite Monarchs, in condemning his own kind. All these people are dishonest and they do not serve the interests of America. We love the American people more than they do and that’s why we fight so hard to tell America the truth. It won’t be long till America realizes that with friends like Hosni Mubarak who needs enemies!

The war in Lebanon is a contest of willpower and determination. I listened carefully to the words of the two leaders who really own the moment; Ehud Olmert of Israel and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of Islam. I consider both the children of Abraham and whoever wins the moral argument will prevail in the end.

Olmert ordered the assassination of Nasrallah and has been chasing him all over Beirut with his missiles and bunker busters. This action lacks morality as it violates the sanctity of immunity afforded to leaders. Olmert ordered the destruction of civil life and infrastructure in Lebanon. He killed hundreds of people and dispossessed hundreds of thousands who fled the country. Nasrallah’s response has been so far measured and restrained.

The Qur’an says: “O people who say we believe: stand up for God and become witnesses for justice. Do not be traumatized by the evil you receive from other people; that it would prevent you from practicing justice with them. Uphold justice and that will bring you closer to what is right. Do what is right by God; for it is certain God has expert knowledge of all your work.” (Chapter 5, Verse 8).

Nasrallah has followed the mandate of morality more than Olmert, despite the claims that Israel is doing its best not to kill civilians. Nasrallah stated in a speech last week that he intentionally avoided hitting the Petrochemical installations in Haifa because of “unpredictable consequences” to the civilian population. Israeli Rabbis issued a religious ruling that sanctioned the killing of Arab women and children. It is a clear violation of the morality mandate that recognizes the sanctity of all human life.

The evil we receive from others should never traumatize us and cause us to dehumanize them. As a Palestinian I’ve had to practice this principle all my life to heal myself of the trauma of the 1967 war that made me homeless; and demanded that all Palestinians bless the Israelis and thank them for their evil. But Israel and America are deeply traumatized by suicide attacks. The current war between Israel on the one side and the Lebanese-Palestinians on the other side could very easily spread to engulf the whole Middle East from Tehran to the Mediterranean. Many Americans may say: so what, nuke them all and be done with this s- - t (Bush’s descriptive word for the current war).

This is the careless attitude that elected Bush for a second term and only bows to forceful behavior. Bush has marginalized America and turned it into a dumb cheerleader for Israel. Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan said recently: “this president has turned into a city councilman from Brooklyn and he has outsourced US foreign policy to Israel, Sharon and Olmert.” 9/11 is not a sacred cow that we have to revere, and in its holy name constantly justify the destruction of other countries. America needs to get over this trauma because the injustice it is inflicting on the rest of the world is only perpetuating this vicious cycle.

If right after 9/11 America said to Muslims: let’s come together and decide what is right and what is wrong, and with that moral compass let’s together eradicate what is evil. Then, Muslims would’ve told America: return to the Palestinians their rights in a secure and independent state; and eliminate economic tyranny in the Middle East. Tell all your Royal friends in the oil-rich Arab countries to go to Switzerland where they can live out the rest of their days grazing in the green fields. If this had been done by now, the world would have moved on to a new promise, and the root causes of “terror” would have been eliminated. We would have $20 per barrel oil and Palestinian boys would be marrying Jewish girls. Imagine what that world would’ve looked like? All humanity dancing in a circle of love.

Instead, Bush chose to do the exact opposite. He justified further repression of Palestinians as “self-defense”, and killed more Arabs in Iraq to protect the fat Sheikhs. We are stuck in a medieval time warp and America’s wealth and strength have become a brutal tool of vetoes and tyranny. The only solutions left are military and violent in nature. Israel wants to eliminate Hamas and Hizbollah. It does not care about the “collateral” human misery that stands in its way. Hizbollah wanted Arab prisoners out of Israeli jails but even if this demand is now met it will not suffice. Hizbollah can not go back to Lebanese politics as usual and justify the demolition of Lebanon to free up prisoners. Nasrallah said: “if war is what you want then war is what you will get.”

