Jan 23 2009
Winners and Losers in Gaza
Winners and losers in Gaza
Daoud Kuttab
Unlike times of tranquility, wartimes bring the best and worse in many people. Wars are also an opportunity for people to shine or to fail.
The Israeli war on Gaza certainly has its winners and its losers, although the list could change and protagonists can leap from one side to the other.
Here is my preliminary list of winners and losers.
The first and biggest loser has been the international system, which was unable to stop a clearly disproportional assault from taking place. International humanitarian law, which has been gathering some teeth in recent years, has yet to show whether it is able to deter future Israeli politicians, army general, air force pilots and other military commanders from carrying out war crimes against civilian populations.
In politics, my choice for a major loser goes to Qatar, which hosted an Arab summit that failed to gather quorum and allowed the leader of Hamas and two other Damascus-based Palestinian leaders to fill the seats of the Palestinian delegation. Continue Reading »