Hazim Abu Shanab, a Palestinian political analyst, said that the Israeli threats to invade the Gaza Strip and carry out a military offensive are real. Israel is trying to evaluate the capability of its army after its defeat in Lebanon and the latest offensive in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, which failed to achieve its objectives.Abu Shanab added that this military offensive was prepared and planned to encourage the Israeli soldiers after their defeat by the Lebanese resistance.
He also said that another motive for this offensive is to show the United States that Israel is carrying out a parallel "war on terror” in the Middle East, in order to garner further American support of its offensives in the occupied territories.
Abu Shanab warned that Israel is trying to create links between its offensive in Palestine, and what it calls “the Iranian threat”. This means that Israel will authorize the army to act more violently without any international objections to its acts since they are categorized as waging “war on terror”.
“I fear that an attack against Iran will be preceded with an attack against the Gaza Strip and several areas in the West Bank”, Abu Shanab stated. “These attacks will most likely target resistance fighters and Palestinian security posts, along with attacks against other constructions and groups”.
He called on the Palestinian leadership to initiate an active international diplomacy in order to prevent the Israeli occupation from carrying out its strikes, and to prevent the US support of such an offensive.