This is the final conflict in the Middle East. The stakes are too high for Hizbollah to lose. But what is victory for Hizbollah? To hold out and to keep this war raging for as long as possible. If Israel can not declare victory in two or three weeks, the whole world will demand that it stops its aggression. Then, US diplomacy will try to broker a cease-fire that exchanges prisoners and empowers Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Saniora, to hold Hizbollah accountable for the demolition of Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Hizbollah will raise the stakes on the ground and will begin to show the Muslim world what victory looks like. It is likely to strike the heart of Tel Aviv so that Israelis begin a massive exodus out of Israel. Then, Olmert will escalate more and mobilize a full-scale ground invasion and re-occupation of Gaza and Lebanon in the name of “self-defense”. Syria can not afford to have Hizbollah eliminated, and so it will jump into the war. The war with Syria will go on for a couple of months while it receives its share of the beating. By this point, Iran will have mobilized the Shi’a population in Iraq against US troops.

The mid-term elections will focus on the threat of Iran, national security and the raging war on terror in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. The Republicans will win the elections and the Bush administration will strike Iran in December. War will rage for the following two years from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Tehran, and beyond to Kabul and Islamabad. And instead of humanity dancing in a circle of love it will have its final embrace with death.

Voting is a religious duty
By Neal AbuNab

There is a primary election on Tuesday, August 8, 2006. It is the duty of every Muslim to go out and vote.

Is this a religious Fatwa or edict? Yes, it is and I urge the Imams and leaders of the Muslim community to echo the same sentiment. Congregating in thousands has to be translated into a movement that secures the basic rights of a community.

The Qur’an says: “When the angels of death swoop in to collect the souls, that renounced their own rights; the angels will ask: what did you do while you were on earth? The dead souls will say: we were treated as the hapless on this earth. The angels will answer: did God not create an expansive earth that you could freely roam in? These souls will find their permanent shelter in Jehannam (hell), and it is an awful destiny.” Surah 04-97 (Chapter 4, Verse 97).

A hapless person is exactly what we were in the Arab world. We were ill-fated, unfortunate and saddled with helplessness. All because of our weak, tribal and mostly autocratic systems of government. We are a strong people as individuals but as a collective we have become the hapless on this earth. We came to this nation to improve our lives and indeed God has created “an expansive earth” that we could freely roam in and realize our dreams.

We came to America for prosperity, wealth, and a chance to pursue a dignified livelihood. We did that for the past 20 years and it proved to be inadequate. All of our wealth, money and hard-earned dreams can disappear overnight if we don’t have the political muscle to back it up. Our money has no value just like Saudi Arabia’s money because it is not spent in dignifying the lives of Muslims or creating a social value for our existence. We can work all our lives and be remembered as the people who panted after the dollar and died lonely, miserable and without a shred of dignity. Why? Because we sold our souls to the devil and made money our God.

We see it every where; a brother willing to deceive his own brother to cheat him out of a few measly dollars. Our leaders in the Arab and Muslim world are crippled because they have to beg for US aid. The real problem is that the value of the Muslim human being has plunged to the lowest level. And it is his own doing.

Why do we deserve every bit of misery inflicted upon us? Because we have renounced our own rights. We are economic refugees in this country and we don’t want to be involved in politics. Our past actions indicate that we do not believe social justice is important. The erosion of our civil rights has not moved us to a life of social activism. The government can wiretap every phone call we make, monitor our financial transactions, place us as suspects on secret lists and scrutinize our lives under its big microscope. All without the oversight of a court or the orders of a judge.

But the message we have sent through our scant political involvement is that we agree with the government, as long as it leaves us alone to collect a few more dollars. We will even help the government strip us of all of our civil rights. Some of us are willing to act as informants and high level operatives to neutralize any opposition from our own community. We have renounced our own rights and according to the Qur’an we will find our permanent shelter in Jehennam (hell). We need to reclaim our rights through elections.

The most important tool available to us in this political system is voting. In the past 4 years we have hardly used this tool. As a collective, we have shown very little interest in voting. It is the bedrock of Shura in Islam or participation. It is the best tool available to us to moderate some of the extremely disenfranchised voices in our midst.

We have to transform our community from economic immigrants to political immigrants. We have always vacillated between Democrats and Republicans. Our nature is like the nature of the majority of Americans; we are a morally conservative socially liberal community. We fit right in the center but we are forced to find a permanent home to the left of that center within the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party talks to us as a way to pacify us and it has the audacity to tell us that its policies are good for us. Republicans are not interested in real dialogue. They want to dictate the terms of surrender. They are obsessed with national security and they believe in the logic of “might is right.” Their solution to every problem is greater enforcement, more aggression and more defense spending.

