TRY as he might, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert can not snatch any sort of victory out of the jaws of defeat that are closing down on the failed Zionist project.

　　This, quite simply, is the beginning of the end for Israel.

　　The only thing Israel has proved it can do militarily better than anyone else is kill innocent women and children. And in its genocidal drive to wipe the Palestinian people from existence it has dealt itself a fatal blow.

　　In their belief they would seize an easy victory from the people of Gaza, after retreating broken and humiliated by Hizballah in Lebanon two years earlier, Israel once again learned what happens when "the enemy" is underestimated.

　　Gaza has been reduced to piles or rubble in some areas as Zionist bombs pounded the tiny coastal strip by land, sea and air. It was a ruthless, brutal campaign deliberately timed for the final weeks of George W Bush's US presidency and before the start of the Israeli elections.

　　Olmert and Tzipi Livni, the daughter of a war criminal and terrorist (well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?) boasted how they would crush Hamas and stop the Qassam rockets from being fired into Israel.

　　And so, playing the victim yet again, the Zionist State unleashed the might of its army - the fourth largest in the world - on the most densely populated piece of land on Earth, claiming it needed to stop a few tiny rockets powered by fertilizer fuel heading towards land stolen from the Palestinians in the first place. Oh, the irony of it all.

　　By trying to win hearts and minds they enlisted the support of Zionist think tanks who would go into overdrive to try and discredit Hamas and its supporters through TV and newspaper columns. Some of the accusations laid against Hamas were plain ridiculous and silly and fooled no one apart from the commissioning editors.

　　As I write this article I am watching Olmert on the BBC speaking at a news conference with European leaders saying he wants Israeli troops to leave Gaza "as quickly as possible". Meanwhile Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, is on Al-Aqsa TV praising his people for their courage and bravery and saying they have won a great victory over Israel.

　　And indeed they have.

　　The drive to crush Hamas has failed - in fact many of the millions across the world who marched against the war proudly and loudly declared: "We are all Hamas".

　　The cries shocked Olmert, Livni and co who, in their breath-taking arrogance believed the world would stand by and applaud from the sidelines as they went to war with the people of Gaza.

　　What happened instead was demonstrations, riots, anarchy and outrage from ordinary people pouring out of just about every city on the planet. This was the moment when another battle was launched: People Power versus the politicians. And 'we' the people won it easily.

　　Leaders who once said they supported Israel began putting a distance between themselves and Tel Aviv. The gaggle of Arab leaders began to dance to a different tune while some of the Arab world's leaders clamped down even more on their own citizens seeing coups and plots, real or imaginary, at every turn.

　　Oh how the Middle East could do with some revolutionary figures like Venezeula's Hugo Chavez who kicked out the Israeli Ambassador and then Bolivia followed suit.

　　We still do not know how many Israeli soldiers have died ... it is a figure Olmert is trying to keep quiet. No public, ceremonial funerals are shown on TV in Tel Aviv. The Israelis, so used to playing the victim for the American and European media, have not been able to publicly display their mourning to the world. Could it be that mothers, wives and daughters would want to vent their anger at losing their loved ones in yet another failed campaign?

　　It is a far cry during the war, when Olmert regaled a crowd in Ashkelon about how he telephoned George W Bush and interrupted him in the middle of a speech he was making in Philadelphia and told him to instruct Condaleezza Rice not to vote for a UN resolution she herself had written. Bush did as he was told, said Olmert to roars of approval.

　　I hope Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton take note.

　　And I hope they realize now that the democratically elected Hamas are the only party in town to sit down and negotiate with. Failed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas could now be viewed as collateral damage. His credibility has gone and any deal he made with Israel over this shameful period will soon be revealed.

　　Gaza will rise again from the rubble with its people even stronger than before. They are an example to resistance fighters across the world and they will go down in history for their bravery and courage.

　　In a few years time children across the Middle East will be raised on the heroic stories and exploits of the people of Gaza. And as they are safely tucked up in their beds, they'll probably ask: "So what did happen to Israel? Did it really exist?"

　　PHOTO CAPTION

　　Jordanian and Palestinian protesters take part in a demonstration -- against the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip -- in Amman on January 9.

　　Source: yvonneridley.org