By Gershom Gorenberg Israeli soldiers guarding the Israel-Gaza border on Tuesday. (Ariel Schalit/AP) Here are the two takes from the Israeli military on the Gaza border clashes on Monday, during which soldiers killed at least 60 Palestinians: “We won.” And, “Well, not so much.” “We won” is my abbreviation of the banner headline in the daily Yediot Ahronot. As the paper’s military commentator explained, the army kept demonstrators from crossing the border and entering Israeli communities, and no Israelis were hurt. If you measure victory by whether you held your territory, and by the relative body count, that’s a win. “Not so much” is the very short version of what an Israel Defense Forces spokesman reportedly said during a briefing organized by the Jewish Federations of North America on Tuesday. Explaining why the army hadn’t been able to keep down civilian casualties, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said, “Hamas wanted people to die. Hamas wanted the pictures of the wounded.” The result, he admitted, was a public-relations “knockout.” If you knew that the point of the demonstrations was to call world attention to Gaza, and if you believed that Hamas wanted casualties for that purpose, then victory would have meant containing the demonstrations with a minimum of injuries. The death toll was a military defeat, even before we discuss the moral cost, and an investigation is essential. It’s very possible that the army, belatedly, will develop better nonlethal means for controlling mass demonstrations at a distance. If the new methods succeed, though, they will only underscore the interlocked problems Israel’s army has had for years regarding its dealings with Gaza. First, it has sometimes been slow in accepting that it needs new tactics as Hamas and other militants change theirs. Second, tactical successes will never be enough when the government you serve has no strategy to end to the conflict. The Gaza Strip, with its crowded refugee camps and dearth of hope, was once a source of terror attacks, in Israel and against Israeli settlers in the area. With a well-guarded border fence and checkpoints, Israel made it much more difficult for terrorists to cross into Israel. In 2005, Ariel Sharon’s government removed the settlements and the soldiers who protected them in its unilateral withdrawal. By then, Hamas and other radical factions were attacking over the fence, with mortar shells and rockets. The answer to that was Iron Dome, Israel’s sophisticated antimissile system. In the early days, then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz had to overcome resistance from the generals to budget Iron Dome. Yet even before Iron Dome was ready, Hamas and its rivals were digging tunnels under the fence. The army ignored experts’ proposal for high-tech means of detecting tunnels until the Gaza War of 2014, when the shock of attacks from below ground spurred an Israeli ground invasion. Israel is now using technology to find existing tunnels, and building an underground barrier to block new ones. To which Hamas has responded with mass marches aimed at going through the fence. I don’t know if anyone in the organization really expected to get through or to carry out the promise of Palestinian return to long-lost homes in what became Israel. The immediate goal, though, was to focus the world’s attention on the blockade of Gaza and to the stalled Palestinian struggle against Israel. I certainly hope the Israeli army finds nonlethal tactical responses. That is a moral imperative in itself. But the army can’t solve the underlying political problem of Gaza. And Israel’s current leaders have no answer, no vision of a plausible peaceful outcome. By “disengaging” from Gaza in 2005, Sharon hoped to disengage from any diplomatic process with the Palestinians. The policy of Netanyahu’s government — as shown by its deeds if not always by its statements — is to maintain Israeli rule of the West Bank, with the Palestinian Authority as a subcontractor for endless occupation. Yet there is no political solution for Gaza without the West Bank. So the Israeli government relates to Gaza as a chronic, incurable disease and relies on the army to come up with new prescriptions to relieve the pain. Without an outside intervention, the next spasm of Gaza fever seems inevitable. (c) 2018 The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/05/16/with-no-plan-for-peace-even-if-it-wins-israel-will-always-lose/?utm_term=.5073f992712c

Instead, Iran had been expected to leave the response to Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group, whose top Instead, Iran had been expected to leave the response to Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group, whose top The report said that the issue was divisive within Iran. ’s military preparations suggested Iran was getting ready for a large-scale attack on Israel. Asked by reporters on Saturday “What’s your message to Iran?”

concern about persistent reports of torture, enforced or involuntary disappearances, and the forcible transfer Some condemned Pyongyang’s deployment of troops and transfer of missiles to aid in the Russian Federation regrets that “the draft resolution fails to include, among others, stronger language on the cessation of transfer called on Tehran to grant access to the Special Rapporteur and the Fact-Finding Mission to provide transparency Such arrangements should neither be politicized nor be selective, but rather remain impartial, transparent

But the move follows backlash to Iran's strong-armed approach in Iraqi Kurdistan, including deadly air Members of Kurdish opposition parties cast the pressure by Iran, which follows the signing last year Many Iranian-Kurdish political parties and factions opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran are based Baghdad's dealings with Iran have been fraught with controversy. Multiple strikes have been carried out by Iran in the Kurdistan region, including a missile attack on

Iran's national flag flies in the capital, Tehran [File: Vahid Salemi/AP] Iran’s persecution of its Baha Human Rights Watch alleged in a report released on Monday that Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority has sources, including government policies, court documents, and interviews with Baha’is in and out of Iran Unlike other minorities, Baha’is do not have their faith recognised by Iran’s constitution and have no How many members of the community remain in Iran is not known, but activists believe there could still

Covering the neck and head has been compulsory for women in Iran since 1983, following the 1979 Islamic

Particularly telling are the frequent attacks on infrastructure projects, such as the 4,300-kilometer Trans-Papua local culture and facilitate the extraction of the region’s rich natural resources, while facilitating transmigration Over the past five years, particularly since the attack on the Trans-Papua Highway, Papua province in

Amnesty says , are awaiting execution following their involvement in the "Woman Life Freedom" uprising in Iran Amnesty International reported last month that 853 people were executed in Iran in 2023, a record number

By Vivian Yee and Leily Nikounazar Iran is once again deploying police officers on the streets to enforce Months into the protests , Iran quietly withdrew the morality police from the streets in an apparent A spokesman for Iran’s police force, Gen. That evening, several photos of police officers and the white vans they use to transport detainees to Shiva, 44, a translator in Tehran who asked to be identified only by her first name to avoid legal repercussions

Markus Schreiber/AP By Eve Brennan and Jomana Karadsheh CNN — Iran’s “repression of peaceful protests It cited a report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran set up by the UN Human Rights Council to look at claims of deteriorating human rights conditions in Iran Protests erupted across Iran again in September last year on the first anniversary of her death. the mission found, adding that victims face a justice system lacking “independence, transparency and

, as Iran once again balances showing strength against the risk of escalation. morning, shortly after Iran announced that Mr. Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president. to defend itself against a transgression on its sovereignty. “Iran likely believes it has no choice other than retaliating to deter further Israeli attacks, defend

Forces (RSF) have again attacked el-Fasher city in the western Darfur region of Sudan, killing more than For over a year, the RSF has sought to wrest control of el-Fasher, located more than 800km (500 miles El-Fasher is estimated to be home to more than one million people, including hundreds of thousands of Aid ‘dangerously restricted’ The latest violence comes less than a week after a two-day attack by the To date, more than 24,000 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the UN, although activists