The Democrats are searching for their soul to offer a viable opposition plan. They talk to us and they adopt some of the things that we tell them. They still view us as human beings with basic rights afforded to us under the constitution. They are the champions of anti-discrimination and civil rights. We may not be totally happy with their suave indecisive narratives, but the Republicans have slammed the door in our face.

Our issues are simple and they can be described in two phrases: social justice and participation. This applies everywhere whether in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq or in Dearborn City Hall. In this primary, we must forget that a Republican slate even exists on the ballot.

Here, locally we have some excellent Arab American candidates like Adel Harb, Sam Salamey, Alex Shami and David Turfe. These candidates are making a great contribution in activating our community and upgrading its political awareness. They all deserve our most sincere gratitude and support. David Turfe, Alex Shami and Adel Harb were all members of the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC). It was founded on the idea that one day its members will run for public office.

David Turfe is running for a Judgeship in Dearborn Heights. Alex Shami is running for State Senator and his name will be on the ballot in Dearborn and parts of Detroit. Adel Harb and Sam Salamey are competing for a Judgeship in Dearborn.

The fact that they are both competing for the same position should not dismay some people and cause them to think that they are breaking up the Arab vote. It is a free country and each candidate is convinced that this is the right time for him to run. Their efforts within the Arab community are extremely helpful and exciting. They are both campaigning very hard in the non-Arab community and this helps the unity of Dearborn and makes it stronger. I don’t believe that any political group within our community should fall into the temptation of endorsing one of these candidates over the other. It is not a good message to send to young aspiring leaders.

One thing I know for certain; all these Arab American candidates are helping us pave our way out of Jehannam (hell) and God-willing into paradise.

There is no winning in Iraq
By Neal AbuNab

Polls show that 70% of the Iraqi population believes that killing an American soldier in Iraq is a legitimate act of resistance. With such poll results there is no possibility of winning the war in Iraq.

It is only a matter of time for the elected officials in Iraq to start singing the hymns of their own people. Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, has already suggested 2007 to be the year of US troop’s re-deployment. His current initiative that started a dialogue with Sunni groups is aimed at convincing the insurgency that America is sincere in withdrawing from Iraq, as soon as the security situation improves.

But insurgents are not regimented armies that take orders from a stable political leadership. Most Americans believe that the core of the insurgency consists of foreign Arab fighters led by Al-Qaida. That is not true. The insurgency was founded and continues to be financed by the dethroned Iraqi Sunni leadership. The fuse of the insurgency was lit up in July 2003, when former Ambassador Paul Bremer announced his militant de-baathification process.

Americans were reeled into de-baathification by their Shi’a allies who paved the way for the invasion and provided Bush and Blair with some credibility to sell the war to their constituents. De-baathification was sold to the Americans as a necessity and they were led to believe that it was possible to purge the country from Baathists and Saddam loyalists. This is another false premise.

Baathists are in essence Arab nationalists and their ideas of defeating colonialism and rejecting foreign occupations have a wide appeal; not just in Iraq but across the Arab and Muslim world. Saddam Hussein repressed the Shi’a and Kurdish populations of Iraq but in doing so he was serving America’s interests. He killed a million Shi’a Muslims in his 8-year war with Iran, and for that he deserves to be tried as a war criminal along with his American accomplices. Donald Rumsfeld visited him in 1983 and brought him a gift in the form of tons of chemical weapons to gas his Iranian Shi’a enemies.

Before he invaded Kuwait in 1990, Saddam got a nod of consent from the American ambassador in Baghdad. Everyone knows that Kuwait is more of a bank account than a country. It was carved out of Iraq by the British to protect their interests from American hands. Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, got the exiled Kuwaiti Sheiks to put up all their billions to finance the “liberation” of Kuwait. She reeled in a reluctant George Bush, Sr., with his mighty army that sat idle in a bad economy to lead the charge.

Bush Sr. could have easily removed Saddam and his regime in 1991 but that was never an objective. Saddam Hussein was the darling of American conservatives in the 1980’s. He only fell out of grace and became a Hitler after attacking Israel with Scud missiles. He was the only Arab leader in recent time to make good on his threats to Israel. He became a symbol of Arab pride and the leading voice of Arab nationalism. That’s why they decided to take him out in the end and to cage him like an animal. They wanted to make an example of him to any aspiring pan-Arab leader.

