What Do We Know About Breaking the Israeli Army’s ‘Dry Arm’? – Analysis

The Palestinian Resistance has shattered the story of Israeli subject invincibility. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Mahdi Azouz writes successful the Al-Jazeera Arabic website, reflecting connected the shifting dynamics of the war, noting however the absorption has disrupted Israel’s erstwhile formidable subject unit and shattered the story of its invincibility.

Editor’s Note: The operation “الذراع اليابسة” has aggregate interpretations, and successful this context, it tin beryllium translated arsenic “Iron Fist,” “Unyielding Arm,” “Barren Arm,” oregon “Dry Arm,” reflecting the assumed spot and resilience attributed to the Israeli military.

The tactics of Palestinian absorption person evolved aft much than a twelvemonth of changeless confrontation with the occupying forces. With each caller phase, the absorption diversifies its methods of attack. In the past week of December, the intifada saw the emergence of stabbing attacks, breaches, and termination bombings, on with the accepted tactics that person accompanied the conflict since the opening of the aggression.

The bluish Gaza Strip, which the “generals’ plan” turned into scorched earth, was transformed by the absorption into a “snake-hunting” ground. The blessed onshore volition not betray its people. Abu Obeida concisely appeared to springiness the appraisal of the battle, praising the “inspiring heroism of the absorption fighters” for the full escaped satellite to witnesser and challenging the force to uncover its losses.

The occupation’s service is nary longer capable to decisively triumph battles arsenic it erstwhile did. The speedy victories it erstwhile enjoyed person been stripped of their conditions, leaving lone their humanities memory. The absorption was calved to deter “deterrence” and to decision the “invincible” army.

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The “Dry Arm”

The word “Dry Arm” is simply a translation of the Hebrew operation “Zroa Yavishah,” which refers to the occupation’s army, symbolizing its erstwhile victorious encounters with Arab armies, which were often easy broken.

From the Nakba of 1948 to the decision of June 1967, the Israeli service had been capable to triumph its accelerated wars. However, the absorption has proven that the “Dry Arm” tin beryllium broken. This is 1 of the undeniable facts of the ongoing struggle.

It is well-known that the Zionist task is simply a “settler-colonial” project, founded done the quality to circumvent planetary resolutions and support a authorities of militarization. It is nary coincidence that the constitution of the Israeli authorities coincided with the declaration of the impermanent government’s head, David Ben Gurion, astir the commencement of the Israeli service connected May 26, 1948. This synchronization proved that the subject was the backbone of the Zionist task and that unit is an inherent and defining diagnostic of the recently created state.

Herzl described Zionism arsenic a “colonial idea,” which is wherefore the Israeli service carries the characteristics of assemblage armies successful its structure, ideology, and combat performance, implementing assemblage methods to subjugate peoples.

It is nary astonishment that the Israeli service was founded from the ashes of the British Mandate successful Palestine and from the fume of the 1948 struggle betwixt the Arabs and Zionist militias. When we adhd the settler facet of the Zionist project, we recognize the quality of militarization.

Settler societies, by their precise nature, are militarized, arsenic “the settler story tin lone beryllium realized done the usage of force.” In the look of changeless information concerns and perceived threats, the Israeli authorities maintains a precocious authorities of readiness for deterrence, on with continuous mobilization, adding to the militarization of some the authorities and society. This has fixed commencement to the conception of the “armed nation,” arsenic Israelis notation to themselves.

Thus, implicit much than 7 decades, Israel has established 1 of the world’s astir nonrecreational and almighty militaries, ensuring the beingness of the state. During its conflicts with Arab armies, Israel was the ascendant unit successful initiating and ending battles.

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Past Conflicts

The archetypal rounds of the Arab-Zionist struggle came with the extremity of the British Mandate successful 1947. Zionist militias fought against the anemic Arab armies successful a warfare the Zionists called the “War of Independence,” though it was successful information the Nakba. Despite the harshness of the Nakba, past remembers immoderate Arab subject figures with honor, specified arsenic the martyr Abdul Qadir al-Husseini.

The Zionist militias defeated the regular Arab armies done subject operations and planetary conspiracies. The authorities of Israel emerged arsenic the terms for these victories. Thus, 1948 became viewed arsenic a “sacred year,” the “foundational source” of the state. The militias aboriginal evolved into the “Defense Forces.”

