Every year, alongside the heat and the humidity, the summer brings renewed fear of another round of fighting in the Gaza Strip. This time, the concerns were sparked by the Palestinian Authority's decision to stop paying Gaza's electricity bills. While Israel could feasibly cover the amount -- not much more than $10 million per month -- there is no reason for the citizens of Israel to shoulder the cost of Gaza's electricity, which not only serves the population of Gaza but also nourishes and boosts the Hamas leadership, particularly the Hamas military. Over the last two months, the electricity supply to Gaza has been reduced to only about four hours a day. Unless Hamas finds another source of funding to replace the money paid by the Palestinian Authority, Gazans will only have electricity for two hours each day. Almost half the homes in Gaza currently do not have running water, and unemployment is rampant, with nearly half the population, mainly women and youngsters, without work. Still, the 1.75 million residents of the strip are far better off than tens of millions of others across the Middle East. Millions of Syrian refugees are living in tents in refugee camps, without basic amenities, not to mention electricity or running water. In war zones in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, the situation is even more chaotic. Incidentally, even in the more peaceful regions in the Arab world, much of the population faces far worse economic prospects than the residents of the Gaza Strip. But it is easy for the international community to blame Israel for the crisis in Gaza. It turns out that one of the failures of Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza was that Israel failed to disengage itself, certainly legally and internationally, from its responsibility over what happens in the Gaza Strip. For the sake of comparison, when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, despite the many mistakes that were made, no one dreamed of demanding that Israel supply water or electricity to the territory's Shiite residents and to the Hezbollah forces deployed there. But that is not the case in Gaza, where Israel is expected, and even volunteers, to supply electricity to power the weapons-making workshops where the rockets that threaten us are manufactured. It is also important to note that in Judea and Samaria, where the Palestinian Authority rules, the standard of living is almost double that of the Gaza Strip. Unemployment levels are far lower and the economy is thriving. It may be shocking to learn that every month, Hamas collects more than $100 million in taxes from the residents of the strip, in addition to the nearly $2 billion Hamas has received in aid from Arab and Western countries over the last two years. But Hamas diverts a considerable portion of the funds into building up its military capabilities. It invested a fortune -- more than $100 million -- into the construction of an underground grid of attack tunnels designed to target Israel, and poured a substantial amount into the salaries of Hamas fighters and bureaucrats. The responsibility for the crisis in the strip lies squarely on Hamas' shoulders. But the question today for Israel is how to be smart, and not just right. How do we prevent another unnecessary clash that Israel doesn't want and that will not improve the security situation along the Gaza border? Past experience teaches us that no one will do the work for us, and that it is delusional to hope that when the crisis in Gaza reaches a boiling point, the local population will rise up against the Hamas regime and topple it, or that the Palestinian Authority, or maybe even Egypt, will try to wrest control from Hamas. Israel's policy on Gaza is not ideal, but it has proved itself over recent years. Israel accepts Hamas rule in Gaza as the lesser of the evils, maintaining continuous pressure but stopping short of toppling the leadership as long as it ensures calm along the border. Israel needs to stay out of the conflict between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and wait for an opportune moment, if one should arise, to effect fundamental change in Gaza.