Four million Sunnis in Iraq were criminalized by Paul Bremer’s order to de-baathify. Their properties were seized and they became outlaws. A few months before the invasion of March 2003, the Sunni generals in the Iraqi army received secret payments from the CIA to order their troops not to fight with the invading American army. They were promised an important role in a post-Saddam Iraq but instead they found themselves chased by American soldiers. They fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria where they established a safe haven to promote resistance and fuel an insurgency.

The exiled Shi’a clerics came back to Iraq and by the nature of their close ties with Iran they sought to distance themselves from the Americans. Young Sheikh Muqtada Al-Sadr attempted with his Mahdi militia to establish autonomy from the American occupation but his rebellion was quelled. He was pardoned and offered to join in the political process. In the last election his party won an impressive number of seats in the parliament and it ended up with a couple of cabinet posts in the government. Many of his loyalists joined the police force and occasionally they conduct their own raids against Sunni targets. These death squads, within the Iraqi police force, are only interested in revenge and in executing ex-baathists. In the last month alone, 8,000 unidentified Iraqi bodies were delivered to the morgues.

The last group of insurgents is the foreign Sunni Arab fighters, like the slain Zarqawi. They serve at the pleasure of the Sunni population. Killing Al-Zarqawi was not a victory in the war on terror because there is plenty more where he came from. You kill more of them and they kill more of you and the vicious cycle of killing just keeps on escalating. There are hundreds of thousands of Muslims seeking martyrdom and most are smarter than Zarqawi. They seek eternal life through death and American soldiers are running away from death. How can you defeat somebody who sees death as a victory?

Bush and Blair invaded Iraq under the false premise of WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction). When Bush declared “mission accomplished” in May 2003, he was not lying. There was nothing left to do but to build permanent military bases over the oil fields. Then, the looting began and under pressure from the media US soldiers were called in to police the anarchy and to control the criminal activity. Then, they decided by default that the new objective was to create a democracy. But you can not create a democracy without leveling the playing field. Democracy, to Sunnis, became a code word for creating legitimacy to the Shi’a rule over the Sunnis.

Now, victory in Iraq is undergoing the final phase of re-definition. The Bush administration is emphasizing “security” as the only measure of success. They gave up on all the other facets of nation-building such as infrastructure, power, healthcare, education, etc… They had security in the first place and then they caused insecurity with their own decisions; and they still claim that killing more terrorists will bring security.

You can have security restored in Iraq in one month if you outlaw de-baathification and guarantee equal rights to all Sunnis. In Al-Anbar province where insurgents roam the streets freely, 90% of the population is unemployed. And because they are Sunnis they are unemployable.

Bush peddles the idea that “we will fight the terrorists in Iraq so we don’t have to fight them here.” The opposite is a truer statement: “we created a fertile training ground for terrorists in Iraq which can be exported to the rest of the world.”

After 9/11 there was a need for retaliation and to kill as many Arabs as possible. Over a hundred thousand Iraqis have been killed in the past 3 years. If that is not enough then “we will stay the course till our mission is accomplished.” The Bush administration went into war on behalf of oil companies and if $3 per gallon is not enough then “we will stay the course” till we reach $5 per gallon.

Staying the course and doing the same old thing while hoping for a different outcome is no longer a viable option. The solution in Iraq is political in the first degree and requires policy changes regarding Iran, Syria and the Palestinians. An honorable withdrawal from Iraqi cities is still possible without losing face or jeopardizing local police control. This is not a “cut and run” policy. It is a policy to stitch a wound that we had opened, so we can signal to Arabs that we’ve had enough of killing and we want peace.

Palestinians trap Israel in Gaza
By Neal AbuNab

Last Sunday, a handful of Palestinian fighters attacked a couple of Israeli tanks, just north of the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom settlement. They killed two soldiers, injured four and took one as a prisoner. The fighters had worked on the tunnel they crawled through for months.

This military target is a legitimate one for the Palestinian militias because the Israeli army is the primary agent enforcing the policy of occupation on the Palestinians. An important principle is at stake here for the Palestinians: making a clear distinction between lawful resistance and terrorism. The Palestinians did not kill civilians with a suicide bomb, they attacked a military target.

