Israel's relentless war on Gaza is aimed at defeating Hamas in its strongest base. It is achieving the opposite, writes Graham Usher, in Jabalia On 6 March Israeli tanks, helicopters, soldiers and undercover squads invaded Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza: 11 Palestinians were killed, 140 wounded and 16 shelters and stores wholly or partially wrecked. Two days later an Israeli Apache helicopter hovered above the teeming streets of Gaza's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, pitched four rockets at a Mitsubishi car and killed four men, including Ibrahim Al-Makadmeh, perhaps the most senior Hamas leader Israel has assassinated in this latest round of its long war against Palestine's premier Islamist movement. Both came in the wake of a suicide bombing on 5 March that left 17 dead in the port city of Haifa, the first claimed Hamas "operation" inside Israel since November. But neither was a reprisal. The Jabalia raid had been authorised beforehand, said the army, and would have happened with or without Haifa. As for Makadmeh, his elimination had been penciled in "several months ago", according to Israeli military sources quoted in the Israeli press. So what was the purpose? Israel says it is engaged in a "harsh war" against Hamas in Gaza, a military offensive that, in the last month, has involved 16 military incursions into Palestinian Authority "controlled" areas, the more or less permanent annexation of a large chunk of northern Gaza and the death of 68 Palestinians. And the aim -- say Palestinians, virtually to a man and woman -- is to isolate Hamas by collectively "destroying" the towns, villages and refugee camps that grant them sanctuary and provide them sustenance. "It is not about defeating Hamas; it's about forcing us to surrender," says Ahmed Abdallah, a school teacher and community leader in Jabalia. Is it working? The army went into Jabalia to arrest Abdul- Karim Zaida, a Hamas political leader, and his 35-old son, Maher, a fighter in its military arm, Izzadin Al-Qassam. Abdul-Karim was arrested; Maher slipped the dragnet the army threw around his home. The army said it found explosives in the house; Palestinians said they were planted. In any case the house and that of an uncle was dynamited, rendering 24 people homeless. This was punishment to "deter" Palestinians from sheltering Hamas. "It won't affect our struggle," said Maher, fresh from his "escape" and standing atop an avalanche of concrete, bedding and mangled olive tree that was once his home. "The Israelis have killed two of my brothers, arrested my father and now destroyed my home. It doesn't deter us or any other Palestinian. We believe in God and in the duty to fight the enemy." Ahmed nods in agreement. "Every time Israel kills a Palestinian or destroys a home, Hamas gains ground," he says. And that is because the army cannot "deter" a camp as thickly populated, armed and nationalist as Jabalia without incurring Palestinian casualties, Palestinian resistance and, in the incendiary mix, Palestinian rage, he says. "Hamas recruiting sergeant is vengeance." As the tanks rolled into Jabalia, they were met with an ambush, including homemade landmines that disabled at least one tank. In what witnesses described was "a blind panic", soldiers opened fire randomly, leaving two Palestinians dead and a furniture store ablaze. After a five-hour stand off, the tanks withdrew and Palestinian firemen, medics, civilians and occasional fighter took to the street to tend the wounded, douse the flames and pick up any trophies from war. An explosion ripped them apart, leaving seven dead, including a fireman and at least two children. The army said explosives within the furniture store caused the blast; the Palestinians said it was a tank shell. A trawl through the gutted, blackened building on Thursday suggested the Palestinians were right. It reeked of cordite and there were ashes of furniture still smoking from the fire but there were no signs of bomb shards or any other kind of explosive. There was also TV footage that showed the store clearly being struck by something from without rather than a detonation from within. There were also the testimony and wounds of the survivors, which were mainly from shrapnel. "We waited until the soldiers moved 200 metres from the store," said 24-year old Akram Joudeh, in Gaza's Shifa hospital, his head bandaged in a coil. "We thought we would be safe to fight the fire. But a tank shell hit us directly. It wasn't a bomb. It was a shell." There were also the accounts of eyewitnesses, like 42-year Bahjat Hamad. He works for the Palestinian police and owns a TV shop, now a pile of crushed steel and glass. He lives opposite the furniture store. He too insisted that the tanks withdrew and then fired a shell, after the firemen and other Palestinians arrived on the scene. He shrugs his shoulders when told that the army claims it fired only at fighters. "When it comes to defending our homes and families all Palestinians are fighters. And I'll tell you something else. When I, a soldier, feel I am unable to protect my five children, all Palestinians are ready to be martyrs."