It was the archetypal service successful past to outpouring from sidesplitting and demolition gangs. The morals of the newly-formed service people mirrored those of the defeated militias, and the “military behaviour of Israeli soldiers successful the 1948 battlefield became a exemplary for aboriginal generations,” arsenic Noam Chomsky noted. For Arabs, this warfare was a convulsive daze that “upended galore governmental and intelligence certainties, replacing them with caller ones.”

Barely had the Arabs begun to retrieve from the Nakba erstwhile the June 1967 decision struck, marking different achy section of accumulated defeats. In a substance of days, Arabs suffered a crushing loss.

The Israeli “blitzkrieg” connected June 5, 1967, knocked Egyptian aerial forces retired of action, arsenic good arsenic those connected the Jordanian and Syrian fronts. By the extremity of the war, the Israeli service had seized caller territories: Egypt mislaid Sinai and Gaza, Jordan mislaid the West Bank and Jerusalem, and Syria mislaid the Golan Heights, frankincense deepening Israel’s strategical position.

That tragic lawsuit dramatically shifted the Arab psyche, embedding a changeless consciousness of defeat. The Arab quality authorities collapsed, on with its societal democracy. The decision became the nonsubjective equivalent of a repressive Arab authorities and its humiliated citizens. Through these casual victories, the Israeli service gained a estimation arsenic the “invincible army.”

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Combat Doctrine

Despite the partial triumph successful the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israelis continued to power the battlefield initiative. The information doctrine of the Israeli authorities was shaped by the 2 anterior defeats, focusing connected “enhancing deterrence, strategical warning, and the velocity of decision-making.”

However, aft the 2006 Lebanon War, Israeli revisions acknowledged the extremity of accepted wars. Today, constricted and asymmetrical confrontations with non-state organizations (such arsenic Hezbollah and Hamas) person go the norm, reducing the value of wars betwixt states.

Nevertheless, these defeats and disasters sparked a statement implicit authorities and authorities successful the Arab world. Ideological clashes implicit freedom, liberation, resistance, and betterment from decision ensued, giving emergence to caller approaches successful managing the conflict.

Al-Aqsa Flood

Since the Second Intifada, the subject confrontation has shifted from authorities armies to non-state organizations, from accepted wars to asymmetrical warfare.

Gaza, successful particular, has witnessed galore rounds of conflict. From 2008 to 2023, respective battles occurred, including “Operation Cast Lead” successful 2008, “Operation Pillar of Defense” successful 2012, “Operation Protective Edge” successful 2014, and “Operation Guardian of the Walls” successful 2021. The astir caller (Palestinian) operation, known arsenic “The Flood,” encapsulated this shift. Through this cumulative resistance, the tone of defiance continued to grow.

Despite the immense imbalance successful power, the absorption managed to harvester subject effectiveness, quality awareness, and unprecedented cognition of the enemy, making readying and execution easier.

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When the absorption initiated a astonishment attack, it denied the Israeli service the vantage of the archetypal strike. The force was confronted connected land, sea, and air. The absorption killed, captured, displaced, and seized territory, engaging successful fierce battles crossed Gaza’s borderline cities, starring to paralysis wrong the Israeli army. When Israel tried to regain initiative, the absorption had already outpaced them.

The crushed warfare was nary little harsh connected the Israelis. The Israeli service entered the warfare successful a authorities of motivation collapse. Faced with quality failure, it was incapable to physique palmy subject operations and got bogged down successful Gaza’s quicksand. When the 2 sides met successful battle, each Gaza metropolis was similar a authorities with its ain army. Gaza itself became a blazing land.

The absorption combatant appeared suddenly, and carried retired attacks with missiles, explosives, oregon mines, inflicting dense losses connected the force earlier disappearing. In each this, the absorption deprived the occupier of achieving its objectives.

When it came to objectives, the absorption was much realistic. Netanyahu’s goals were mislaid arsenic the warfare connected Gaza proved “a warfare that cannot beryllium won.” Meanwhile, “The Flood” was capable to discredit the occupation’s narrative, extremity its governmental run of humanities victimhood, and halt the diminution of the Arab world. Most importantly, it broke the “Dry Arm.”

(The views expressed successful the nonfiction bash not needfully bespeak the editorial presumption of The Palestine Chronicle.)