The Palestinian resistance's concept of victory goes beyond winning one battle or another towards long-term political results (social media)

In a report published a few days ago, the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (1) called for lowering Israeli expectations regarding the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, because complete victory has become unexpected, especially with the increasing pressure of the US administration on the occupation due to the huge numbers of civilian casualties. Meanwhile, John Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, published a commentary titled "Israel May Lose" (2) in which he noted that "although the majority of discussions since the start of the war in Gaza assumed that Israel would eventually win due to its military superiority, Israel could be defeated over time." Alterman pointed out that the Palestinian resistance's concept of victory goes beyond just winning one battle or another towards achieving long-term political results, and the resistance does not need strength as much as it needs stability, which the resistance applies perfectly while seeking to use Israel's force against it.

Altai Sabaki. The ability of balance and attrition of the enemy

Alterman proposes two main ideas that stand by the Palestinian resistance in light of the Israeli aggression on Gaza: "steadfastness" and "employing the power of the adversary to its advantage." Both ideas go back in a way to a popular fighting sport, judo, where poise is the decisive factor in achieving victory in judo matches unlike other combat sports.

The word "judo" means "soft or easy way," referring to the basic principle of the game which is to use the opponent's power against him and adapt well to variables. For example, during a match, a judoka moves in a circular manner "tie sapake", while keeping the feet above the ground during his crawl-like move, while the legs remain obtuse during the defensive position "Gegu Tie", bringing the center of gravity close to the ground and contributing to the maintenance of balance. If the attacker puts pressure, the defender can step aside in the course of his circular movement, simply placing his foot in front of the rushing opponent in a way that imbalances the latter and he falls.

The game's Japanese founder, Jijuro Kano(3), was a tenuous boy, weighing only 45 kilograms, who often suffered from the tyranny and bullying of his classmates while he was a student at the Ikui Jijuku School, which led him to take an interest in the martial art of Jiu-Jitsu. But Kano's attempts to join the training workshops were always rejected, due to his lack of proper physical strength, until he found his match in Japanese master Hachinosuke Fukuda, a unique combination of two different Jiu-Jitsu schools. With Fukuda's death, his family asked Jigoro to succeed him as head of Fukuda Dojo, due to the dedication he showed during his training, while at the same time, in his constant quest for development, Jiguro joined a new training session under the supervision of another Jiu-Jitsu expert, Japanese Masatomo Isuo.

Jiguro improved his knowledge from various Jiu-Jitsu schools until he devised judo techniques and methods of destabilizing and throwing away opponents. His school soon gained attention and spread within Japan. In 1889, on his way to Europe on a study tour, he performed judo on a passenger ship, most of whom were non-Japanese, and as they sailed across the Indian Ocean, the passengers were astonished when a small man like Jiguro was able to put a huge discount on the ground with ease; judo became known outside the shores of Japan, just as the world knew about Palestine when the little boy threw a stone at a tank.

Kozushi. The fall of the raging bull

The Qassam Brigades have been aware since the Al-Aqsa flood that the occupation army will rush like a raging bull for the purpose of revenge and saving face, and in return it must remain steadfast and defend appropriately (Anatolia)

A look at how the Qassam Brigades is doing defensive moves us to link it to the circular movement "Tai Sabaki". The issue is not limited to the nature of urban warfare, which forces the rotation from one house to another, in a way that exhausts the attacker and distracts him, but extends to the movement of resistance during hit-and-run operations through defensive points (4) that can take different forms, provided that the attacker does not bypass them or turn around them easily. Add to this a complex network of tunnels, which provides the resistance with the ability to surprise the enemy with obstruction in front or rear.

Since the first moments of the morning of the seventh of October, with the penetration of the Gaza envelope by resistance fighters, everyone expected that Israel's reaction would be violent after its unprecedented humiliation, and of course the Qassam Brigades were aware in advance that the occupation army would rush like a raging bull for the purpose of revenge and save face, and in return it must remain steadfast and defend appropriately (5). This dynamic relationship between attack and defense is explained by the Prussian historian and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz in his famous book On War, who argues that defense has an advantage during combat because it is easier to maintain territory than to capture it.