The Israeli army goes into a Palestinian town every day and arrests suspected militants. This is the first time Palestinians have arrested an Israeli militant. Israeli politicians want to nip this in the bud so it does not become a new Palestinian habit. But the abduction of Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank seems to be the new strategy of resistance. The Hamas government is asking for the release of Palestinian prisoners as a legitimate quid-pro-quo. The issue of Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails is high on Hamas' agenda, as no one in the world has shown any concern for their plight.

Israel responded with Operation Summer Rains, massing 5000 troops at the border. A principle dear to the heart of Israel is at stake in this brewing storm also: any form of resistance is terrorism and we do not negotiate with terrorists.

Two days after the Palestinian raid, twenty four hours prior to the launch of Operation Summer Rains, Fatah and Hamas ended three weeks of negotiations by inking a deal that promises to preserve Palestinian unity, recognizes Israel's existence and focuses armed resistance against the Israeli army in the territories occupied after the 1967 war. Thankfully, the tactic of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians was removed from the Hamas agenda.

That's why Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, was quick to escalate military action. On Wednesday morning, Israeli missiles and artillery ripped through the only electric generation station in Gaza and turned it into ashes. Critical bridges were also destroyed to slice Gaza into three pieces. More than 1.3 million Palestinians who live in the most densely populated sliver of land on earth were left without power and water. This is another tactic that Israel has used before to exert more pressure on Palestinian militants. It is called collective punishment and falls in the same category with home demolitions, bulldozing large tracts of farmland and enacting crippling economic sanctions.

The U.S. Secretary of State had urged all parties to give diplomacy a chance. Palestinian President Abu Mazen assured everyone that he was working feverishly to secure the release of the captured soldier. But Olmert, who had hugged him only a couple of days earlier in Jordan, held him and the Syrian regime responsible for the operation.

It was a diplomatic error such that Israel has rarely committed in the past. Whenever Palestinians were divided Israel always drove a bigger wedge between them to split them further. This time, it drove Abu Mazen and Fatah to stand with Hamas.

Israel committed another error by using the big stick instead of just waving it; its military abducted 64 Hamas officials including 28 members of the Palestinian parliament and cabinet ministers, including the speaker and the deputy prime minister, on Thursday. It is showing all signs that it is prepared to up the stakes in this game even if it means war with Lebanon and Syria. It stated that these lawmakers will be indicted on terrorism charges and will not be released even if their soldier is released.

Israel wants to crush any form of resistance and demonstrate unequivocally that it has zero tolerance for the idea. Hamas wants to prolong this agony and re-open the debate on terrorism and redefine the strategy of resistance. Its new strategy of focusing on the occupied land of 1967 and attacking soldiers will have enormous appeal to the Arab and Muslim populace. It recaptures the moral ground of this debate and pressures Arab governments to adopt the same position.

The White House defended the incursion into Gaza as "self-defense." It is providing diplomatic cover for Israel to have carte blanche in Gaza. Egypt fortified its border with Gaza by sending 2,500 soldiers to prevent a massive influx of Palestinian refugees. It is preparing for the worst case scenario.

Palestinian hard-core militants are salivating at the prospect of Israeli tanks rolling down their streets. They will not go out and fight the Israeli army in open fields. The Israeli army is familiar with the perils of urban warfare and if it goes into Gaza there will be massive civilian casualties.

The Palestinian group that holds the Israeli soldier is an offshoot of Hamas and Israel claims that it answers directly to the Khaled Mashaal faction in Damascus. That's why four Israeli jet fighters flew over Latakia on Wednesday shaking the windows of Syrian President Bashar Asad. All this saber-rattling by the new Israeli government serves as a warning to its foes that it is ready to wage all-out war if anyone dares to support the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

But this unchecked defiance may backfire on Israel. This new government appears to be all too eager to flex its muscles and to prove its faithfulness to Sharon's iron-fisted doctrine.

Palestinian fighters in Gaza see the massing of Israeli troops as a high-stakes poker game. Israeli politicians said that they are not ready to re-occupy the heart of Gaza. They just want to have their soldier back. Palestinians have asked for the release of their jailed women and minors under the age of 18; which amounts to about 400 of the estimated 10,000 prisoners in Israeli jails. This seems like a perfectly reasonable request to the majority of Palestinians.

It is a high-stakes poker game and if Palestinians call their bluff and the Israeli army does not invade Gaza and fully demolish it, then Israel will have to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for its soldier. And this will be the beginning of new negotiations with Israel based on a whole new Palestinian footing.