Social Protest in Operation Protective Edge: A Civilian Attempt to Challenge the Political Security Discourse

摘要

This essay examines the new civilian protest movement formed in the western Negev during Operation Protective Edge, and its implications for the political security discourse at the local and national level in Israel. Although this social movement arose out of a local security hardship, its activity is relevant to the country as a whole; the movement challenges the “rounds approach” that has emerged in recent years as the prevalent pattern of action in the context of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The movement tries to convey the message that using military means alone, as in the case in the last three rounds of fighting between Israel and Hamas, is hopeless at the strategic level as long as political efforts aimed at a long-term settlement between the warring sides are absent. From the movement’s perspective, such a settlement is meant to create the conditions necessary for a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Building upon the case in the Gaza envelope, another relevant message is that political action concurrent with military activity may be essential to forging a long-term settlement in any future conflict between Israel and Hizbollah during which the Israeli civilian front may face widespread missile attacks, similar and possibly even worse than those in the South