Since the declaration of cease-fire on Jan. 18, the recent Israeli-Gaza conflict has claimed more than 1,300 Palestinian and 13 Israeli lives. Israel’s proclaimed objective was to strengthen its defenses and weaken Hamas, but the war has done neither. After the invasion, the rockets will likely continue to fire from Gaza, Hamas’ rule in Gaza remains steady and neither Israelis nor Gazans have gained any sustainable peace. Ultimately, the operation failed because it was rashly decided upon. Israel’s invasion of Gaza cannot be justified because it did not benefit either side in the end.

To start, Israel certainly has the right to defend itself, as does any other state. But that right to do something in defense does not entail the right to do anything. “Defense” is not the word I’d use to describe the violence in Gaza. Beginning with bombs and following with a ground invasion, Israeli actions have killed over 1,000 Palestinians, a majority of them innocent civilians. To ignore the universal principle of proportionality in war is absurd—there simply is too great a difference between Hamas’ sparse, albeit wrongly directed rockets and Israel’s close-minded invasion. Indeed, even in the three years of withdrawal from Gaza between 2005 to 2007, Hamas rockets have killed 11 Israeli citizens, whereas the Israeli army has killed 1,290 Palestinians. In the end, whether or not Israel had the intention to take the conflict so far in the first place is irrelevant; the situation at its worst was wholly unacceptable by the standards of the world community.

In addition to the loss of lives, the conflict created a humanitarian crisis in one of the most densely populated areas of the world. Israel’s “defensive” went out of proportions when it bombed a UN school in haste. The United Nations (UN) protested a “complete absence of accountability” for the high numbers of civilian casualties, and said that “the rule of the gun had taken over.” During the incursion, Israel claimed to be the victim while it inflicted a humanitarian crisis on the Gazans.

The “if people bombed you, what would you do” argument is too simple to stamp on the Israeli-Gaza conflict. Friction has existed for years, and while Hamas’ rockets are clearly wrong, they did not come out of thin air. Justifying all of Israel’s actions as defense towards Hamas rocket fire is oversimplifying the conflict. For one, Israel is also guilty of indiscriminate bombing, as well as a three-year old blockade that has brought the 1.5 million Gazans to the brink of depravity; this is one of the arguments Hamas uses to justify its own rocket firings on Israel. So, no matter which side “started it” this time, one must not ignore the historical conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel’s offensive targeted Hamas. But Hamas is in power because of a democratic election, suggested by none other than the Bush administration. Hamas, while a volatile organization, obtained its power legally and democratically. However it abuses its power now, Israel should not blame the victims for their unasked-for misfortunes. When the U.S. and the European Union joined Israel in witholding foreign aid to Hamas—and essentially—the citizens of Gaza, they ultimately created economic sanctions that turned the “oppressor” into the oppressed; the blockade subjected many to unemployment and malnutrition. The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel still controls imports and exports, and those who cross the border. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip—a responsibility that it does not fulfill.

In addition, as demonstrated in the Israeli-Lebanon conflict of 2006, Israeli fronts only exacerbate the original problems. Palestinian terrorist groups are dispersed but organized, and it is impossible to annihilate them completely without full-scale war, which Israel obviously would not do in light of the watching world. Incursions only galvanize the groups more, and create unity within the very enemies Israel seeks to destroy. Israel failed to recognize this hard truth, and now it has another unsuccessful operation under its belt.

 In a Jan. 15 Opinion Research poll, 63 percent of Americans felt that Israel was justified in taking military action in Gaza. But, we need to go beyond a simple category of “military action” and ask ourselves, what kind of action? How much? And most importantly, will that action do any good? Operation Cast Lead has not ended violence in Gaza, brought Hamas down, or permanently stopped the rocket fire from Gaza. Instead, since the incursion, Israel and Gaza have only entered another tense cease-fire, one that is not bound to last. Hopefully Israel has learned from this conflict that blunt military offensives will not fix its problems. More often than not, they only worsen the situation. 

During the conflict, then President-elect Barack Obama said that he was “deeply concerned” about the civilian casualties on both sides, and that, once sworn in, he would have “plenty to say.” Well, Mr. President, you’re here now—what do you have to say? Hopefully, the new administration has a better, fairer plan regarding Israel and Gaza—one that does not give blatant bias towards one side of the conflict or oversimplify the facts in an effort to provide “instant justification.” Both sides have been wrong, and both need a fair evaluation.