Every week, there are responses from readers of this column either through e-mail or phone text messages. Every week, there are scores of such readers but burning national and international issues regularly featured in this column always make it impossible to publish such responses.
This week is therefores devoted to some of readers’ responses. Till next week.


Israel Deterrence and Hamas
The scale of destruction and devastation in Gaza following the three weeks’ Israeli offensive has been shocking. At the last count, 1300 Gazan deaths have been recorded with the death toll set to climb even higher as volunteers search through the rubbles of bombed residential buildings.
Of the 1300 deaths, over 700 were civilians of which 400 were children, and many made up of siblings from different families. In some cases, families were wiped off the face of the earth during the bombing blitz by the Israeli Air force.

The Shamouny family lost 30 members of their family while Nizan Rayyan was killed with his four wives, six sons and five daughters.
Over 10 ambulance drivers and medics, unsung heroes during the offensive, were going into battle zones to evacuate the wounded, were killed by the Israel Defence Forces. Some doctors and nurses, working under conditions that were abnormal and in hospitals with faculties stretched to breaking points, were also victims.

5000 Gazans were wounded with many having limbs and arms amputated, while the trauma and psychological damage to countless others remain undocumented.
There are accounts of Gazans who bled for days before succumbing to the cold hands of death, simply because IDF did not permit ambulances and medics to reach them. There are others who were trapped in the same room with their dead relatives or parents while starving and crying for days.
4100 homes were completely destroyed either from bombing by Israeli Air Force or from Israeli Defence forces. Not even United Nations facilities and buildings were spared from the bombings with loss of lives to refugees who had fled from their homes seeking a hiding place. 20,000 other buildings were severely damaged including clinics, factories, hospitals, schools, a university and mosques, police stations, prisons and government offices.
As a result, tens of thousands of Gazans are homeless with their meager possessions completely destroyed, all this during a cold winter. The damage to public infrastructure, which was barely functional prior to the Israeli offensive will probably set Gaza 10 years backwards.

Initial estimates indicate that the loss to Gaza of asset destroyed by the Israelis is about $2 billion, while much more will be required for rebuilding.
All this has been done by the Israelis in the name of deterrence in pursuit of their right to a peaceful co-existence with their neighbours.
Deterrence is a theory from behavioural psychology about preventing or controlling actions or behaviour through fear of punishment or retribution. The whole Israel offensive with its devastating consequences is to communicate to Gazans why Hamas should be afraid to haul rockets and missiles at Southern Israel. Israel killings of Gazans and destruction of Gaza is supposedly to discourage Hamas from taking actions or occurrences deemed inimical to the interest of Israel.
Said Livni Tizpi, the Israel Foreign Minister, “(Hamas) knows today what Israel does when it’s harmed…Therefore, I think they won’t do this again soon.
“When the alternative is to continue when there is little benefit, and then to perhaps sink into the quagmire afterwards, this is very unwise,” Livni added.
This is against the backdrop of Gaza being regarded by many, including the Catholic Church, as the biggest concentration camp or prison in the world.
Hopefully, the 1.5 million Gazans cramped into a strip of land 27 miles in length and 7 miles in width will be deterred even if Gaza is barricaded by land, sea and air.

Hopefully, these 1.5 million Gazans will be deterred even though they are dependent on humanitarian aid because the Israelis have crippled the economy of Gaza.
Hopefully, these 1.5 million Gazans will be deterred even though they are stateless persons and totally dependent on Israel immigration controls and restrictions.
Hopefully, these 1.5 million Gazans will be deterred although they know that over 4 million Palestinians are living as refugees in some neighbouring Middle East nations.
Hopefully, these 1.5 million Gazans will be deterred simply by deleting images of deaths and destructions resulting from Israel actions over the years.
Hopefully these 1.5 million Gazans will be deterred even though Israel determines when Gaza should have electricity supply through restricting the supply of petroleum products.

Hopefully, these 1.5 million Gazans should be deterred and accept their fate because it is unwise to confront the Israelis backed by the Americans and other Europeans powers.
Unfortunately, if meting out death and destruction were an effective deterrence then the whole of Europe would have ended up under Nazi control. The United States of America would still be a British colony today, as well as many of the African nations who have gained independence from Britain. Slavery would still be the norm in the Untied States of America and Barrack Obama would never have become its president. What the Israelis need to understand is that Palestinians especially those in Gaza have decided that it is better for them to die on their feet than to live on their knees.
– Kingsley Omose