Clausewitz points out that an offensive impulse may negatively affect the quality of logistics and supply lines, while defenders have shorter supply lines and higher morale (which applies to the Qassam Brigades). The military are aware that an uncalculated rush will necessarily lead to gaps, as in judo, when the attacker abandons his caution and his feet move away for a moment from the ground, but that moment is what the defender is waiting for to put his foot in the leg of his opponent and throw him to the ground, taking advantage of his imbalance, which is what judoka calls "Kuzushi", which is also what "Clausewitz" expressed by saying: "It's the time when the flashing sword of vengeance can be lifted and the greatest moment of defense can be provided."

Curse of excessive force

Even if we move away from military tactics, the vision of Palestinian resistance is consistent with the Clausewitz doctrine, which saw war in essence as an extension and round of politics. From this perspective, it seems that all the excessive force directed by the occupation against the Gaza Strip is ultimately working against Israel in the long run. First of all, the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation and the brutal Israeli war that followed led to the return of the Palestinian cause to the forefront, and the growing global demands for the establishment of a Palestinian state (6).

Not only that, as Emile Hakim (7), director of regional security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, points out, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood shattered Israel's perceptions of its strength and the efficiency of its security services and political leaders. Emile asserts that the seventh of October proved the mistake of successive Israeli governments when they believed that they could "besiege the Palestinian crisis and reduce or ignore it while seeking expansion in the West Bank, regional integration and normalization with Arab countries." John Alterman (8) sums it up: "Hamas does not see victory in one or five years, but through engaging in decades of struggle that increase Palestinian solidarity and further isolate Israel."

As the war goes on and the occupation army flounders among the ambushes of the resistance in Gaza, this isolation and loss of confidence increases, and the state of confusion in Israel is strengthened. Perhaps the most prominent evidence is what media reports (9) have shown about the link between the activation of the "Hannibal" protocol and the increasing number of Israeli deaths, as the protocol allows the killing of Israeli prisoners in order to avoid entering into negotiations and giving up something in exchange for their recovery, and reports (10) specify the incident of the Israeli Air Force targeting a music festival held in the Gaza envelope on the seventh of October, an incident that the occupation attributed responsibility to the resistance before the Israeli police investigations showed that the targeting came from an Apache aircraft belonging to a weapon. Israeli Air (11).

In the same context, Western support for the occupation state is dwindling with the growing popular pressure (12), which called on French President Emmanuel Macron to demand an end to the war, in addition to the explicit support of the countries of the so-called "Global South" for Palestinian rights, and stripping Israel of its false claims to be a democratic state that seeks peace. Thus, every daily steadfastness of the resistance has become a means of dropping the dyes from the face of Israel and consolidating the Palestinian presence, which reminds us of the iconic saying of the martyr journalist "Shireen Abu Akleh": "It seems to be a long breath. Keep morale high."

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Sources:

1) Yedioth Ahronoth: Full victory is unlikely Let's lower expectations – Al Jazeera website – December 5, 2023.

2) Israel Could Lose, John Alterman, Center for strategies and international studies, 7 Nov.

 2023.

3) The life of Jigoro Kano, Judo Channel.

4) After the end of the truce. 5 military tactics that the Qassam Brigades will practice against the occupation – Al-Jazeera website – December 1, 2023.

5) Israel's Ground War Against Hamas: What to Know, Max Boot, Council of foreign relations, 23 Oct. 2023.

6) How the War in Gaza Is Reshaping Geopolitics, Bharat Bhushan, The wire.

7) The Gaza War and the Region, Emile Hokayem, Tylor and Francis, 4 Dec. 2023.

8) Source No. 2

9) Israel carried out mass killing of own people under 'Hannibal Directive': Reports, Press TV, 27 Nov. 2023.

10) Israel admits it killed its own at Nova music festival, The Cradle, 19 Nov. 2023.

11) Insults, shouting and beating at a meeting of prisoners' families at the Israeli War Council – Al Jazeera website – December 5, 2023.

12) France: Two thousand demonstrators in Paris demand an "immediate" ceasefire in Gaza, France 24, November 3, 2023.

Source : Al Jazeera