Restore faith -- with actions

The war which renewed this weekend, even if only temporarily and as part of Hamas' negotiating tactic, further crystallizes what had become clear during Operation Protective Edge: A great deal of effort will be required, which will primarily include action instead of words, to restore the sense of faith that Israel's southern residents have lost in the government and army.

Years of feeling neglected were distilled into pure anger in recent days, mainly among those living in the Gaza periphery. The residents, who believed IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman when they said it was safe to return home, were greeted with a barrage of Qassam rockets and mortar shells. Declarations by the senior political and military leadership, whereby a resumption of attacks would be met with a disproportional response, failed to materialize. And then there was the failure of the IDF Homefront Command, which negligently abandoned the residents of the south upon the renewal of attacks from Gaza on Friday morning. All these factors together require an explanation be provided to the people whose homes are on the front lines of the fighting.

Especially egregious is how the Homefront Command has functioned. Everyone involved in the talks in Cairo knew on Thursday evening that Hamas intended to renew the shooting upon the conclusion of the 72-hour cease fire. Anyone still in need of a wake-up call received it at 4 a.m., when the first mortar rounds were fired at Kerem Shalom. The Cairo talks received their final stamp of failure on Friday morning when the Israeli delegation in Egypt was recalled. The conclusion from all of this was apparent: Hamas is unhappy with its achievements in the negotiations, and will start shooting again to gain more.

This simple logic escaped the Homefront Command. The Gaza periphery residents waking up Friday morning did not receive any updated instructions. From the Homefront Command's perspective, its notice that people were free to return to their normal routines remained intact: The farmers could return to their fields located adjacent to the Gaza Strip, the residents of Sderot could return to the open-air market to buy groceries, the residents of Ashkelon could go to the beach.

The Israeli-Egyptian position

Even as the massive barrage on Israel's south ensued at 8 a.m., the instructions had not changed; the Homefront Command needed almost an entire hour (!) before it realized the reality of the situation, and issued commensurate protective instructions. The residents of the south are lucky; their local leadership is experienced and skeptical, but mostly extremely cautious, and believed Hamas more than the Israel Defense Forces -- and saved lives.

This string of conduct needs to switch on a giant red spotlight. At the basis of the decision to close the Homefront Defense Ministry and place the Homefront Command under the direct purview of the Defense Ministry, was the need for a direct line of communication with the army, which would facilitate an unhindered flow of information and continuous, effective action in times of emergency. If none of this withstood the simple test posed on Friday morning -- whereby the IDF's operational and intelligence branched had no doubt how Hamas would act -- then we can certainly be concerned about what will happen during a real war, when Iron Dome will not be enough to protect the homefront.

In Cairo, meanwhile, Hamas is facing a unified Israeli-Egyptian condition that the shooting must stop for negotiations to resume. The talks crumbled on Friday because Hamas felt its gains were not enough to justify the heavy price paid by Gaza during the fighting. The negative role played (from afar) by Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal during the talks -- from his attempt to reintroduce Qatar as an active mediator, to his efforts to extort further gains -- possibly contributed to their failure. In Israel, however, officials are convinced that "the right packaging" of what has already been offered to Hamas will be enough to formulate an agreement.

Hamas is supposed to receive the opening of the border crossings between Israel and Gaza, the expansion of fishing waters, and the funds to pay the salaries for public servants in Gaza. The current dividing points are Hamas' demand that Egypt open the Rafah crossing (the Egyptians insist this can only happen down the road, and under the supervision of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces), and its desire for assurances that a deep-water port will be built in Gaza. Israel and Egypt oppose these demands and have clarified they would only reconsider them in the future -- in accordance with a verifiable demilitarization of Gaza, along with an effective PA presence inside the Strip.

Hamas has also been notified that Israel rejects the connection between Gaza and Judea and Samaria (in other words, it will not release those it arrested in the wake of the abduction and murder of the three teenage boys as part of the cease-fire deal), but it will agree to return the bodies of killed Hamas fighters in exchange for the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.

In Israel, officials believe Hamas' conduct since the collapse of the cease-fire negotiations points to a lack of desire to completely undermine the diplomatic process. Islamic Jihad and other smaller groups are behind the fire from Gaza since Friday, and although it is allowing them to act, Hamas itself is not actively firing.

The range of the rocket fire also points to Hamas' desire to act within the bounds of the familiar logical framework: It is shooting at the Gaza periphery, which it perceives as legitimate. The only instances of rocket fire further afield (at Beersheba and Ashkelon) were in response to the deaths of Palestinians in IDF strikes.

Israel is correct not to negotiate under fire. But alongside the diplomatic logic behind its management of the conflict, it has become clear again over the past two days that the country's southern residents are justified in their sense of pessimism that nothing will fundamentally change.

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